Saturday, we took a hike at El Corte de Madera Creek Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was a pretty decent hike: about 6 miles (or, perhaps 7.5, due to some "navigational issues") with a few hundred feet of gain over the course of the trails. The Preserve is mostly second- and third-growth redwoods, which was a nice change from our previous hikes in mountain/beach terrains.
Two key features of the hike stand out:
Banana slugs: they are what they sound like - large, yellow slugs, found all over the Santa Cruz Mountains, and for the first time by us this weekend.
Kevin demonstrates just how long the banana slugs are. Tafoni sandstone formation: a geological oddity in the Santa Cruz Mountains, there are only two sandstone formations, and one is located at El Corte de Madera Creek. Once we got to the formation, we realized where we'd heard the term "tafoni" before - from our friend, Ranger Kirk, in describing sandstone formation at Arches.
Tafoni sandstone formation at El Corte de Madera Creek
Tafoni sandstone formation at Arches National ParkAt this point, it is hard to avoid BDR's presence while hiking. Being pregnant has brought the added strain of extra weight (which is felt especially going uphill), the added clumsiness due to a new center of gravity (as if I needed another excuse to fall!), the double whammy of needing to drink more water AND needing to use the restroom more frequently (which is exactly as fun as it sounds! really!), and the added stares of bewilderment of passersby. Which led to this conversation:
Kevin: People must look at you and think you're hard core.
Amy: Maybe I am hard core.
I am not hard core. I think I have it in the back of my head that hiking while I can will either (1) help me have an earlier - but not preterm - labor, or (2) will help me have a crazyfast labor, like you see on TV, where a character feels her first contraction and suddenly the baby pops out. Either way, it's all coming up Milhouse.
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