Return to the Ridge

Today I hiked up to Snively's Ridge in Garland Park, Carmel Valley. Until last year, I had done this at least once annually for over a decade. The ridge rises 1500 feet above the valley, and the views are spectacular; spring wildflowers are excellent. But in 2009, I didn't make it; one day I tried, and couldn't do it as I had grown too old and fat. And in the first half of this year I knew I couldn't make the ridge: the last mile of trail goes up about 1000 feet; an ascent of 500 feet in a mile is steep! But, during my trip in July and August I hiked a lot, got into better shape, lost 10 pounds...and today, I made it back up to the ridge. I had thought I might never get there again, so this trek was a boost to the morale of the aging Venerable Pinniped. This pic shows the trail, with Carmel Valley in the background. It's hard to tell from the pic, but the trail is massively steep! And there's very little letup in the grade for a mile.

Carmel Valley is lit thru a break in the clouds in this pic taken from the ridge. Blow the pic up and you can see the parking lot by highway G17 and trails on the Carmel River floodplain; that's where you start the hike to reach the spot where I'm shooting from. The last pic in this post was shot from the floodplain.

Stratus was dominant today, and fog raced over the ridgetops near Snively's. The weather was similar the last time I was here, in the summer of 2008. From the ridge, on a clear day you can see Monterey Bay over Laureles Grade, and you can see the ocean near Carmel; but both vistas were fogged in today.

This pic was taken from the flats shown in the second photo from the top, looking up to Snively's, in the center of the pic. Yeah, it's pretty much straight up. Blow the pic up and you can see the trail just below the ridge, just left of center.