President's Day at Nisene Marks
It's President's Day, and you know what that means! Less traffic!
Mom, Dad, Michael and I piled into the minivan and headed down to the Forest of Nisene Marks in Aptos. We stopped for lunch at Gayle's Bakery in Capitola on the way. Mmm, what deliciousness!
It was a great day to go for a hike: partly cloudy, cool in the shade, warm in the sun.
The trail was a bit squishy in places after recent rains, but tennis shoes were perfectly fine for its gentle terrain.
The forest endured extended logging operations until the early 1920s, and the park was donated by the Marks family in the 60s, under the condition that the land not be developed, and left to grow on its own. Now the forest has grown back, and is a beautiful place full of trees, streams and trails, with the undergrowth slowly taking over the remnants of the logging operation.
Our destination was the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
It was an easy hike. Mom and I stopped often to take pictures and the guys rambled slowly on ahead. We saw lots of families, cyclists and runners enjoying the day off as well.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to reach our destination because the creek had overtaken the trail in one spot and none of us particularly felt like getting our feet that wet. It didn't matter though. We turned around and enjoyed our trip back, Michael and I traveling a bit faster because I was getting a bit chilly in the cool shade.
It was a good day. A nice hike on a beautiful day is never a bad way to spend one's vacation!
