Amazing Hike at Purisima

Tasked with completing our first 7+ mile hike, we set out to the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. Took the loop directions on a website and still lost our way :) Started at the foot of the reserve at 400 ft elevation and ended up at 2000 ft tip of the preserve. We did achieve our target distance of 7 miles but ended up 4 miles from our car. Sprinting the last 1 mile of the hike through the mystic mist(due to the elevation) we were almost dreaming of our comfortable car, only to find ourselves in the wrong parking lot. We found a ranger talking to some hikers and told her our sob story. She said," Oh, you can hike down to your parking. It is just 4 miles away." What.. we were ready to collapse on the ground.. What followed was another and more intense sob story of how tired we were. She finally agreed to give us a ride in her truck. How thoughtful! We were so relieved and so guilty at the same time :)

I was feeling.. hmm if this happened to us, others would have experienced the same. I asked the ranger," Do you get a lot of these cases where hikers get lost?" She said," Yes, we do see cases once or twice." Pause.. I hoped she would say 'in a month'. Instead she said," In a year." Bummer :( Being the outlier in this case did not feel good, especially since I think I have good directional sense. She told us about other times when people got lost. They were funny but scary at the same time. She mentioned that there are quite a few musicians living in the area including Tracy Chapman and Neil Young. She did warn us about trespassing, saying that people have a different way of dealing with people who invade their private property. Note to self: Don't go wandering in private property while hiking in a large preserve. 

We finally got back to our car and came home in one piece, thankful that everything was fine. We were tired but humbled by this experience. Learnt that nothing should be taken for granted at any time and we should try our best to be prepared.

Some tips when you go hiking:

1. Always carry water and some cereal bars

2. A flash light should be helpful on shaded hikes (it tends to get dark very quickly up in the hills)

3. An extra layer of clothes doesn't harm

4. Cap, good shoes and sunscreen always :)

5. Most importantly: Rely on the trail map rather than any website while deciding on the appropriate trail. (Note: Knowing how to read the map would be prerequisite)

Happy hiking!

Leena --<@