El Corte de Madera Creek Preserve 2/22/16

This week’s hike was new to me, and was one of the more scenic trails I’ve seen. We weren’t even that far in when we noticed we had a peekaboo view of the ocean.

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The trail was fairly strenuous in places but mostly shady.

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I liked this stretch of manzanitas.

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And they were blooming which was an added bonus.

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There was a tribute to the crew of an airplane that crashed there in 1953.

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And our lunch spot was a vista with another beautiful view of the ocean.

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And here’s the group.

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Our next stop on this sightseeing hike (as our leader called it) was the Tafoni Sandstone Formation which was pretty spectacular.

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And finally we stopped by the Methuselah tree, an enormous old growth redwood.

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It’s always hard to see the size of these trees without reference, so here are a couple of our hikers standing next to it for perspective.

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Once again my tracking app showed this hike as 7.44 miles while everyone else’s trackers came up with more miles. Let’s say it was 8 and call it a day.