Book Review! Best Hikes With Kids: San Francisco Bay Area

Best Hikes with Kids: San Francisco Bay Area

By Laure Latham

Copyright: 2011

Publisher: TheMountaineers Books

General subject matter: hiking, California, family recreation

Laure’s blog: http://frogmom.com

I have a fairly good book collection about local hikes and outdoor places, and one of the superior ones is Laure Latham’s Best Hikes with Kids San Francisco Bay Area. Someone once recommended this book long before I acquired it, and at the time I shook my head, thinking the hikes would be too easy. Little did I know. Easy doesn't mean boring, and when you have children, easy to moderate hikes that are full of interesting things to see and do are what turns recalcitrant children into inquisitive, happy beings. Once I acquired Laure's book, I loved it! The reasons are numerous: it has an intelligent introduction, comprehensive chapters, great organization, family focus, and breadth of trails, many which are new to me.

(credit: randsco.com)

KID FACTOR

Dad, 2-month-old baby, 4-yr-old kid

Laure believes all ages can and should hike. In her introduction she expands on Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods book and his philosophy to bring children into outdoor spaces by advocating that even babies should be taken hiking, claiming “they are the best hikers.” Laure shares her positive experience hiking with a seven week old baby in Yosemite (which triggers fond memories of taking my thirteen-day-old baby around Bayview Hill in San Francisco).

FUN FACTOR

Laure emphasizes having fun. Some of the tips she has for motivating children include having them hike with friends, telling stories out loud (she’s got a great list of recommended books), doing arts and crafts on the trail, building fairy houses, and bringing lots of snacks. Practical tips, but potentially forgotten or de-emphasized by tired parents in their rush to get out the door, or finish a trail.

Kids on the go! (credit: durangogov.org)

CHAPTERS

A hundred hikes are divided between neighboring counties of San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Solano. There’s a map in the beginning of the book to show you where the hikes are, stretching as far north as Guerneville, as far south as Gilroy, and east from Fairfield.

Each hike has a “Before You Go” info box about maps and relevant web resources, and an info box about the hike’s vital points: length in miles, estimated hiking time, elevation, season, and level (easy, moderate, difficult). There are awesome detailed maps and a photo for each hike.

THE TRAILS LESS TRAVELEED

at Candlestick Point, SF

It seems that Laure likes the trails less traveled, and I must say, I’m quite pleased Laure gave so much attention (two out of ten hikes) to the southern parts of San Francisco: McLaren Park and Candlestick Point. It’s amazing to me how many San Franciscans haven’t been to McLaren or Candlestick, even outdoorsy natives. (Conversely, it’s always a thrill when people say they have gone to these spots). Laure touches on interesting historical points about these parks, like Candlestick’s creation in the wartime of the 1940s, their natural features, like Yosemite Creek which flows through McLaren, and somewhat secret destinations, like the stone labyrinth on top of Visitacion Knob in McLaren Park.

Tarantula (frogmom.com)

Because of Laure’s penchant for less beaten paths, I trust her to lead me someplace great. For instance, she has a fascinating write-up about Mount Diablo’s tarantulas, which you can encounter in the fall on a 2-mile hike in Mitchell Canyon in Contra Costa County.

I love water and walking, but with newborn twins and a double stroller, I’m a little stymied for ideas of where to go to swim and stroll. I appreciate Laure’s write up about a 2.2-mile trail with a paved path at Spring Lake Regional Park in Sonoma County.

Smittle (credit: westernwildflower.com)

Laure describes a flooded town underneath Lake Berryessa in Napa County, and a 1.5-mile loop there at Smittle Creek, including how to identify an osprey nest, and where to get a Junior Ranger activity book for your kid. I appreciate that she recommends the best season to check out a particular trail, and in this case it's in the spring because of the vibrant flowers growing among the green grass. 

Monarch butterflies fascinate both my four-year-old and myself, and we’ve always wanted to see flocks of them. But when, and where? Laure tells where to find monarchs in Santa Cruz County. She recommends an easy 1-mile loop at Natural Bridges State Beach during certain migration months (and one is coming up!). On this hike you’ll also see amazing rock formations (Laure gets into describing the geology too) and get a chance to explore tidepools.

FROGMOM’S WRITING PROCESS

Yes, this is Laure Latham! :-)

One day in early 2010 an editor from The Mountaineers Books contacted Laure because of her blog, Frogmom, which is about kids, creativity, and the outdoors. The editor asked her to write this book, proving that writing about what you love, even through a blog, could give you some awesome cerebral adventures.

Laure created three rules to guide her research and writing:

"First, I wanted my book to be fair to each county and represent the diversity of the Bay Area wherever you lived – not just for San Francisco families. That way, you could take the book with you on a day trip to Sonoma or a day trip to Santa Cruz and still find stuff to do. That meant popular Marin hikes would not be included but people would be able to discover the green side of Napa or Solano.

"Second, I wanted to include sightseeing and nature facts sidebars because I love to combine trails and travel. Seemed like seasonal events would be cool additions too.

"Third and last, I wanted each hike to have specific kid appeal – animal farm, cool nature fact, animal migrations, historic buildings, famous children’s books locations, shipwrecks, native American way of life, etc."

Laure and her book! (credit: frogmom.com)

Nine months later Laure basically gave birth to a manuscript (lol) after having walked 400 miles and 110 hikes. She submitted it to The Mountaineers Books, and it rolled out onto bookstore shelves nearly a year later. You can read Laure’s story here: http://frogmom.com/2011/09/best-hikes-with-kids-san-francisco-bay-area-my-book-is-out/

And better yet, because the written word on printed page shall never die or go out of style, Best Hikes with Kids: San Francisco Bay Area is available and fully able to be stashed in the glove compartment of your minivan, in your baby's diaper bag, or in the undercarriage basket of your stroller. 

Big Break Regional Shoreline--the Delta up close

We escaped the cold summer fog of San Francisco to the delta of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, where days are longer and less cloudy, and Mount Diablo rises in the near background, golden brown and taller than anything else. We headed for the water, and when we were an hour away from San Francisco, we found ourselves at Big Break Regional Shoreline.

Once upon a time, about a century ago, asparagus grew here. In 1928 the levee between Dutch Slough and the San Joaquin River broke and the asparagus farm flooded. Thus, Big Break was born.

Common yellowthroat (Jerry Ting on flickr)

The salty water from the Pacific mixes here with the fresh water coming off from the Sierras, a combination that is particularly tasty for plants and animals. As well, Big Break is a resting place for migratory birds.

The Baby and Kid Factor

Big Break was a great place to bring two newborns in a stroller and one four year old who walked alongside.

The "Delta Discovery Experience" is a half-mile trail (the red trail in the map to the right). With a visitor center, bathrooms, barbecues, grassy areas, a small amphitheater, shaded sandpit, and drinking water nearby, this area is a great place to sit back with a baby, picnic, and relax.

Observation Pier

We rested on an observation pier that jutted 100 feet into the marsh, our faces in the breeze as we looked over the railing at all the hundreds of baby fish swimming in the shallow water. Birds sang in the cottonwoods growing along the shoreline. Tule weeds waved. Rusty farm equipment jutted like enormous sculptures from the bushes. High, thin clouds moved overhead. The babies slept in their stroller, and the big four-year-old didn't want to leave. Being here was the best part of our experience at Big Break. 


If you're lucky you might see a river otter here, as one visitor told us. On our visit we saw lots of birds and tiny fish. If you had a canoe or kayak, you could launch from here. You could fish from here with a license (though I don't recommend eating the bass and catfish you can catch here, but then again what do I know?). If you just want to cool down your little piggies, there's some steps leading down to the cool green water (though the water's not meant for swimming, sadly). 

White Catfish

Delta Map

One of the coolest man-made features of this park, and located right by the observation pier, was a huge three-dimensional map of the Delta region (I’m talking 1,200 square foot—that’s the size of my house!). It showed all the twisting waterways, the serpentine rivers, the cities and towns. My oldest daughter could stand on the top of Mount Diablo, and then stomp across the rolling hills and into Antioch like a giant. The map gave a great perspective on how much moving water courses through this area, and the general lay of the land.

Delta Visitor Center 

The Delta Visitor Center here is the first of its kind, meaning it focuses on the flora, fauna, and history of the Delta. It has all the basic amenities, plus taxidermy and a floor-to-ceiling mural in the back room of all the Delta critters: birds, rivers otters, muskrats, beavers, garter snakes, and western pond turtles. Keep in mind it's only open on the weekends.

The Delta Visitor Center runs all sorts of free kids’ programs on the weekends (Saturdays from 11-noon, Sundays from 2-3 pm). When we visited they had upcoming events like “Macro Invertebrate Mayhem,” “Critter Clues: Tracks,” “Our Wonderful Water Cycle,” and “Ravenous Raptors.” Also on the weekend from 9-10 visitors with kids are invited to learn how to do water testing to track the water quality of the Delta—pretty cool stuff! You can call (510) 544-3050 for more info.

Bicycling

Though I didn’t have the chance to bicycle around, you can bicycle Big Break Trail, 3 miles of paved trail running along the shoreline, going a little inland here and there, and eventually connecting with the Marsh Creek Regional Trail. I think you can keep on going, if you’re game, all the way through Oakley and Brentwood to the Delta de Anza Regional Trail. If the trails are anything like Big Break, they’re flat.

Credit: kqed.org

Directions

Big Break Regional Shoreline

69 Big Break Rd, Oakley, CA ‎

(510) 544-3050 ‎ · ebparks.org

Car: From Highway 4 in Antioch/Oakley, take Highway 160 north, exiting at IA east. Right on Main Street. Left on Big Break Road. Right turn at the sign for Big Break Regional Park.  

Bus: Take Tri Delta Transit #300 to Vintage Parkway and Big Break Road, and walk to the park. www.trideltatransit.com

"Big Break at Dawn" (thepress.net)

Relevant Links

• Exploring Big Break Regional Shoreline / QUEST KQED: http://science.kqed.org/quest/science-hike/big-break-regional-shoreline-exploration/
• East Bay Regional Park District: http://www.ebparks.org/parks/big_break
• Pacific Flyway Council--Migratory Bird Management: http://pacificflyway.gov

Big Break Map (click to enlarge)

View Larger Map

Hill Babies Nominated for Top Mom Blog in Northern California

It's nice to think that this blog--begun as a nonchalant side-project as I was getting my MFA in creative writing from SFSU a couple years ago---is gettin' some recognition. Circle of Moms, a parenting website with 6 million in their audience, nominated Hill Babies for "Top 25 NorCal Moms 2013". That's nice. Unexpected. The trick is, you gotta get votes---anyone can vote, once a day until August 13th, every day if someone likes. This is all I'm gonna write about this. Hill Babies is like #29 (last I looked) in a long list of "mom blogs". 

To vote Hill Babies in the 2013 Top NorCal Mom Blog contest: Click here or go to http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/Top-25-NorCal-Moms-2013. No registration, baloney, spam, etc. Just a clickity clack click.

If you wanna vote for Hill Babies, that's great. If not, that's great too. See you on some trail one of these days. 

xo Jess

Book Review! Fed Up With Frenzy: Slow Parenting in a Fast-Moving World

Fed Up With Frenzy: 

Slow Parenting in a Fast Moving World

by Susan Sachs Lipman

Copyright: 2012

Publisher: Sourcebooks

General Subject Matter: Parenting

Susan’s blog: www.slowfamilyonline.com

One evening during a monthly meeting at my daughter’s nursery school, author and blogger Susan Sachs Lipman visited to talk about “slow parenting.” I had little expectations. I was pregnant and tired, and honestly I just wanted to go home.

As Suz (as she calls herself) talked, her laughter and non-judgmental attitude woke me and piqued my curiosity. She wrote Fed Up With Frenzy: Slow Parenting in a Fast Moving World, the product of a seventeen-year quest for quality time with her daughter. I found myself sitting up, raising my hand, participating in the discussion, and most of all excited for tomorrow when I could spend more time with my three-year-old daughter.

In a few weeks I read Suz’s book, marked pages with stars, underlined sentences, and found myself incredibly inspired. The ideas in the book could be used with kids of all ages, and should be required reading for all caregivers, including parents, babysitters, grandparents, teachers, aunts and uncles.

Topics Covered in Fed up With Frenzy

Suz’s book is organized with an introduction straddling anecdote and research, eleven chapters, and a 15-page resource list. The chapters are the meat and potatoes with a score of ideas in each:

• Slow Activities (i.e. Show an Outdoors Movie, Make Something That Goes)
• Slow Games (i.e. Tag games, Icebreaker Games)
• Slow Crafts (i.e. Classical Scout Craft, Slumber-Party Crafts)
• Slow Kitchen (i.e. Tea Time, Preserved Food)
• Slow Garden (i.e. Welcome Wildlife, Dry Flowers and Herbs)
• Slow Nature (i.e. Cloud Race, Pinecone Folk)
• Slow Seasons (i.e. Celebrate Spring, Welcome Winter)
• Slow Celebrations (i.e. Crafts and Rituals for Special Times)
• Slow Travel (i.e. Travel Games)
• Everyday Slow (i.e. Mealtime Blessings)
• Slow Parenting (i.e. Create Joy)

My Favorite Chapters

Being an outdoorsy person, I focused first on reading the chapters about gardening, nature, seasons, and celebrations. Most of what I read was new to me, and that which wasn’t was a reminder of great things to do with my kid.

The “Slow Garden” Chapter

One of the most important lessons in this chapter is that you don’t need much space to have a garden. Suz raised her daughter in an apartment and gardened on a shady balcony, so she did a lot of vertical gardening (i.e. peas). She lists plants well suited for kids (i.e. lamb’s ears with their fuzzy tactility) and ideas that would charm any age child (i.e. growing a sunflower house). Suz’s ideas would be pure magic for a child, especially for a kid living in an apartment with only a pot of dirt to start with.

 

The “Slow Nature” Chapter

This chapter is the love child of Joseph Cornell’s Sharing Nature with Children, a classic with outdoor games for kids, and Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods, a research-based book about “nature-deficit disorder” in modern kids. Suz’s Girl Scout Leader experience shines through here. One of her clever ideas is “Nature Bracelets” where you turn a piece of masking tape inside-out, fasten it around a child’s wrist, and stick outdoor detritus on it. For older kids, her “Web of Life” activity with a ball of yarn would teach interconnectedness while being fun and fast-moving. A couple other great ideas are making “leaf prints,” or an easy flower press or a loom fashioned out of twigs, or keeping a “Moon Diary,” which struck me as particularly important since I live in the city and am sadly unaware of moon and stars much of the time.

The “Slow Seasons” Chapter

Suz reveres the earth and the passage of time. She is aware of equinoxes and solstices, and encourages the celebration of these occasions. I’m impressed with her historical references and nod to ancestral traditions, even pagan ones (i.e. “Do a Solstice Spiral Dance”).

One great idea is to celebrate the summer solstice: “We traditionally mark the longest day, the summer solstice, at a community wide event on the beach. We enjoy a bonfire, nature storytelling and campfire songs, and a ritual walk around the fire, holding stalks of sweet flowers and herbs, and then throwing them into the fire, both to greet the new season and to let go of things that no longer serve us.” I can’t imagine a kid who wouldn’t find that to be a fabulous party, and with its minimal cost and cleanup, what parent wouldn’t be onboard as well?

Credit: 2bp.blogspot.com

The “Slow Celebrations” Chapter

Suz’s “Slow Celebrations” chapter has great ideas for birthdays, baby showers, and rites of passage. She believes in acknowledging the rite of passage into adolescence, which is often forgotten in our society. Some of the ideas that I liked included making a throne for someone, creating a “wishing jar,” making a marbled-paper journal, and creating family trees, particularly for children who are adopted, marking their tree with the names of everyone they love and who loves them back.

Conclusion

Slow parenting is for anyone, and how much you slow down is  up to you. Suz Lipman started with six minutes a day. How you envision slow parenting is up to you, Suz’s message is, and what she does is unfold a universe of ideas and possibilities. Among the dozens, there are bound to be gems that you’ll love.