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National and State Park Travel Stories from California, Alabama, and Virginia (Ep 88, Part 2) · Virginia Outdoor Adventures: Hiking, Camping, Kayaking, Local Travel and more!

• 0:00
  Jessica Bowser: Brian, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia is a mecca for outdoor travel and adventure. Virginia Outdoor Adventures podcast is your local guide for hiking, camping, kayaking, travel, and so much more. Get the information and the inspiration to plan your own adventure right here in Virginia. I'm your host, Jessica Bowser. A couple of months ago, I took a chance on something different and shared stories from my travels beyond Virginia.
• 0:32
  Jessica Bowser: The response was overwhelming.
• 0:32
  Jessica Bowser: In this solo episode, I'm taking you along on another whirlwind journey that spans 1000s of miles and some of the most memorable outdoor adventures I've had all year, from birding along Alabama's Gulf Coast and exploring Chincoteagues marshes to rock climbing in Shenandoah National Park, hiking brand new trails at the breaks, and standing under giant redwoods in California's Muir Woods. There's a lot to unpack along the way, I'll share stories from the trail, tips to plan your own adventure, and a few behind the scenes moments from recent podcast episodes. Plus, I'm asking for your feedback as I consider a question that could shape the future of Virginia outdoor adventures. So, grab your hiking boots, binoculars, or favorite road trip snack, and join me for a journey through state and national parks, coastal landscapes, mountain trails, and the adventures that continue to inspire this podcast. Let's go. This is part two of a two-part episode. After my visit to the breaks, I went straight to Chincoteague, so I literally drove all the way across the state, nine and a half hours. I did stop and spend the night in Richmond, and then in the morning my way to Chincoteague, I stopped through Norfolk to see my friend Kendra McDonald Green, who is the executive director of the Elizabeth River Trail. You know Kendra, she's been a guest on my podcast twice now, most recently to talk about the Elizabeth River Trail. It is a community-focused urban trail right through the heart of Norfolk. They have a brand new office now, and she's been dying to show me the new office that she moved them into and decorated, and man, it is really beautiful, very on brand, good job, Kendra. But you may want to stop in because there are bike rentals there now. If you would like to ride the Elizabeth River Trail, but you don't have a bike, you can now stop by their office and get one. There's activities for kids, they have programs out of that office, there's merch, so you are more than welcome to stop by. Then, after my visit with Kendra, I was on to Chincoteague. I was there for a birding field trip with the Northern Virginia Bird Club, which I am a member of.
• 2:47
  Jessica Bowser: I'm not going to go into much detail about it, because you've heard me say more than enough about birds at this point.
• 2:52
  Jessica Bowser: Instead, I'll say there were lots of tacos and ice cream tacos from Pico Taqueria, which I think it's my favorite restaurant on the island, and ice cream from Island Creamery.
• 3:03
  Jessica Bowser: If you've been to Chincoteague, you know Island Creamery. My goal for this trip was to find salt marsh and Nelson Sparrows, which you've heard me say in a previous solo episode. I had been there in the winter looking for them, couldn't find them, so I was back on this trip hoping to find them. Luke was our trip leader. He knew I was looking for them. I did get to find Piping Plover, which was a lifer for me. So, bam, much like the snowy plover that I saw in Alabama, Piping Plover is a small white shore bird, so cute.
• 3:37
  Jessica Bowser: Doing my happy dance when I saw that little guy. And then the whole group took a bird trip out to the islands. If you have been to Chincoteague, but you have not been out on a boat, you haven't seen Chincoteague. I would say, if you don't own a boat and you don't have a friend who owns a boat, then see if you can't charter one or hire somebody to take you out, because you get to see Chincoteague in a completely different way, and the scenery is totally different, and so the wildlife is totally different.
• 4:05
  Jessica Bowser: So I got my lifer red knot, bam, I got my marbled Godwit, bam.
• 4:13
  Jessica Bowser: And then on the very last morning of our weekend trip, we were out on the boardwalk near the hotel, and I was a few minutes late because well it was 6am and I'm not a morning person, so everybody was already out there and I was walking up like 10 minutes late and I saw Luke and everybody else was on something, every the bins were up and the scopes were out and everybody was looking at something, and I walked up quietly and I said, Luke, what is it, and he's like, it's Nelson's, and I'm like, oh my god, how did I get here late and miss it? So I run up and he's pointing to where there's a sparrow out in the grassy, swampy area, and I see the sparrow, but then this debate ensues amongst the other birders, is it a Nelson's or is it a salt marsh? Ish, and the two sparrows look very similar.
• 5:01
  Jessica Bowser: Luke says he heard it vocalize, and he heard a Nelson's. Other people were saying that they didn't believe what they were seeing was a Nelson's. So, sometimes they look so similar that the only way to tell them apart is by sound, and nobody else seemed to have heard what Luke heard when, when he heard what he thought was a Nelson's vocalized, so there was a lot of back and forth. Everybody's photos looked terrible because they were all backlit from the morning sun, and it was really difficult to see the field marks on it. Ultimately, it was decided that it was a salt marsh sparrow, and that it was possible that Luke heard a Nelson sparrow that we never saw, but the bird that we were looking at never vocalized, so we didn't actually know for sure, but just based on field marks, we guessed it was a salt marsh, so I got to check one of those two birds off my list. Of course, ponies everywhere this time of year, there are babies, so it was really fun to watch the adults and the babies walking across the water, and you know, the adults nudging the babies along is really, really cute. And then on my way home, I stopped at the Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center in Cambridge, Maryland, which is someplace I have been wanting to stop for a very long time, and I seem to never have time, or I drive by like really late at night, and it's already closed.
• 6:27
  Jessica Bowser: Beautiful museum, beautiful grounds around the museum. I would highly recommend it. Just make sure that you check on the hours before you go, because they're kind of limited. I want to say it was like nine to four or nine to 330 I can't remember, but they do close the gate, so you need to be out by the time that they close, and you want to be mindful that you get there and you give yourself enough time to get through. It's not a huge museum, so I think I did it in maybe an hour, but there is a movie at the beginning if you want to see that. This is run and managed by the National Park Service, so if you have one of those passport books, great opportunity to get that stamped.
• 7:07
  Jessica Bowser: And I just love Harriet Tubman, biggest badass in American history. Try to tell me that she's not. And I learned so much about her in that museum that I didn't know. I mean, I taught fourth grade. I have read books about Harriet Tubman to my students many, many times, and yet there was still so much that I didn't know. I would highly recommend this museum to anybody, and if you do go, let me know. Let me know what you think of it. I'm excited to share some incredible news.
• 7:37
  Jessica Bowser: Virginia Outdoor Adventures has been nominated for three Signal Awards, a prestigious and highly recognized honor in the podcasting industry. The show was nominated in the categories of travel, solopreneur podcast, and sustainability and environment. This is one of the biggest achievements of my career, and it's made possible by listeners like you. What began as a passion project has grown into a platform that promotes tourism, economic development, conservation, and stewardship across Virginia through stories that connect people to the outdoors. As a solo entrepreneur, every episode is researched, recorded, produced, and promoted by me.
• 8:18
  Jessica Bowser: Your contributions through Buy Me a Coffee have helped fund travel equipment production costs, and the countless hours required to create the show.
• 8:25
  Jessica Bowser: Your encouragement has turned Virginia Outdoor Adventures into an award-nominated platform that is making a difference. To celebrate this milestone and help fuel the next season of Adventures, I hope you'll consider supporting the podcast through Buy Me a Coffee, just click Support the show Buy Me a Coffee in your show notes to make a contribution today. Thank you for listening, sharing episodes, and being part of this incredible community. Your support helps make the next season of Adventures possible. A few days after getting home from Chincoteague, I found myself in Shenandoah National Park, rock climbing with mountain guide Andy Nichols and my friend Tracy, and I have been wanting to go rock climbing in the park for a very long time, and the last time I was with Andy, we were rappelling through White Oak Canyon, and if you've never repelled before, so you take the trail up the canyon, and then at some point you cross over into the water, and you start making your way down the center of the canyon through the water, and that means having to traverse waterfalls, so you tie in at the top of a waterfall, and then you have to walk your way down the waterfall using ropes and harnesses, is it was such a unique experience. I've never done anything like that in Virginia. I know I have seen those opportunities in other places like outside of Virginia, but I didn't know that anybody offered an experience like that in Virginia, and so. I had reached out to Andy because he, he keeps offering to take me out on different, different adventures, doing different things, and I always want to, but finding the time is sometimes tough. So I've been wanting to rock climb for a while. I've been hitting the climbing gym two to three times a week, trying to prepare for a bigger outdoor climb, and so I reached out to Andy and said,"Hey, can we go climbing? And he is the nicest guy ever. He said,"For you, absolutely, let's go.
• 10:26
  Jessica Bowser: And then told me I could bring a friend. So I reached out to my friend Tracy, who was with me when we went rappelling, and she was excited. Now Tracy's a newbie at climbing. She's never done any outdoor climbing whatsoever. She's never been in a climbing gym. She was a little bit concerned that it would be too hard for her, but Andy is such an amazing guide. He's been guiding for over 50 years, and he said, "We will get you up there and you will feel comfortable doing it. And there are plenty of beginner-friendly routes in the area too. So, Tracy got to participate and had a blast. She was kind of a natural, too. I was really impressed, but I was the first one to go up, and I remember saying to Andy, before I even started, "I'm not going to make it to the top on this first time. This is just sort of like a warm-up. I'm going to go as far as I'm comfortable, and then I'll come down and take a break, and then we'll try something else. But as I got up there and just kept going and kept going, I was like, you know what, I just need to make it to the top this first time. Why would I stop? Like, what's the point?
• 11:30
  Jessica Bowser: I've been spending all this time training for this, why would I just sign, you know, part way up to turn around and go back.
• 11:36
  Jessica Bowser: And what I did not realize is that Tracy was taking all kinds of photos and videos while Andy was belaying me, and there's one video where she's standing next to Andy, and I'm getting close to the top, and Andy, sort of out of the blue, says very few people make it to the top of this route, especially on their first try, he's like, I'd save probably 5% maybe make it to the top, and Tracy says in response she's gonna make it to the top, and he goes, uh huh, and she adds on her first try, and he says yep, and I was just so touched to hear that, I couldn't hear any of that from where I was on the rock, but it's hard, it can be really hard and challenging to push yourself out of your comfort zone, you know.
• 12:24
  Jessica Bowser: I'm not afraid of heights, and even I sometimes get freaked out up there, like when you're that high and you look down, it's a little unnerving, and even though you're tied in and you are perfectly safe, and even if you were to let go completely, you're not going to go anywhere, because you know Andy had Andy had me tight on the rope. I mean, there was no way I was going to slip or fall or anything, and yet, like, that instinct is still there, that in that self-protection instinct, and it can be hard to shake it.
• 12:56
  Jessica Bowser: So I made it all the way to the top on the first route. I was so proud of myself, and I did it, I think, what, two more times that day, and Tracy got at least a good halfway, somewhere between a quarter and halfway up. There was one part of the rock. This is Little Stony Man, by the way, and so I'm sure you've probably hiked Little Stony Man. It's a really popular trail in the park, so there's hikers coming by, and they're watching us going, what are you guys doing?
• 13:22
  Jessica Bowser: And we didn't know you could climb in the park, and everybody was really fascinated, and Andy also, in addition to being really a really great guide for rappelling and climbing and all of the things, he also is extremely knowledgeable about plants and geology, and so he's like talking to us about the rock formations and the different plants that are up there, the fragility of the ecosystem there, and so all these people are just sort of like walking up and joining our conversation and learning something, and of course the views are spectacular from Little Stony Man. There is one part of Little Stony Man called the Dragon's Tooth, which is just a couple of triangular-shaped rocks that jut out from the wall, and Tracy was aiming for those, that was like just less than halfway up, and so she did make it to that to the Dragon's Tooth, where she got to climb up on it and sit down and just get all the amazing views of the valley all around, so we had a really spectacular day, and I would just say Andy is the greatest guide. I also think he might be one of the only guides that is permitted to guide in Shenandoah National Park, and that is key, because national parks require permits for guides, and I happen to know, unfortunately, that there are people guiding who do not have a permit, who are taking people up there, and not only is that dangerous, but it is unfortunate for the people who follow the rules and do it the right way, so if you are thinking about. Hiring a guide to go up into the mountains for any of these activities, I would say reach out to Andy Nichols. I will put a link to him in the show notes. And so I was just curious as I was posting all of these photos and videos about my, my rock climbing trip with Andy and my friend Tracy. I asked, are people interested in a podcast episode about rock climbing. I've done one in the past about the breaks.
• 15:25
  Jessica Bowser: It's been a long time since I've done one, and I was thinking about doing another one, and I just wasn't sure what the interest level is, because with an activity like rock climbing, there are plenty of people who will see that and think not for me, and then they won't listen to the episode, and of course, I want people to listen to the episodes, and if I'm going to put the effort into making an episode, I want it to be something that people are going to listen to. So, if that is something that you would like to hear, let me know. You can reach me by clicking on send Jessica a text message in your show notes, or reach out to me on the socials, and let me know if you would like to hear a podcast episode about rock climbing. I have more exciting news to share. The Virginia's Adventure Town series of this podcast has been nominated for a Signal Award in the travel category, one of the most prestigious honors in podcasting. When I launched this podcast, I never imagined it would lead to a recognition like this.
• 16:27
  Jessica Bowser: Virginia's Adventure Towns highlights communities across the commonwealth through their outdoor adventures, plus local lodging, dining, and attractions, and the people who make each destination special.
• 16:36
  Jessica Bowser: From mountain towns to riverfront communities. The series celebrates the places that make Virginia such an incredible destination to explore. The nomination is one of the biggest milestones of my career, and it's a reminder of what this project has become, thanks to listeners like you.
• 16:54
  Jessica Bowser: What started as a passion project has grown into a platform that helps promote tourism, support local economies, and inspire people to discover new places across Virginia. As a solo creator, every episode is researched, recorded, produced, and promoted by me. If this series has inspired you to plan a road trip, visit a new town, or uncover a hidden gem, I hope you'll consider supporting the show. Just click support the show, buy me a coffee in your show notes to make a contribution today. Thank you for being part of this journey, and for helping me continue telling the stories of Virginia's most inspiring adventure towns. Two days after climbing Little Stony Man, I was on a flight to San Francisco.
• 17:42
  Jessica Bowser: Now, this was one of my husband's work trips, so I was just tagging along with him. He had already been there a couple of days, and then I joined up with him midweek. The first thing that I noticed was the unbelievable views from the hotel room on the 23rd floor, where I had views of most of downtown Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 Alcatraz, I could see Angel Island, Coit Tower, Saints Peter and Paul Church, and of course the surrounding mountains and the bay. I mean, it was the most amazing view. The only thing I could not see from the hotel room was the Golden Gate Bridge, but pretty much everything else, and I got there just in time for sunset. Oh my god, such a beautiful city. I loved it so much. The next day I decided I was going to head out on my own.
• 18:33
  Jessica Bowser: My husband had some work meetings for the rest of the week, so I had some time to myself. This was the week before Memorial Day, so the idea was that I would have a couple days to do what I wanted to do, and then he and I would have a long weekend together. So the next day I headed out, I started at the Golden Gate Bridge and walked all the way back to Fisherman's Wharf at Pier 39 so it was about seven miles. Took me most of the day because I was meandering pretty slowly, looking for wildlife, looking for birds, but what I did not know about that area is that there are so many national park sites all along the water. So I got to the Golden Gate Bridge, and the first thing I saw was a bunch of people surfing, and San Francisco this time of year it's like in the 60s, and it was pretty like overcast, and it felt sort of colder than I think it actually was. Beat it, definitely beat the weather here in Virginia. If you remember, before Memorial Day, it just like downpoured the entire week, so at least I wasn't here in that mess.
• 19:36
  Jessica Bowser: But I got there just before that, so I, I was happy to take the 65 degree weather, cloudy or not cloudy, and just roll with it, but it felt cold, and what I noticed is that that did not stop anybody. There were people surfing, there were people swimming, and I was just sort of like, really, in this weather, like I think I would have been too cold to even. And get on a bike, people were whizzing by on bikes, and I was like, okay, so I guess when it's always 65 and it always looks like this, then you don't really have an option, you go. So that was fun to see.
• 20:12
  Jessica Bowser: The other interesting thing about all of these national park sites is that several of them were former forts, and so now they have been converted to open areas where people can enjoy open space and and or park their boats or fish, there were lots of places to stop all along the way. So I hit Golden Gate Bridge. From there I went to Chrissy Lagoon and Marsh, which was a hot spot for birding, so I wanted to hit that. I stopped by the Palace of Fine Arts, which is an outdoor space with beautiful architecture, think like large pillars and arches and a moat all around, so there was great wildlife viewing opportunities there. I went by Fort Mason, and had lunch, saw lots of shorebirds, and then I stopped at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, which is really just an open park on the water, conveniently right across the street from the Ghirardelli factory, where I stopped in for the world famous ice cream sundae, and then found myself across the other side of the street in the National Park Museum, which focuses on West Coast seafaring history. I thought that was really interesting, because the museum itself is housed in the former First Del Monte factory, where they used to can peaches, so if you know anything about the history of the Dust Bowl and people moving from like the Oklahoma area to California to pick fruit and the migrant camps and the history of labor unionizing in that area, I mean, it just, it was so cool to be inside that former factory and to learn about all of that history, so I thought it was interesting and would recommend it for anybody. Then, on the next day, I went to the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge to the Richardson Bay Autobahn Center. So, Autobahn has what they call Auto Bond centers all over the US. Not every state has one. Some states have more than one, and when I was in last in San Francisco, I went to the Auto Bond Center in San Francisco, and realized that they had a passport stamp book, just like the national parks do, and so I picked one up, and I have since been trying to get it stamped. I could kick myself, because there's like, you know, 25 locations in that book where I could, where I have been in the past, and could have visited, and could have gotten my passport book stamped, but didn't know about it then. So, what am I going to do? I guess I'm just going to revisit some places, and then be encouraged to visit others. But most of these auto bond centers are a combination of an educational center on a plot of land that has been bought by them and offers trails and really great birding opportunities, so I went up to the Richardson Bay Autobahn Center. I got a lifer, elegant turn, bam, and that's all I'm going to say about the Autobahn Center. It was small. I got through it in a very short amount of time, I was very surprised to find a Montessori school on the property in sessions, so there were kind of kids all over the place, but also really beautiful, beautiful property, and a historic home on the property as well.
• 23:34
  Jessica Bowser: And then, in the evening, I went to a baseball game at Oracle Park, and the thing that most surprised me there is that apparently people will kayak up to the ballpark, and they will stay in their kayaks in the water during the game, hoping for a ball to be hit into the bay, and then they paddle on in their kayaks to retrieve the ball, and I had heard that, like, my husband was telling me this, and I'm like, no way. So we get there, and we're walking around, sort of the outer edge of the inside of the stadium, and we get to the wall where you can look over and see all these people in the water, and like, sure enough, there are these there are people out there in their PFDs, and they've got headphones on, and they're listening to the game, and they've got these like nets on a stick in case the ball comes over, and I was like, yeah, if we come back here, this is how I'm watching the game. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than having to go in and get seats, but we actually did have really nice seats. He got us club level seats, so we had great seats.
• 24:36
  Jessica Bowser: Unfortunately, San Francisco's baseball team is pretty terrible. They got clobbered by the White Sox, and so we were out of there kind of early on day four of the trip. We decided to take a day trip south of the city down Route One on the Pacific Coast to Half Moon Bay, rugged beaches, scenic marinas, small. Coastal towns pretty much offering everything from ocean kayaking to cliffside dining, so if you are an outdoorsy person and you're looking to move to San Francisco, I think this is probably the part of town I'd be looking in, lots of state parks and trails, neighborhood beaches, cliffs, oysters, and fish tacos galore, so I was in my element. So we went to Half Moon Bay, walked around this cute, adorable town, and then started making our way back up north. We stopped at Montera State Beach to hike the Gray Whale Cove Trail. So this is a cliffside trail, and you can see Route One winding below you. It looked like a car commercial, you know, those car commercials where you see the car driving along the side of a cliff over an ocean, like this was it. So it was really, really beautiful.
• 25:53
  Jessica Bowser: And I will say, though, no trees again, so the sun is kind of a bit much for me. I mean, luckily it wasn't too terribly hot. I did start to sweat a little bit on the first incline, but after that I was fine. And it's very windy because you're next to the ocean, so even if you get sweaty, it sort of evaporates right off of you pretty quickly.
• 26:17
  Jessica Bowser: But I don't know if I like this idea of not having trees, and I'm not so sure. Yeah, I just..
• 26:22
  Jessica Bowser: I don't know how you would feel about it. Let me know. I'm kind of curious, because there's so many people who love California and Denver, and like, so many in LA, and I love those places too.
• 26:33
  Jessica Bowser: But I go there, and I'm like, where are the trees? Like, palm trees are not enough. I need a forest around me, and I just don't know how I would feel about not having a forest. That would be very, very weird to me.
• 26:49
  Jessica Bowser: So, I don't know. It's beautiful outdoor space. I'm sure the people who live there love it, but I just.. I don't know if I'd ever get over not having trees.
• 26:57
  Jessica Bowser: So, anyway, so I hiked that trail for a little bit, left my husband in the car because he decided to take in a post lunch nap and wasn't interested in going up the trail, so I had to keep that one short.
• 27:14
  Jessica Bowser: We did stop at a neighborhood park that was had access to the beach, but again, like the neighborhood is at the top of these cliffs, and then you have to go down sort of a steep, steep stairway to get down to the beach, and I'm standing on the top in like a coat with my hat pulled up over my head, and like my sleeves over my hands, and it's extremely windy, and like my eyes are watering and my nose is running and I'm looking down on the beach at all these people who are sitting out on blankets and they've got their umbrellas but they're all dressed like it's winter and I'm like how did people do this here I mean the beach experience must be completely different it wasn't stopping anybody. It was Memorial Day weekend by that point. Plenty of people were out, but really I was like, I don't know how it would feel about.. I mean, I love the beach in winter. It's my absolute favorite time to go, but I'm not sitting out on a chair under an umbrella trying to grill, you know? I'm hiking, I'm, you know, in motion the entire time, and I just don't know that I could sit on a beach in the cold like that, as if it were 80 degrees out, but that's what all these people were doing. So, really interesting to me. I'm definitely not familiar with that type of beach culture, but the last trail we did was the most interesting. It's called the Devil's Slide Trail. As you work your way up Route One, there is an area where Route One passes through a tunnel in the mountain, but before that tunnel was built, it went out around the side of the mountain. This is in San Mateo County. It's a San Mateo County Park. It was basically one of the most treacherous sections of Route One, where there were constant landslides, like rock landslides and accidents and closures, and so they had to build the tunnel to avoid the dangers of that section of Route One. So now the portion that used to be the road is a trail, so it's accessible by foot only, and it has some of the best cliffside views in the entire area. I was reading that it's supposed to be an excellent location for bird watching, but also for whale watching. We were not there for the right time of year for that. I would assume that that would be during migration, because whales migrate, and you would probably see them then. We didn't see any, but we did see a young pair of peregrine falcons putting on a show. They were chasing each other through the air, and their aerial stunts were really amazing to watch. Also, this section of trail. Trail is going to be a piece of the California Coastal Trail, which, when it's complete, is going to extend 1200 miles from Oregon to Mexico. So I am really excited about that. I wonder if it's going to be similar to the PCT, the Pacific Coast Trail. I don't know when that's going to be complete, but I'm going to be keeping an eye out for that.
• 30:18
  Jessica Bowser: Aside from it being exceptionally beautiful, it was so windy. Oh my goodness, it was like taking one step forward and getting pushed two steps back.
• 30:30
  Jessica Bowser: That's literally how windy it was. Like, we were having a hard time moving. I had to keep everything like close to me, so that I wasn't gonna lose anything. I kept everything in my pockets. I didn't take anything out, because I was just worried it was all gonna blow away, but it was worth it. We didn't do a whole lot of the trail, just because of the wind and the cold, and I think we were just kind of getting tired at that point. If you are in the area, I would say for sure this is a must-do spot. I, if I go back, I would love to be able to hike a little bit more of the trail. The views were so epic.
• 31:05
  Jessica Bowser: The other cool thing was there is this rock island out there called Egg Rock, and I'm looking out at this and I can see that there's something on this rock, and I'm thinking to myself, those look like penguins.
• 31:18
  Jessica Bowser: Of course, it was like completely illogical that there would be penguins out there in California, but I'm like, what the heck is that? Like, what else would it be? And then it occurred to me they must be common mures, and I said to my husband, I think those are common mures out there, and he's like, way to go, Einstein, did you read the sign? And I'm like, oh, there's a sign about it, and then I read that this population of common muirs had been wiped out at one point, and they had to reintroduce them, so now they're protected, so you get to see this protected colony of common mures out on Egg Rock, and then at the end of the day we we headed back towards the city, I really wanted to find my way up to Coits Tower, which is at one of the highest points in the, in the city. It's on top of Telegraph Hill. It's this art deco monument that somebody built because they wanted, because they wanted to. They, they had this vision for this art deco tower that they wanted to install, and so they did.
• 32:15
  Jessica Bowser: It's surrounded by a residential neighborhood. You've got to drive up really steep, winding roads to get up to it, but I could have cared less about the tower or the views. I was there for the red masked parakeets, which is an introduced flock of birds. You can find them all throughout the city, and occasionally, like, we would be driving somewhere or going somewhere, and I could hear them calling because they are so loud and obnoxious, but they roost up at the tower at night, so if you're looking for them, the best time to go up there is like an hour or so before sunset, and they will all start to come together and come in as a group, and you'll see them moving through the trees, and so I was just like in my glory watching these bright green bodied birds with these bright red faces, and at one point I was standing underneath. Well, I guess there were trees, or maybe there was some sort of brush, but they were perched in the trees, and they were just squawking their faces off. And I have this great video of them flying right over me. So, red masked parakeets at Coit Tower are an experience almost as much as, and this is my opinion, only almost as much as the seals and the sea lions at the wharf. Everybody goes there to see wildlife, and no, we did not see chonkers. I know that that sea lion has gotten really famous in recent months, because it is massive, it's a different species of sea lion, and so it's much bigger than the other sea lions that are there.
• 33:47
  Jessica Bowser: We did not get to see it. We apparently it migrates through the area, and it usually only stops. He usually only stops for a few days, but this time he stayed for a few weeks, and just because of his massive size, he started to draw a lot of crowds, and he had moved on, like just before we got there, of course.
• 34:05
  Jessica Bowser: So, we did not get to see Chonkers, but still, I got to see Red Mask Parakeets. So, there you go. Last day in San Francisco. Last adventure I'm going to share with you was a day trip to Muir Woods National Monument. Many people know about Muir Woods. It's sort of infamous for their old growth coastal redwoods. It's the last protected grove in the San Francisco area, so it's very popular, and I'm going to talk a little bit about the experience, but also the logistics of getting there, so you do need reservations. The last time I was in San Francisco, which I think was four years ago, we tried to get reservations less than a week in advance, and there was.. it wasn't happening.
• 34:52
  Jessica Bowser: There was nothing available. We also couldn't get a rental car in that amount of time either, which was kind of frustrating, and you know, we knew. With next time we needed to plan ahead, so we got reservations at least a few weeks in advance.
• 35:05
  Jessica Bowser: My husband was saying that the only time slots available were early in the morning, which actually worked out better because they tell you to go early in the morning or later in the afternoon if you want to avoid the crowds, and boy are there crowds, so be prepared for that, if you're thinking this is going to be some otherworldly experience, where you're walking amongst the redwoods in this old growth forest, and it's going to transform you. The only thing it's going to do is annoy you.
• 35:34
  Jessica Bowser: I'm sorry to say, because there are people everywhere, and you know what that is like to be surrounded by people everywhere, and even at like nine in the morning, that's exactly what it was like. So, you need to have your reservation. There are people who tell you where to park, and then you have to walk.
• 35:52
  Jessica Bowser: I'm actually really glad that we did it early, because there are several parking lots, and the other parking lots were a really far walk from the entrance to the monument, so the fact that we were a short walk, I was really grateful for, because it was raining when we got there, and the other thing is, the weather is different, it's cooler, it's wetter, so be prepared with layers with raincoats, like all the rain gear you're going to need, and so we walked aways crazy lines at the restrooms, and you do have to show your passes and everything to get in, but then once you get in, it's actually a very small national monument, or very small. I'm not going to call it a park, because they don't call it a park, which means it's not a park, but it's basically like a park, so it's a very small area. The trails are not very long. There is sort of one main trail that kind of runs through the middle that everybody walks down, takes you past like all of the major sites and the highlights of the place, but the first thing that I heard when we walked through the entrance was a Pacific Wren, and I just.. I'm going to play this, okay? So, I haven't played any bird songs up till now, so I'm just going to play this one, because you have to get a sense for what it's like to go through the entrance to see the first enormous trees, and then you hear this, you Isn't that just so beautiful? Oh my gosh, I mean, they're obviously related to our Carolina wrens here on the East Coast, but you only find Pacific wrens on the West Coast, and they are plentiful in your woods, so you will be serenaded by these birds through your entire visit. I just loved it, but we got to walk amongst the redwoods. There is something called the Bicentennial Tree, which is like a crosscut section of a 200 year old redwood. It's right along the Bohemian Trail, and it's marked with a historical timeline of world events, so that you get an idea of like how old this tree really is. So they had things marked like the California Gold Rush, the debt when the Declaration of Independence was signed, and then they had a marker for something that happened in 1607 and I do hope that you know what that is. Otherwise, the fourth-grade teacher in me is going to be very disappointed.
• 38:27
  Jessica Bowser: But just in case you don't, it is the establishment of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown. So, I thought that was cool that there was a Virginia connection there.
• 38:37
  Jessica Bowser: The other Virginia connection I learned when I was there, is that redwoods are part of the same family as our cypress trees here in Virginia. So I thought it was really cool, because as soon as I read that, I was like, oh yeah, absolutely, I can totally see how these two trees are related. Our bald cypress are huge, not as big as the redwoods, but they are big trees here in Virginia.
• 39:00
  Jessica Bowser: They have the knees, what they call them, you know, the roots that pop up through the water to help the tree breathe, and the redwoods have these, you know, broad expansive root bases, just similar to the bald cypress, here the leaves kind of look similar, the bark looks similar, so I thought that was really kind of neat, I was like, oh, yeah, that's cool. I can see the connection there. Otherwise, we walked down the trail, and there's an area called the Cathedral Grove, where they ask you to speak in hushed tones to preserve the tranquil atmosphere. I will tell you that absolutely hardly anybody does.
• 39:37
  Jessica Bowser: There are people carrying on conversations, there are kids running around and screaming. It is, it's a little much. It was too, it was too much for me.
• 39:45
  Jessica Bowser: Maybe some people have more tolerance for that, but, like, I don't. I was really frustrated at one point. I heard a Wilson's Warbler singing, and I was trying to find it. I was standing off to the side of the trail, so I wouldn't be in anybody's way. And like this family just like I don't know what they were doing, they were trying to see some mushrooms or something that was off to the side of the trail, and like next thing I know there's all these people like right on top of me, some kid is standing on my foot, and I was just like, I can't do this, I'm done, and so we just tried to get through it as quickly as we could, which is not a way to experience a place like Muir Woods. I would say, if I was.. well, I don't even know if I would do it again. To be honest, I felt like it was was worth doing one time. It was beautiful, to be completely honest. It was not as impressive as I thought it was going to be.
• 40:39
  Jessica Bowser: I know, a lot of you commented on my photos that I did a great job capturing, like the size and the grandeur of the place, and that is very difficult to do, but at the same time I was sort of like, oh, that these aren't quite as big as I thought they were gonna be. I guess maybe I was envisioning like the sequoias or something, I don't know, these trees are not quite that size, so it was cool to see. Now, here's the trick.
• 41:02
  Jessica Bowser: Okay, if you're going to visit the area, this is what you need to do. So, Mount Tamal Pius, I hope I'm saying that correctly, is a state park adjoining Muir Woods. There are trails that connect from Muir Woods into the state park, so if you keep going down the main trail through Muir Woods, you will know instantaneously when you meet the point where it becomes a state park, because all of a sudden everybody disappears, the crowds are gone, like it's almost like you cross this magical line and you don't see anybody. So I don't know if there are, I mean, I would assume there would have to be access points to the state park that are not through the main entrance of Muir Woods. If I was going back, I would find them. I didn't take the time to look for them this time. Now I know better. That is definitely the way that I would get in next time around, and I would spend more time in the state park. I mean, the highest concentration of the biggest trees is within the Muir Woods boundary, but you're still going to see huge redwoods through the state park, and the trail that I took through the state park was a loop. It ran along the side of a stream, so it was really pretty.
• 42:14
  Jessica Bowser: As the elevation increased, then there were waterfalls and views.
• 42:21
  Jessica Bowser: Honestly, that was when I finally relaxed, because there weren't people all over me at that point, and I just felt like I could breathe and I could move. That was the most enjoyable part of the trip to me. Now, as you can probably guess, my husband was not with me on that portion.
• 42:37
  Jessica Bowser: He did the paved boardwalk through Muir Woods, and then told me I could find him in the cafe when I was done, so I didn't get to spend as much time in the state park as I would have liked to, because I had somebody waiting for me in the cafe, but when I come back, and I'm sure that I will, I'm gonna map out a completely different route, and I'm either gonna be solo or I'm going to be with somebody who hikes, and we are going to do it from the state park in, and not from your woods out. So that would be my recommendation in that circumstance. Once I finished up, I did find him back in the cafe. He had found a banana slug on his way back, and the area is kind of famous for their big, large, yellow banana slugs. We had looked for them last fall when we were in Seattle at Mount Rainier, and never.. well, we found a dead one floating in a pond, but we never found a live one. So he was really proud of himself that he had found this banana slug, and when I found him in the gift shop, he was buying up every single item they had for sale with banana slugs on them, and there are a lot.
• 43:44
  Jessica Bowser: There were t-shirts and button-down shirts and polos and socks and hats, and he had them all in his hand. Oh my gosh, he is such a tourist. I just.. I can't get over it. Somehow, I don't know. Like, sometimes I just don't know how we ever found our way together, because we're so totally opposite on this. It was a really cool experience. Nevertheless, okay, after we left Muir Woods, and Muir Woods does not.. I mean, I just said it was very small. It does not take long to get through. I think like an hour and a half to two hours is probably pretty good if you're just moving at a normal pace, after we left Muir Woods, we stopped at Pelican Inn English Pub, which is kind of famous in the area, and we were passing signs from Muir Beach, so we decided to go there too. Muir Beach has a 450 foot pedestrian bridge to an overlook over a cliff, and these are those dramatic seaside cliffs again.
• 44:44
  Jessica Bowser: More peregrine falcons, there were historic World War Two bunkers built there, and so you can see those, and that was just a quick stop. There's not much to do there, unless you're going to picnic or something. Small parking lot, some pit toilets, but the views that pedestrian.
• 44:57
  Jessica Bowser: Bridge out to the cliffside to see the views, that's kind of what you're there for. Then we drove back to the city, and we stopped at the overlooks for views of the Golden Gate Bridge.
• 45:08
  Jessica Bowser: If you've never been across the Golden Gate Bridge, once you cross the bridge going away from the city, immediately on your right side, once you get off the bridge, there's a pull off where you can stop to see the bridge, they don't have anything quite like that on the city side of the bridge, so once you get to the other side, that's the place you're going to want to stop, and then, of course, you can see the entire city skyline from there too. So we stopped and took some really nice pictures.
• 45:36
  Jessica Bowser: By that point, the sky had cleared. It was always fought, like every morning was foggy that we were there, and then like mid afternoon it would burn off, and then it would be sunny and pretty. So that was our visit to San Francisco. That's going to be all for this solo episode. Don't forget to take the listener survey and be entered into the drawing for a gift card to River Rock Outfitter. You can find the link to that survey in your show notes. Please do let me know what you thought about this solo episode, and if you would like to hear more about adventures outside of Virginia, tune in next week for a brand new episode about the new trails at Breaks Park. And until then, Adventure On, Virginia. Virginia Outdoor Adventures is inspired by and supported by listeners like you, which is why your messages and feedback means so much to me.
• 46:32
  Jessica Bowser: You can text me directly by clicking on Send Jessica a text message in your show notes. I answer questions, respond to comments, and share your feedback on the show. Never miss a new episode. Sign up for my email newsletter and receive my listener resource guide with the top podcast episodes, a Virginia Outdoor Bucket List, and exclusive brand discounts for my listeners. Click on newsletter sign up in your show notes or visit Virginia Outdoor adventures.com Thanks for listening. Until next time, Adventure On.
• 47:12
  Unknown: Bye.