Summitting Diablo

View from Top of Mt.Diablo

Mt.Diablo - a very prominently visible mountain from almost anywhere in the tri-valley region of the East Bay Area. I see it everyday from my place in Pleasanton with the same admiration and yearning of a kid wanting to go high up in the air.

Its this love for heights that made me want to hike up this close-by mountain of 3849 ft in elevation. If you are thinking "What? this guy is making a big fuss about a mountain just 3800 ft high", then I am not going to stop you from doing so. Of course, this is pretty darn a midget in front of other huge ones like...err..if  I may compare with... the Everest. :D. But for me, this had been a nemesis until a week ago when I was able to hike up to its summit in my third try.

Yes. Third try. Not because I didn't have the stamina to go up the first 2 times. Its just because sleep got the better of me and invariably had to start late. I keep watching and reading quite a few mountaineering documentaries and one thing that I have come to understand pretty clearly is that the expedition is complete only when the round trip is complete. And the first 2 times, I wouldn't have completed it well in time with daylight to spare. So, the only thing I had to make sure to do correct the third time was to get up early! And I did...well, 45 minutes behind scheduled time. But that's okay compared to 2 hours,right? ;-)

So I hit the trail from Mitchell Canyon Staging area in Clayton, the same starting point as the previous two tries. The summit is 7 miles hike up the canyon with bursts of  very steep elevation gain. It took me 1 hour to reach Deer Flat, the spot where I had to turn back both the times earlier. With the watch showing 9.30 AM, I was definitely happy. Why not? I had come a third of the way up at a time when I was blissfully sleeping on previous hikes :).

Mitchell Canyon Fire Road

Deer Flat

And from here, started the tougher but equally stunning part of the hike. Immediately after the Deer Flat towards the Juniper Campgrounds, the terrain got steeper. But the exhaustion was overwhelmed by the sweeping vistas of the earth below. As I lingered along with very little stops and the single point aim of getting to the summit, I was mesmerized with the view all around. Though I did not take my camera along, I did click a few pictures on my cellphone and kept moving along at a brisk pace. Just that it felt as if it was taking eternity to reach the summit. Especially the last mile and half was excruciatingly frustrating. I increased my pace to the maximum possible without straining too much. At last, summit was achieved at noon.

A Panoramic view from Juniper Trail

  Some more views from the same spot.
      

 A few burnt out trees/shrubs were still around. Mt.Diablo had a major fire last year which lasted for close to a week. The fire was visible from Hacienda in Pleasanton!

           

View of the Summit Road from Summit Trail

The view from the summit was stunning, to say the least. It was a very clear day and I could see the snow capped Sierra Nevada range 200 miles away! After spending around an hour at the top enjoying the breeze and the view all around, I started back down via the North Peak-Meridian Ridge trail. Now, the exhaustion was showing up on me and my legs started hurting. With just 2 energy bars since morning, my stomach also started playing music. 2 more energy bars kept the stomach busy for some time while I made my way back down on the 7 mile trail to the staging area. It was 4 PM by the time I reached my car and thus ended the Diablo Summit hike, finally!

Summit Beacon 

    

Parking Lot at the Summit Visitor Center

 

The Actual Summit Point

I was overwhelmed with the joy of achieving something that had been lingering on in my mind for the past year. It might be a very small thing, but the feeling of success it gave was something that I definitely wanted. With my next aims set on Half Dome and Mt.Shasta, hopefully sooner than later, this hike was the much needed start I had been lacking for a while. And I am glad I did it! One more item checked off my wish list. Yaaay! :). Few more pics below.


The North Peak with the Sierra Nevada in the background

Inside the Summit beacon house

Another View point from the summit on the eastern side

And my favorite creature :-). The Pacific Gopher snake

   

PS: All images shot with my Nokia Lumia 810 Cellphone camera

Yosemite - Stones That Amaze

Yosemite has made me come back after years to my own blog, albeit a bit late. This is a small try to put in my limited but wonderful experiences in Yosemite National Park, California.

Yosemite is one of most photographed places in the world. And why not? For where else can you find the gigantic rocks,mountains, trees, rivers, valleys, waterfalls everything within walkable distance of one another? I have been to this place 4 times and still have not explored many of the places and experiences this region has to offer. Of course, 2 out of the 4 times were a typical day travel amidst the summer crowd. The best was my most recent trip in December 2013 in the winter when the roads were next to deserted with only the determined few who were ready to face the freezing temperatures. Okay, let me start off with the pictures without much of writing.

Enroute to the valley

                                      The frozen Merced river                                                  

     

The Majestic El Capitan monolith

  

Summer or Winter, Life has to go on in the valley. A Sysco truck with essential supplies.

The best thing about winter trip is this. You can get right in the middle of the road without worrying too much about the traffic.

Snow covered road lined by tall conifers

No place to rest ;-)

The snow clearing machines at work

The light during sunrise the next morning was mesmerizing. 

Half Dome just before sunrise

Tunnel View Vista point. Just that I turned around to click the tunnel instead of the view ;-)

Whew, After creating the blog 3 months ago, I finally published it now! Way to go with my punctuality. ;-)

Will try to be more regular with my pictures and travels. As usual, nothing guaranteed. :D. Hope you enjoyed these images from Yosemite National Park.

Mission Peak- A mission accomplished

It was on my radar, or a bucket list as most would call it, to go on a hike. And it finally did come true on Oct 1, 2011. A hike to the summit of Mission Peak, Fremont, CA.

View of the Western side from the top of Mission Peak

When I was talking to my cousin a few months ago, I remember him mentioning that he went on a 10 mile hike with his colleagues to this place. And I distinctly remember him mentioning how beautiful the place was. Since then I always had in the back of my head that, if I came to CA, I would do this.
I came. And I did this. The feeling of an accomplishment. May be small, but worth it for me.  ;-)

Two of us, my colleague and roommate, TK, and I, started for Fremont at 0730 hrs, right on time as planned for 0630 hrs ( 1 hour is still within acceptable 'on time IST limits', right? ;)). After some misdirection by the GPS aunty, we reached the start of the hike trail at Stanford Avenue after about 40 minutes of driving.

I was all pumped up and enthusiastic, and why not? It was my first hike after all! We started off to hike at around 0830 hrs(I am deliberately following the military style timing ;-)). The initial few minutes did sap the energy off us. I don't know if this can in any way be related to IT or not. But then,things got normalized and we were at a steady pace up the mountain, moving towards the summit.

Our target standing in front of us

 With many other hikers(especially the beautiful ones of the opposite gender ;)) and cyclists giving company, the uphill hike started getting rewarding. With every foot elevation gained, the view of the valley was getting much beautiful and I was yearning to get the summit view with each step. However, I was not able to take much pictures on the way up the hill as it was way too dusty and difficult to take the camera on and off my backpack. After about an hour an fifteen minutes of hike uphill with a couple of short breather breaks, the summit was conquered. Whew! Mission Peak checked off my radar :).

It was windy and cool up there. At an elevation of 2517 feet, the peak gives a brilliant view of the city below. On one side it was the concrete patches and on the other, hills and valley surrounding the area. How I wished there were more clouds. It would have been a surreal sight I believe. So, I have planned for a sunrise view from the peak during the coming months ;).


Some pics below. Apologize for the bad quality of pics. This trip helped me realize what I had to have if I were to get good pics on a hike. And I promise to try and give better write-ups, and of course, better pics next time on. :)

TK Walking up the Trail

What better to do than meditate at the summit

North side view from the Peak

Hikers at the summit point. Hawks were higher though ;)

Mission Peak, 2517 FT

Pointing towards the summit- TK

Yours Truly ;-). yes, could have helped with a smile, but... :P

'Two feet under water'- A pic without a thousand words

They say, "A picture speaks a thousand words".
Some of them don't. But still, you have an untold attraction to them. This picture is one such - for me.

I clicked this picture around a month ago and it is loitering around all the empty spaces of my head(which is in plenty ;-)). There have been pictures which I have enjoyed clicking. They would be on top of my mind for a week or two. But this one, for some reason, has captivated me for nearly a month from the moment I clicked it! What makes this special ? I have no idea! No reasons. No words. No story. Yet powerful.

This has crept as my desktop background as well. I guess my colleague would have become as much frustrated with this pic as I am in love with it. Because, every now and then I minimize the apps, and show a glimpse of this to him. I guess the day is not far off when there will be a request sent to the manager to change my cubicle ;-).

I guess it may take a while before another picture comes by that can take the baton over from this one. But until then, I will remain '2-feet-under-water' :)

Random rambling...

How often have you felt that things seem to fall in place by themselves. Very rarely. And how often do we notice those signs? Not always. In our hectic day to day life of making money, we tend to ignore those small signs which could very well lead us to happiness.

On some thoughts, I was thinking why we tend to lose these signs. For me, the answer was 'Money'. If we take money out of the picture for sometime, we tend to see things we would have normally not noticed. It is not that they are coming up out of the blue. They have always been there. But a storm cloud called money had blocked our vision. Once the storm is over, you can see clear skies. The sky was always there. In the same way, once the clout of money is removed from the priorities, you can see a clearer and better picture- a picture that you would love to see.

Alas, the world is not so simple. Peer pressure, family, friends- many of these aspects, sometimes all, tend to bring the dark cloud back into your life. Even though you are steadfast in your resolve not to let that happen, the winds dont help your cause. And then, you are there, again in the storm thinking about what a life you have got to live.

I am not telling money is not important. After all, we all work for that very reason. What I say is money is important to the extent it deserves respect. That's all. Not more.Not less. For eg: I dont want to be working in a job which pays me a brilliant 6 figure salary, but doesnt give me the space to spend time with my friends, family and myself. What is the use of getting a 6 figure salary? Am I able to use it to do what I want to do? No. Rather, I will be happy with a lower paying job, which gives me time and space for myself. That will obviously provide me with satisfaction. Agreed, there is nothing called 100% satisfaction. But I will surely be more satisfied than that high paying job.

The world would laugh at you if you said the last statement above. That is the sad truth. But think about this. If money becomes the primary objective, then whatever work you do will not bring you happiness. There will always be another person in another job who gets a higher salary than you. And you are back in the storm again. There is no limit to the greed of money. The more you have, the more you want.

The satisfaction that you get when you can enjoy the small things in life, like a cup of coffee with friends, time with family, an hour all alone with nature, cannot be quantified. And all these become a possibility when money is moved away from top priority. i.e when the cloud starts to convert itself from a storm cloud to the one that provides shade from the sun.

The Search...

Some random thoughts were going on in my mind. Tried to put down the thoughts I had..Don't know why, but it seems like a hornet's nest has been ruffled within me since a couple of weeks.What could the reason be? I am still searching

The Search..

Walking into the darkness,
With no sign of help.
The search began,
A search, for myself.

The search went on,
Frantically, in all its haste.
Alas, there were no signs,
It all went a waste.

I circled all the places
I had been in the past.
But find myself, I could not
For I knew not, where I was lost.

Tired, I came back,
Sleep dawned upon in no time.
And there I was, in a different world
A world which wasn't mine.

I found staring at me,
A pair of gleaming eyes.
With no thoughts,I looked deep into them,
Only to find a surprise.

Woke up, all of a sudden.
With the clock in its early fives.
A Smile- for I had found myself,
In those beautiful eyes.

-KNR(7/10/2011)

Awesome pic man..which camera?

"Awesome pics man..which cam?"

Do you see anything weird in that statement? No? Ok, how about this..

"Awesome food man..which stove?"

Now?
I bet for sure! ;-)


How often have you come across good photos with atleast one such comment? In this age where there is a deluge of photos being posted on the internet by almost everyone, I guess it is taken for granted that photography is a 'See-Point-Click' phenomenon. And that, any good looking photo is due to the camera that is used. Yes, camera is one of them. But it plays an small part in the equation.

The pains a photographer takes to make a picture is much more than just pointing and clicking. It is the photographer's point of view and effort that brings out the picture. Take 2 people to the same place at the same time and ask them to click a photo. The place might be the same. But the pictures could very well be different. Same is the case with the a picture of a place clicked on different days by the same person. How different they would be depends on factors like light, weather, angle, photographer's mood etc. When all these factors come together in the right amounts, one sees a picture on the screen.

And after all that, nothing gets as annoying when somebody makes that statement and asks that question, in the same breath. Not because it is a wrong question. But because it undermines the effort put in. Think of this. You may have the same stove as your friend's. But will the food taste the same? ;-)