Dear Friends,
It has been more than a month since our last hiking trip. The New Year is coming. Let's get together and celebrate the new year with a trip to Santa Cruz. For this trip, we will see Monarch butterflies in Natual Bridge State Beach, and also hike for 2 hours in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. The trip date is this Saturday, Jan. 2nd. Natual Bridge State Beach, with its famous natural bridge, is an excellent vantage point for viewing migrating whales, seals, otters, and most noticeably, Monarch Butterflies with the peark season from mid-Oct to early-Feb. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is home of the Redwood Grove, Douglas fir, madrone, oak and the most unusual feature of the park, a stand of Ponderosa pine. For more information about the parks, please visit http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=541 http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=546 http://www.bahiker.com/southbayhikes/henrycowell.html For this trip, we will first gather at Milpitas 99 Ranch Market (338 Barber Lane, Milpitas, CA) at 10:30am. Then we will meet in the picnic area in Henry Cowell Redwoods Park (see the direction below) between 11:30am to 12:00pm. We will have lunch while gathering there. After that, we will hike 2 hours inside Henry Cowell Redwoods Park, then head to Natual Bridge State Beach around 2:00pm. Inside Natural Bridge State Beach, we will take a 2-mile walk to see Monarch butterflies and the beautiful coastline. We will also play volleyball and frisbee on the beach and watch the sunset. The returning time is around 4:45pm. We will have an optional dinner in Milpitas after the trip. The address of Henry Cowell Redwoods Park is 101 North Big Trees Park Road, Felton, CA 95018. The driving direction from Milpitas is to take I-880 South for 7 miles and then continue on CA-17 South for 21 miles. Turn right into Mt Hermon Rd for 3.5 mile, slight right at Graham Hill Rd 0.2 mile, then turn left at CA-9 S for 0.6 mile, turn left at N Big Trees Park Rd. The picnic area is located near parking lot 4. You can either park inside the park for $10 (this fee also covers the entrance fee for Natural Bridge State Beach), or park free along CA-9 before turning into North Big Trees Park Road. If you park inside the park, just ask the staff where parking lot 4 is (make a right turn after passing the entrance booth where you pay the fee and drive down the road to see parking lot 4). If you park along CA-9, just walk along North Big Trees Park Road for 50 meters, cross a bridge, take the Meadow Trail on your right side for 500 meters, stay left on the 3-way intersection, after 100 meters, you will see the picnic area on your right side. In case you can not find the picnic area, we will also meet again in the park visitor center between 12:15pm to 12:30pm. The address of Natual Bridge State Beach is 2531 W Cliff Dr, Santa Cruz, CA. The driving direction from Henry Cowell is to take CA-9 south for 5 miles, turn right into CA-1 for 0.6 mile, slight right on Mission St for 1.6 miles, turn left into Swift St 0.7 mile, then turn right at W Cliff Dr 0.5 mile. The visitor center is about 0.3 mile from the park entrance (just drive all way down the road). You can park either outside the park for free, or inside the park (no need to pay the entrance fee if you have already paid in Henry Cowell, just show your receipt). If you are interested in this trip, please send me an email at simon.he@cnetwork.org for reservation. If you want to participate in carpool, please let me know if you need a carpool seat or can provide carpool seats, your departing area, and your phone number. An optional carpool location in Cupertino 99 Ranch (10983 North Wolfe Road, Cupertino, CA) will be added if needed. Carpool cost will be shared among participants (around $8 per person for gas and park entrance fee, given to the driver directly). Please feel free to contact me through email or phone. My cell phone number is 213-327-4298.
Wish you all a happy New Year.
Xinming(Simon)
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