sbrobert
By Robert Bernstein
My latest Sierra Club hike was to Gibraltar Rock via Rattlesnake Trail. It was looking like rain until the hike got close! But in fact everything was clear and beautiful with perfect hiking weather!
Here are all of my many photos!
We had eight happy hikers! Including new hiker Simon who is a UCSB Philosophy graduate student who is researching Kierkegaard.
And veteran hikers of my outings including Martin, Martha, Linda, Tatiana, Carlos and Kenny! The scenery was quite lush between rain storms!
We went up the regular Rattlesnake Trail to the Meadow fairly quickly, with Martin setting a fast pace in front. I sometimes take the alternate route past the old watering trough. But I was still a bit concerned to finish the hike as early as possible before rain might come. As it turned out, the rain never came that day!
Here we made an early stop at the Cookie Monster Rock!
The ripples in this pool were perfect semicircles!
After resting at the Meadow for a bit, we made the steep climb to Gibraltar Road. As we neared Gibraltar Road we got a clear view of the massive Gibraltar Rock.
We then enjoyed the view from the lookout on the road. Another group had come up just ahead of us and then hiked down the road thinking that was easier!
This was our view back down to the Meadow and over toward Mission Ridge and Cathedral Peak beyond that. My next hike will be to Mission Ridge!
We then made the short walk up the road to Gibraltar Rock where we had lunch and relaxed for awhile. Here are Martha and Linda on the rocks!
And Tatiana and me, too!
There were many cyclists on Gibraltar Road. Some were going uphill about as fast as I would dare to go downhill!
There were many hang gliders almost in silhouette against the billowy clouds in the otherwise blue sky above
We saw abundant toyon berries as well as manzanitas and others in bloom
On our way up we encountered a mysterious pair of Five Finger trail running shoes placed neatly on the trail. On our return we puzzled at them still being there!
Even with the stops and relaxing again at the Meadow on the way down, we got back to the trailhead at 1:20PM, an hour earlier than when I led it last year!
Here you can see all of the Sierra Club hike listings.
Beautiful pictures, Robert.
Gorgeous!
There are quite a few Toyons bursting with berries in that area, very colorful. The pool ripples are neat! I’ve noticed a few electric bicycles zooming up Gibraltar the past few months.
Flicka, Two Scoops and East Beach thank you for the kind words! Yes, the pool ripples were magically perfect! The speedy bicyclists that we saw did not have any motors as far as I could see. They were just very strong!