Valencia Peak

As I mentioned earlier, we hiked Valencia Peak 2 days after Thanksgiving. It was lovely!

There are several things I love about this hike. 

1. It has great views of the ocean pretty much the entire time. 

2. It's not too steep. Don't get me wrong, it goes up, but it's totally doable. It's fairly gradual and flattens out from time to time so you can catch your breath. 

 3. Apparently it's great for mountain boarding. Spencer kept running ahead and riding down. 

4. Since it's right next to the coast, it never gets too hot. Perfect hiking weather every time.

5. It's a good distance, although it is more than 2 miles up now. They've blocked off some sections and made it longer, but it still isn't too bad. It's probably around 5 miles round trip.

6. It has a very satisfying top with wide open views in all directions. 

I loved the soft colors and lighting at the top. I could have stayed up there longer, but we had to get back down before dark. It took us about an hour each way.

Enjoying the view!

Spencer had fun with the camera remote!

 I love hiking with these people!!

Chloe is a trooper! She hiked almost the whole way up, but Dave put her in the back carrier for part of it so we could move quickly.

Everyone looked so great in this lighting.

Ok, time to head back down.

 I dragged a sweatshirt up with me but was glad to have it on the way back down. It got chilly!

It was almost completely dark by the time we got back to our car. What a fun day!