Tom offers a big wet kiss to Bay Area trails.

… here I remain, a quarter of a century later, no worse for wear (except for that nagging bum ankle). But I still often ask myself, “What am I doing here?” and the call of “Bay Area Wild” always answers.

Probably won’t be much fun out there this weekend … I have to go out of town for a couple days so I’ll be getting no hikes in, either. But if somebody feels brave and  mud-resistant, Sunday ought to be a good day to check out Murietta Falls, though I wonder if most of this weekend’s rain will get soaked up by ground dry as a sponge left out in the sun for a couple days. If so there might not be much runoff, so you’d be hiking 12 miles with 4,000 feet of elevation gain for … well, it wouldn’t be nothing.

The Ohlone Wilderness Trail can have fantastic views when stormy weather’s passing through — clouds breaking up and sun peeking through and all of it decorating the rough hills and valleys.