Portola Redwoods State Park

There are a number of small parks to the west of San Jose that offer some nice hiking trails.  Just this past weekend, I did a relatively easy 6.5 mile hike in the Portola Redwoods State Park.  I would say that it's worth checking out, especially if you live in the area, as it is a reasonably short drive to get there.

Here are some pictures taken on the hike.  One thing that fascinated me somewhat was that there were spiders and cool looking webs all over the redwood trees.  After much effort, I managed to get a few nice shots of the spiders and their webs.

Park Entrance

Spider Webs on Redwood Tree

Sierra Dome Spider (Neriene litigiosa)

Spider Web

Redwood Trees

Banana Slug (Ariolimax columbianus)

Kings Canyon National Park

Over the holiday weekend, we went camping at Kings Canyon National Park.  Since I'm lazy, I'm going to let the pictures do the talking.  However, I will mention that we had two close bear encounters on one of our hikes, including one with a mother and her two cubs.  Enjoy.

Kings Canyon

Zumwalt Meadow

Horsetail Reed at Zumwalt Meadow

Lone Black Bear

Mother Bear and Cubs

Bear Cub Looking Sheepish

Douglas Squirrel

Giant Sequoia

Burl at Base of a Giant Sequoia

Mist Falls

Butterfly Close-up

Damselfly in Flight

Grasshopper with Blue Legs

Knapp's Cabin (Oldest Building in Cedar Grove)