This was a short camping plus hiking trip. We arrived at the Sanborn Skyline County Park on Friday evening, pitched our tent there for the night. Early next morning, we hiked around the park. We started on the Sanborn Trail at the campground, then walked along the San Andreas fault trail and came back via the Peterson trail. It was really quiet and peaceful in the morning. Not a whole lot of people around. The trails were mostly covered except for a few patches of sunlight.
Here is a larger map of this hike. This was a short hike, approximately 4.5 miles, with an elevation gain of ~1200 feet (the Android had some trouble hanging on to the GPS signal because of the thick tree cover, so the stats aren't that accurate).
We went to Rancho San Antonio this morning on the recommendation of a friend. This was a very good hike. It begins with a consistent uphill, and once you get to the top the view is really pretty. On a cloudy day like today, it looks almost Costa Rican, as a fellow hiker noted. We saw some busy hummingbirds, several Californian blue jays, many rabbits, black squirrels, a colony of ants (possibly redecorating a recently acquired home).
Here is a larger map of this hike. We walked for about 7 miles in all and recorded an elevation gain of ~1700 feet on the Android.
This was our second trip to the Mission Peak Regional Preserve in Fremont. The hike up to Mission Peak is a consistent uphill climb of about 2200 feet. At the peak, you get a fantastic view of the bay area. On a clear day (like today) you can even see the SF downtown in the distance. We walked beyond Mission Peak towards Mt. Allison for a while and then turned around and took a slightly different trail back.
Here's a larger map of this hike. The hike was a little over 8 miles long, and had an elevation gain of 2200 ft.
In case you're thinking of going up this trail, be sure to pick an early morning or a cloudy day. The trail is totally exposed to the sun, so it is best to get to the top while the sun is not too strong.
This was a very balanced hike. There was a gentle walk to reach the trailhead, then an intense climb up to the top. We chose to leave our car near the highway rather than drive it over the rough dirt road. The distance from the trailhead to the top is under a mile, so the initial walk is a great warm-up. The track is not accurate inside the park due to the thick tree cover. On many spots, the Sun was blocked out completely, and we had a tough time keeping track of our location. The view from the top was spectacular: the Pacific Ocean, and a huge forest of stately Redwood trees.
Here's the larger map of the Ano Nuevo hike. The hike was a little over 7 miles long, and had an elevation gain of 1400 ft.
This was our first hike of the season. After many weeks of constant rain it was great to be out in the open. It was also a much awaited opportunity for us to try out the My Tracks program on Vikram's Android phone. My Tracks is a really cool program. It keeps a track of how much you've walked, what speed you're going at and even the elevation change. The program also includes a compass; very useful if you're confused about which direction you're heading in. All in all, Vikram and I were very pleased with My Tracks and I suspect we'll be using it frequently.
Here's the larger map of our hike route, generated by My Tracks. The hike was 6.7 miles long and had an elevation gain of 1047 ft.
A friend of ours was involved in a car accident recently. Car collisions are very common in India, most Indians know a friend who has been in a car collision, usually with horrific outcomes. For the number of cars in India, the fatality rate is unusually high. Here are the numbers.
In 2009, India had roughly 114,000 road fatalities, and roughly 12.3 million vehicles. The fatality per vehicle in India is roughly 114/12300 = 0.0093 or roughly 0.01. For every hundred cars, there is one fatality.
For comparison, in 2007, the US had 41,000 road fatalities, and 254 million vehicles. The fatality per vehicle is .00016, or roughly 0.0002. For every ten thousand cars in the US, there are two fatalities.
The two rates are off by a factor of fifty! For every fifty cars that are involved in a fatal accident in India, one car is involved in a fatal accident in the US.
This glosses over some key differences, like occupancy of individual cars. Vehicles in the US have one or two passengers, while Indian vehicles are more likely to have three or more people. But even that cannot account for the huge difference. Even assuming that Indian cars have twice the number of passengers, you are twenty five times more likely to die on the road in India than in the US. This number is still very large. When you account for average speeds (significantly lower in India), the numbers look even worse. Driving at higher speeds is inherently more dangerous, and the speed of traffic in the US is much higher than in India. All put together, the factor of fifty is still too high.
One key difference between the US and India is that traffic laws are not enforced in India and are thus not followed. Here is an example of the chaos that ensues: cars on the wrong side of the road, drivers rushing past a stop light, and confusion at every intersection. Policemen can be bribed with small currency: Rs.200 ($4) settles most matters. Many drivers have forged licenses, and even the official driving test doesn't ensure that the driver knows all the rules.
In comparison, even in the worst traffic in the US: Los Angeles at rush hour, everyone follows the rules, there's nobody coming in the wrong direction. Nobody splits lanes, and even though it is frustrating, people follow the rules. Driving in LA isn't fun: the drivers can be edgy and rash, but even at its worst, the traffic is a lot more sane than on Indian roads.
It's no wonder that the fatality rate is so high in India.
