Lesson learned: Bring a backpack! (Del Valle Regional Park)

So as most of you know, I am currently, lamentably, unavoidably unemployed. Having just moved from AUS to USA, I am waiting for my work permit. I therefore apologise in advance if you get inundated with blog posts. Take comfort in the fact that these posts, and the activities I do to write them are keeping my boredom and insanity at bay. Moving on!

For my first real weekend in SF (the first was spent sorting out my mobile and other necessary things), Josh and I spent some time at the Del Valle Regional Park. We had plans to go to a different park but when we joined the freeway, it was bumper to bumper as far as we could see and my car sickness would not allow us to go further.

When we arrived, it was a beautiful sunny day. Perfect for being out and about.

The park has a lovely lake which you could walk around, fish and sail on. However, due to some toxic algae no swimming was allowed. I thought it strange that because of the algae, you could still fish and eat what you caught but you couldn’t swim in the water. Josh assured me that it made sense although I cannot now recall why.

Along the way I learnt that this lake was probably where I got my drinking water from.

Which brings me back to the issue of the toxic algae. Why is it that it’s okay to eat what’s in the lake and to drink from the lake (albeit from a tap) but not okay to swim in the lake?!  Hmmm… I shall continue to ponder this problem.

After enjoying the lake as much as we could without ingesting anything from it, getting wet or going on it, we decided to embark on one of the trails. First we consulted the advisory board.

Evidently mountain lions are a thing in parks. Josh and I discussed how best to get away from them and concluded we had no idea. So we decided to take a trail that would still keep us within screaming distance of people.

This is when we discovered how unprepared we were for the trail. We walked past a lot of (snooty) people that had professional walking sticks (that look like ski sticks), backpacks and hiking shoes. One guy even had a thing that lay around his neck playing music! Josh and I, we had a tote bag that contained sandwiches and two bottles of water. So keeping in mind we were not outfitted for the venture, we decided to see how far we could go.

I feel like Josh and I accomplished something. My calves did hurt the next day so that is an indication of how hard I worked on that trail. It does not say anything about my fitness (hehe!). We headed back to the car and took the scenic route home.

It was a pleasant day and served it’s function for getting me out of the house and in the sunshine for a little bit. Cannot wait for the next hike we do although this time we will bring a backpack.

Talk soon,

Sim