Almaden Quicksilver County Park - Hacienda to Mine Hill Loop
MVP
Outdoor Research Sombriolet Sun Hat—I think this is an ugly hat, but boy is it good at being light, foldable, and giving me lots of shade from the sun.
Hike Review:
New Almaden, as usual, has really nice and wide trails.
They are mixed use, so you’ll run into bikers and horse droppings, but it’s not so bad. The trail is crazy dusty, however, so that can get everywhere.
There weren’t too many people on the trail (today was a hot day), which made for a very peaceful hike.
The trail is mostly exposed until I got to Mine Hill Trail, so a hat is really nice.
What I Learned:
I wanted to see how my feet handled a fast hike (for me) with minimal support, so I wore my bedrock sandals. I wasn’t fast enough for my liking, so I jogged down Mine Hill Trail, which was not a great idea given it caused foot pain. I do like the idea of eventually backpacking with sandals, so I’ll keep trying in various ways to get used to this minimal support setup.
I only brought my camera and a water bottle, which I carried in a mostly empty backpack. Maybe I should look into fanny packs or something.
What Happened?
4 miles, 1 hr 27 mins, 731 ft of ascent
I found myself with two hours, so I found a quick loop at New Almaden which I hadn’t done before. The hike has lots of super steep grade trails, so I’m glad my sandals were grippy, but it also caused my foot to hurt as I jogged down the steep grades to make up time. I’m not sure if I’ll hike this trail again.