12-28-15

As I approached Cerro Alto I saw the clouds above her ant they said today will be a very cold hike . And it was so . The air was crisp and I enjoyed the serenity and solitude  cold weather brings to the mountain . The birds sang , my dog Sierra played , dry winter leaves stood proud , having survived the recent rains . 

And as I exited the trail the sunset danced in the heavens rewarding me for making a cold 45 degree winter hike !

Cerro Alto Tough Cycle Summit

12-29-15 Cold hike on Cerro Alto 

Nice to see a cyclist summit the mountain !

Sierra enjoying the view from ATT trail looking north 

Cerro Alto Summit

Cerro Alto 

Cold Day Hike 

Sierra , my dog followed these two girls for three miles to 

the summit of Cerro Alto and at the top she joined them .

Sierra is so proud !

Cerro alto in the fall

Cerro Alto in the fall is cold , crisp and colorful in the fall .

Thanksgiving  weekend on the Scout trail , I love this trail on Cerro Alto in the fall 

My friend Mark tightening his shoe laces at the Summit in preparation foe 

a night decent .

Cerro Alto and Rinconada trails

The below tracks , stills and video are after the rain in the Pozo Area 

week of 11-8-15

I also noted fresh tracks on Cerro Alto the same week 

seems like much movement on the trails late in the year .

Note worthy is a few weeks ago I saw a large bear near the summit of Cerro Alto 

in the late evening hours .

bear tracks on Rinconada trail

Video below is on High Mountain Road near the Little Falls Trail head 

bear tracks on Cerro Alto

ATT trail near old shed pad

Cerro Alto --- Interesting People

family hiking Cerro Alto

Last week i had the pleasure of meeting this young family hiking Cerro Alto , and it always warms my heart to see dads introducing their babies to outdoor life at such an early age . My dog Sierra loved this encounter also . Keep on hiking !

Cerro Alto play TIME

Sierra and I play a lot when hiking Cerro Alto

A drawing I made of Sierra a couple of weeks ago 

Cerro Alto and Sierra

Sierra makes another new friend on Cerro Alto 

Cerro Alto in October

My dog Sierra on Cerro Alto 

She loves to model for me daily I hope you dog loving hikers will enjoy 

This photo was taken on Cerro Alto .

beach hike

10-15-15

Betty , my wife and with our three dogs spent a couple of days at the beach 

I hiked with two of the dogs on the bluffs north of Cambria Ca.

The weather was great with beautiful sunsets . 

Cerro Alto hike

10-16-15

Cerro Alto is cooling off 

Beautiful weather for a strenuous hike as the weather is cooling off 

3:30 pm and the temperature was 65 degrees with a mild breeze .

Carry a jacket as it is cold at the summit .

below Sierra is enjoying a view from one of her favorite perch 

looking at the trails below as depicted in the above photo .

Hiking Cerro Alto with Dogs

Second week of October and on a daily hike on Cerro Alto Sierra and I were lucky 

in meeting another hiker with a very well behaved dog .

In the photo below is Rebecca and her dog Waylon , my dog Sierra is wearing a pack . 

Thanks for posing for the photo . I hope we meet again and hike together .

Cerro Alto fall Colores

Fall Colors on Cerro Alto 

10-11-15  Scorching hot for October on  Cerro Alto , But hiking late in the evening is beautiful .

The mountain is sporting fall colors and sunsets . 

For those of you who are new to this mountain , it is located on highway 41 between Morro Bay and Atascadero California  . Th peak offers a 360 degree view of  coast  . The altitude gain in hiking this beauty is 1600 ft .

Enjoy

October on Cerro Alto

Hot day -- Scorching Hot 

October 10th  hot day on Cerro Alto , so Sierra and I hiked late 

Sierra modeled for me once again so I could post on my face book

I hope you enjoy " October Moon "

9-16-15

Cerro Alto 

Most all the berries are gone , however there is still some Coffee Berry left . Deer , bear and coyote love this food , but as I mentioned in an earlier post , food is in short supply so the critters are adventuring onto busy hiking trails for food . Be alert you might bump into a bear in the evening . .

Remember my dog ran a bear off trail near the summit a few nights ago . If you hike in late evening make some noise by talking , striking brush etc . Carry Bear spray . 

photos below --coffee Berry , deer scat , small bear scat .

in the earlier post see large bear scat .

Cerro Alto cool weather

9-15-15

Cerro Alto  and cool weather .

Finally we have cool weather in the early after noon . 65 degrees and colder  at the summit . I hiked with a couple of friends , Bob and Jim , great hike , much fun . we met a hiking birthday party near the summit .The birthday group is in the following photo and video . The birthday girl is the lady in the blue her name is Courtney , Lindsey is in the pl;aid shirt , the red shirt is Sophia Evens and the you gentleman is there to see to their safety , my poor hearing did not hear his name however he did give it in the video below . All of the group are Cal Poly students . Enjoy !

Note , I asked the group if they had seen the bear scat in the photo below , they responded that they did see it but were not that it was bear scat , so this was a teachable adventure also .

Happy birthday Courtney !

below is a large bear scat , the photo of my hand and the stick indicates the depth of this scat ,

the berry photo is what the bear was feeding on   ( Catalina Cherry ) or Prunus ilicifolia 

it grows wild and is sweet when ripe .

A few days I posted a photo of a medium size scat near the summit that was very fresh and I saw the bear late in the evening . Be aware that there is bear activity on the trails now  especially in late evening . Nap time for the bears is approaching and the food supply is very limited this year and that is why these bears are adventuring out onto the busy trails .