Another beautiful day out in the hills south of Stanford. Los Trancos and Monte Bello are on opposite sides of Old Page Mill Road, a little closer to campus than Russian Ridge. Both feature a stunning array of ecosystem and species diversity. I had a field day -- literally.

If you're wondering how the California bar went, it was okay. I'm really happy to be done, and have been relaxing ever since it finished. My goal is to do all the cool things in the Bay Area that I've never gotten the chance to do..

I'll post a retrospective on the Bar in a little bit. I'm still waiting for the pain to subside.





Full Flickr set here.

The weather continues to be beautiful. I went on a three-hour hike/photo expedition of the Russian Ridge open space preserve today. It was hot, but incredibly scenic. I guess I could have used the additional time to study but.. I'm doing enough of that already.

The variety of scenery and wildlife in the foothills is simply amazing. I can't believe all of this is half an hour away from me, and that I've visited so few times during my three years here.. My new goal, after the Bar Exam, is to visit every major open space preserve in the Bay Area.

My favorite part of Russian Ridge is the Ancient Oaks trail -- it's always cool, shady and moist under the trees there, even if it's hot and dusty on the trail.
Update: full Flickr set here.

Instead of spending the day studying, I went with the Environmental Law Society to see tidepools at Fitzgerald Marine Preserve/Moss Beach just north of Half Moon Bay. I saw snails, anemones, chitons, a nudibranch, sea stars, starfishes, and urchins -- felt like I was in Life Science 1 class all over again. Absolutely beautiful.












I've uploaded the whole set to Flickr.

I went hiking in the Hollywood Hills today.. the day after a rain, such as today, is always the best day to go because LA's hazy skies temporarily clear up. The weather was still a bit miserable, but it's the skies that count.

From the higher trails, you get a clear view of the Griffith Observatory and Downtown. As you climb higher and higher, successively more of the horizon gets revealed..


These rays of light looked even more dramatic in person, but for some reason, they doesn't turn out well on cameras..


This is typical of the scenery near the bottom of the hiking trail.


I go back to Palo Alto in two days..! I'm not ready for finals!