the peak
David & I spent the day today hiking up to Monument Peak in Ed Levin County Park. I had never really paid any attention to this Santa Clara County park before until I read a trip log from someone 2 weeks ago with gorgeous pictures of their hike up to Monument Peak. Monument Peak is the tallest (2594ft) mountain south of Mission Peak (in Fremont). We arrived just before 10AM, and parked near the Dog Park. The route that we took was the Tularcitos trail, to Agua Caliente Trail, to the Monument Peak trail, totaling 4.2 miles each way. David did a great job on a trail that was fairly steep for most of the way up. Needless to say, the views were awesome, and we made it to the summit in about 3 hours. On the hike back down we came up on this herd of cows standing in the middle of the trail. David pointed out this coyote that was wandering around the herd, which seemed odd. There were a few cows, a few calves, and this ginormous black bull. As we approached, they started walking, so we hung back a bit behind them hoping that they'd just get out of the way and let us pass. Instead, they continued to amble on along the trail, occasionally mooing. Then the bull stopped for a bit, and decided it was time to poop, and shot out this massive cow pie. Eventually they came up on this stream, and all of them, except for the bull crossed. The bull decided this was a great time to stop for a drink. Since this stream crossing required a good balance to avoid slipping and falling into the mud, David was no where near focused enough, and we just waited. Finally, the bull finished, and we started to cross the stream. Then out of nowhere, this calf up on the hill above the stream starts mooing like crazy, and staring at us as if we're killing its mother. All the while, I'm expecting its mother and/or the bull to charge us. Thankfully, they didn't seem to care, and we continued onward. We got back to the car less than 2 hours after leaving the summit, without any other bovine encounters.
Pictures are up here