It wasn't a hiking vacation, but I did manage to work in a couple of hikes.
First up is the Cosumnes River Preserve (
http://www.cosumnes.org/activities/#hiking), which is south of Sacramento. This is a great family hike. There's a nature center with hand-on displays, and then several different trails. You can probably get up to 4 miles of hiking if you want to. We did probably about 2 miles as a lollipop hike. We could have made a bigger loop, but that part of the trail was in full sun, so we opted to stick to the shade and the slough.
Next, we went to Lompoc, CA. The family was tired from traveling, so I decided to hike on my own at La Purisima Mission. This is one of my favorite places from childhood, but I have toured the buildings a million times, give or take a few, so I hiked up to the cross on a hill above the mission, which is about 1/3-1/2 mile on a sandy trail. Then I hiked what's called the lower loop, which means you hike on the El Camino Real (the original highway between the missions, which was paved at one time but is no longer maintained as a paved road) out to the back gate of the park, and then back down the Las Zanjas trail, which follows the original aqueduct system (and you do get to see some of the structures that are/were part of the system, which still works). It's about 2.25 miles altogether. You can definitely make a longer hike, too - there's a whole network of trails, and a suggested 5 mile hike.
Finally, we visited Yosemite, but we really didn't hike. In fact, we took the tram tour.
We were only there for one night, and the family wasn't really into doing much. But, it was great, and I definitely want to go back and hike.
--Kathleen. Or K-Mac. As in KMC, because that's what people have taken to calling me here. :-)
