So .... on Tuesday I hiked the Condor Hike. Our name for the hike because on numerous occasions we have seen condors winging over the ridges, sometimes coming close to check us out. No Condors this time, and I was solo. A VERY steep hike- straight up from Hwy 1, some 2500 ft up.

View down the coast was startlingly beautiful. Took me three hours to make the trek to Timber Top, a small camp on the ridge. It has changed through the years, with various fires etc., but amazing. I am transformed each time I'm there. I explored for views to the North as well.

I had considered bringing my sketchbook, but knowing the severity of the hike figured I wouldn't have the extra time.

The two Indian camps were completely overgrown so that the shell middens were not visible. The uppermost camp used to be enveloped by a massive oak, hundreds of years old. It sheltered the Esselen no doubt. We began to notice its demise years ago after a massive Big Sur Fire. Now it stands only in fragments, cracked and broken in the grass, wanting a reunion with the earth.