Above the Hawks

For those of you familiar with the Bay Area, the scene of the 2,200 foot climb was Rancho San Antonio.  There is a relatively new section of trail that has opened up that is worth an explore.  Follow the standard PG&E trail right up to the very top then, instead of completing the the loop as normal by descending back down the other leg of the valley, continue on straight.  The trail leads on for another couple of miles and heads steadily up hill until you get to the radio masts at the very top of Black Mountain.  The path is quite narrow and flanked both sides by some fairly thick brush but it does open up from time to time to afford some spectacular panoramic shots of the bay area from San Francisco right down to South County.  Well worth the outing.....

....statistics for the outing:   10.62 miles, 2200 feet, 3 snakes and one chipmunk  :-)