Looking up from the parking lot, the rolling hills looked near and shallow, making you feel you were almost at tops and having not much left to hike. What a piece of cake. Who needs hiking boots? I thought. All the wandered young children, dogs and the small wood gate access gave an exact backyard picture.
Nevertheless, I can't deny the unique beauty I saw! Smoothly covered with dry grass and almost no trees for shade, the hills didn't look stunning in November, but they looked very homey - sweet, mellow, elegant and peaceful. I am so sure of their stunning look when they wear green in next season. Imagine that vast open waves of landscape carpeted with the soft and vibrant green!
The openness of the landscape created a perfect spot for hang gliding. Looking up into the deep blue sky, the floated colorful wings, the leisurely scattered clouds and the peaceful rolling hills sketched the breathtaking scenery you could hardly see in other places. That has to be a spectacular experience with extreme joy when gliding gently across the beautiful land. It must be a true feeling of total freedom up in the air. The world must look so different from those "birds'" eyes. Will it matter anymore what's happening on the earth below.
The fantastic views were also from looking down from the trail. Never thought you could see places so far so clear, in such a wide angle focus. Between many pieces of marshland covered with dry grass, we saw miles of sea water in the bay glowing in silvery white. We also saw hundreds or thousands of residential houses near or far, the bridge, the mysterious looking distant mountains merged into sky, even the city of 30 mile away Livermore. The world seemed condensed to a much smaller size, or we must have swollen to be giants (as being part of mountains) so that everything looked small now.
We were soaked, in this awesome view, wandered slowly upwards with many stops. Picked up two empty plastic water bottles somebody left on the slope for dumping them in next waste can, took many shortcuts and we bumped into the Caucasian lady who offered to take a picture of us at the foot gate. This lady looked very healthy in good body shape. She had reached the summit and was taking the same trail returning. She told us that she lived nearby and came to the peak every weekend. Now, a few giant rocky peaks appeared, giving a sense of achievement for the ultimate height. Getting there wasn't difficult, but did take us longer than the initial expectation. But we were not done yet! The real challenges came after.
Not sure it was because of afternoon or because we were on the other side of hills, right after passing the peaks, the wind started to blow, so abrupt, so harsh, not giving any sign or time to get us mentally prepared. The wind seemed cutting through our skin to chill the inside bones. The strong current seemed trying to suffocate us from breathing. With no trees or bushes around to hide, we must escape as soon as possible. Without hesitation, we started to run. Downward trail was easy. It didn't take us long to realize the wind was suddenly gone and we were standing on a piece of land covered with lots of trees and bushes, even some flowers, somewhere looked completely disconnected from the place we were trying to escape from. This wonder land looked like a little village but with no residents, appeared as suddenly or oddly as the wind, but lovely to give us a nice break. An Indian young man was running towards us. He almost passed us, and then stopped as he forgot something. He turned and kindly offered to take a picture for us, and then disappeared in blink of an eye. Running upwards? Is he crazy? In shirt and shorts? Does he know that wind storm we just escaped? A few question marks came into my mind. Passing the "village" through another wood gate, we continued our left journey. Wind was blowing again in the open land, but much within our manageable level.
The bright tone slowly changed in late afternoon. Heavy clouds turned grey and hovered closer to the land. Looking down the hill, the distant views became blurred in evening haziness and seemed moving further away. Now the downhill trail was tilted deeper and deeper, and became slippery with dry fine dirt. There were some foot prints or randomly dug holes in foot size. We must carefully place every step to ensure a firm grip to the ground. After a while, we started to feel stiffness and muscle cramps in the upper legs. The whole body lost its perfect balance and became rigid as well, since we had been soaked in the chilly wind for so long. No matter how careful, I fell twice. My shivering fingers couldn't firmly hold a piece of tissue to wipe my nose.
Facing the challenges was fun and exciting, and we could still find and enjoy the nature beauty. Two giant dandelion flowers were standing next to the trail. What the hell they are doing here, I wondered. How did they get here? How could they settle in the wind? But they did. Wind had spread their seeds to somewhere else. They still looked tender and pretty with their silky pale yellow bodies. They insisted to stay so they totally adapted to the brutal environment. Wind could not damage them, neither did I, not even with a touch, for their stems were fully covered with short and sharp prickles for protection. Later on, we bumped into a big black hard shell bug on the trail. The bug seemed in a hurry, only with no destination, I guess. The bug's life must be so much harder, I thought, for such ordeal in this chilly windy land would be forever. Poor helpless little creature! It can only play dead when we tried to tease it with a stick.
It took us about six hours to complete the loop, far more than what we expected from our first impression. How much we pay is how much we get. The joy from the hike is really proportional to our effort. When we finally got back to our car, the moment we sat in was a great comfort, so soothing, so warm, not to mention that bottle of hot tea...
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