Uvas Canyon Hike
Despite the beastly 103ºF high temperature forecast, my regular hiking gang and I decided to go ahead with our planned Uvas Canyon hike anyway.
We did switch from the relentlessly-steep (and exposed) Knibb’s Knob trail to an easier route though. We took the Waterfall Loop to the Contour Trail, then up the Alec Canyon trail, then up the side trail to Triple Falls and back, then Alec Canyon to where it ends at the old logging camp. We then reversed Alec Canyon trail back to the parking lot.
This is only about a 5.5-mile hike, and it’s a great option when it’s too hot most everywhere else in the south bay. I think this is the third time we’ve done this route in the last 5 years or so. When we were done, we cranked up the AC in Mike’s car as high as it would go and made our way into Morgan Hill for the traditional post-hike meal, at El Toro Brewing.
While hiking, we passed right by a couple of new geocaches, and close to another one or two, but I didn’t see the point in looking for them since I was already well familiar with all of the trails and landmarks here in the park. I guess I’ve also been feeling a bit pessimistic lately about these new caches that seem to exist only to fill up the trails, because pretty much 100% of them turn out to be unremarkable, with no effort or thought put into them. I don’t see the point to it, so I didn’t pull up the descriptions or even wonder where they were, I just kept going.
The only cache I actually saw was one corner of an ammo can cache I had adopted long ago, just to confirm it was still there. It was actually the first cache I ever found.
Despite Uvas Canyon being cooler than many other local parks, it was still hot. After 16oz of coffee, 32oz of beer, and 70oz of water, after six hours I’d still only used the restroom once. Later that afternoon, both legs were feeling tight, and the tendons on the top of my right foot really cramped up badly. It was probably due to dehydration.
After the pain finally subsided, I kept drinking water regularly and made judicious use of the heating pad set on high, and my legs were OK for the rest of the day. They’re a little sore today from the cramping, but nothing serious. Despite the heat and leg cramps, it felt great to be out hiking for the first time in weeks!