Before I had a job, I would, as often as possible, head out hiking with the Mid-Week Hikers meetup group.

As the name suggests, it is a group of hikers that hike during the week, and I found it really useful to explore new parks and trails.

This is the link for this hike.

It was billed as a hike of 8.1 miles, with 1600ft of total ascent:

 

As you can see, my endomondo tracking app disagrees.

It involved trails in both Huddart Park, and the Phleger Estate, with the Phleger Estate trails signposted really beautifully:

 

The hike started form the Zwierlein area in Huddart Park and followed the trails thus: Crystal Springs Trail; Spur Trail; Richards Road Trail; Miramontes Trail into Phleger Estate; Mount Redondo Trail; Lonely Trail back into Huddart Park (near Skyline Blvd); Richards Road Trail; Skyline Trail; lunch stop at restroom; Summit Springs Trail; Crystal Springs Trail; Dean Trail; Crystal Springs Trail.

I saw my first Banana Slugs! Two of them! They really are very yellow. I also saw this really cute bench:

 

Thanks bench! Perhaps I will.

While it has been quite warm in the Bay this week, these two parks stay pretty cool as they are almost entirely in the shade of Redwood and Madrone trees. The trails were dry, dusty, and fairly uneven, with limited signage in some areas. Dry leaves covered the trails and meant it was quite crisp under foot.

Overall it was a great hike, but I think that the muscles in my legs will be aching tomorrow!