Week 7(?) - Hike 3: Skyline-Stream Trail

I am having a hard time figuring out what week I am in, partly because of the annoying "add 2 weeks on to the front" rule, and partly because, with a 2-year old, remembering your LMP is hazy. Anyway, its probably the beginning of week 7, and geez, do I feel prego. I am really tired, and my boobs are huge, and I feel ill constantly. Plus, I am definitely showing, at least in my own head, and my regular pants already don't button like they should. A moderately strenuous hike is just what the doctor ordered, right?

Yesterday, we hiked northeast on the Skyline Trail (to the left starting at the staging area) into the Prince Road Trail. We then went right where the PR hits the Stream Trail, and hiked back up to the Skyline staging area.* It's a hike we do all the time (about 3.5 miles), but yesterday it felt like an ass-kicker. Skyline is really popular with dogwalkers, and it is broad with easy hills. The Prince Road Trail is a fairly steep descent but over a long enough stretch that you don't feel like you are going to fall. At the end of the trail, there's a fork to go either way on the Stream Trail. Go to the left and you head further southeast into Redwood (and away from your car). Go right and you follow a stream through a grove of redwoods and bay trees. It was cool, almost cold, and the smell was wonderful. The redwood/bay/eucalyptus smell should be bottled up for pregnant women to help alleviate nausea. At the end of the stream, there is the first steep ascent. Not steep like you are clambering up a cliff but steady uphill and kind of tiring. We then hit Girls' Camp, where they have running water bathrooms (I didn't see a water fountain but the map says there's water). The trail becomes wide and dry there, because it comes out of the woods. Again, there is a steady uphill climb that warrants a break or 2.

Each hiker needs at least half a Nalgene bottle worth of water (16 oz?), and you need sneakers or hiking shoes. I forgot to bring my cell phone, so I don't know if there's reception. Dogs are welcome but must be on leash on the Stream Trail where it follows the stream.

Directions to the Skyline staging area: (1) not helpful ones; (2) mine: From 13 South, get off at Park Blvd exit, and go left at the left. Go left at the next light onto Mountain Blvd (I believe). At the first light, go right onto Snake Road, which turns into Shepherd's Canyon Road (stay straight on Shepherd's Canyon, rather than turning left to stay on Snake). Take Shepherd's Canyon up up up, until it hits Skyline and go right. Take Skyline Blvd about 1 mile, and the parking lot will be on your left.

*These are all in Redwood Regional Park.