1431 – Sibley / Huckleberry Preserve | Walk With Me

Episode 1431 – Sibley | Huckleberry Preserve | Walk With Me

 

[START OF RECORDING]

 

SCOOTER: Friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s time for the podcaster who’s gonna take you on a hike, and even right now we still have twelve interpretive signs to read during the intro as we complete a loop in Huckleberry Regional Preserve here in East Bay, California. The birds are here, I’m here, and we're just gonna take a nice walk together for the next hour or so to take your mind off of stuff and keep you company. If you're new to Sleep With Me, these on-location episodes come out once or twice a month. We put out a lot of different shows. So, keep giving our podcast a try if this one doesn't work for you. It is a bit of a different show.

 

I’m here to be your friend, take your mind off of stuff, and keep you company so you could fall asleep, to be there while you fall asleep instead of putting you to sleep directly. There’s no pressure to fall asleep with this show. I’ll be here over an hour. What we got coming up is support so that paying for the podcast is optional, you know, only for the people that get a lot out of the podcast. For people that are temporary listeners, going through something short-term, or just checking the show out, you don’t gotta worry about it. Then there’s a long, meandering intro separate from the support that’s meant to ease you into bedtime, and then we’ll have our bedtime story, which will be more of a hike that we're already on. So, I’m really glad you're here. I work really hard.

 

I yearn and strive, and if you do listen to the show on a regular basis, if you do fall asleep fast, if you do listen all night long, if you have listened for years, you say, this podcast has made my life so much better, and you want to be a part of something…the show continuing but…that gives to you and so many other people, if that would make you feel good and counting on the podcast would make you feel good and having all sorts of great bonus content would feel good, or you want to just participate, here’s a couple ways you could do it.

 

INTRO: [INTRO MUSIC] Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing? Trouble getting to sleep? Trouble staying asleep? Well, this is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press Play. I’m gonna do the rest. What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever’s keeping you awake. It could be thoughts, things on your mind, thoughts about the past, the present, the future, so, thinking thoughts, feelings, anything coming up for you emotionally, physical sensations, changes in time, temperature, routine, you could be going through something, you could be getting over something. We are on a hike right now, and it’s…we're at…we’ll be going on a hike all night long.

 

We’re at interpretive marker 12 right now. We're doing it in reverse. It’s the California Bay, and there’s trunks of the California Bay. It’s creating a larger, denser canopy than the original tree, which decided to lie down and go to sleep and then let other trees stand on it. That helps…something about thriving. This show is here to help you thrive, believe it or not. So, whatever’s keeping you awake, I’m here to take your mind off of it and keep you company so you could fall asleep. The only reason I kinda go through whatever’s keeping you awake, right, is because…one, I know what it’s like not to be able to fall asleep, to have trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep, waking up. But I also know you deserve a good night's sleep, right?

 

You deserve a bedtime where you could get the rest you need so your life is more manageable and so your day is better tomorrow, and your night’s not like mine was last night for the first hour or so where I just couldn't fall asleep and I felt like I had too much caffeine even though I was like, wait a second, I didn’t. So, I make the show because I know what it feels like. A lot of the other listeners know what it feels like, too. We know what it feels like kinda deep down. Also, I want to help, and the listeners hope this podcast can help you out like it helped them. So, yeah, I am glad you're here. We did miss three of the interpretive markers just 'cause I didn’t know how far off the trail they are. Just a heads up for any completists. We’ll leave those for another day. You always want to leave things un-done.

 

That’s actually…Ray and I have stuff at theme parks we’ve never done, and then we're like, yeah, I don't know if I should do that because I have something that’s yet un-done. But yeah, so, I hope I can help you fall asleep. You deserve a good night's sleep. This show works in a little bit different way. What I do is I send my voice across the deep, dark night. I use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, and superfluous tangents. So, I go off topic, I get mixed up, then I kinda forget what I was talking about. There’s some repetition. A lot of this is…on these hikes is me looking at stuff, getting distracted, telling a story that has nothing to do with anything about Huckleberry Trail or manzanita or anything.

 

But it’s…yeah, it’s all to be here to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff versus putting you to sleep, and that’s one of the things that takes some getting used to, right, is…here we're at…Coast Huckleberry has bright or dark, glossy green leaves, hedge-like growth. Blackberries identify the huckleberry. No berries on it right now. Flowers from April to May and grows in the preserve, and has pear-shaped fruit with a sweeter flavor. Huh, interesting. I don't know if…I guess…I wonder if I've had a huckleberry before. So, yeah, those are the kind of questions…so, this is…I send my voice across the deep, dark night…lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, and superfluous tangents…and this show does take some getting used to.

 

These on-location episodes in particular, these are something that a lot of people…listeners love and only want to listen to these, and then other people they just don’t work for. Most of the listeners, it’s somewhere in-between, right? So, just give the show a few tries, 'cause that’s what most regular listeners said; hey, it took two or three tries to get used to the show, 'cause I was skeptical when I got here, I was doubtful. I didn’t know…I thought you were just gonna put me to sleep. I didn’t think we’d be a number 7 intermediate successional stage. Dense canopy of leaves here. Beneath the canopy there’s the one…brittle-leaf manzanita burls, moss-covered. They're resting.

 

Some have taken a nap for a long time, and there may be competition-free understory, but it is a competition between the chinquapin and the huckleberry. So, somebody let the…whoever the characters in that Disney movie are that I can't…Rafiki is the only one whose name comes to mind. Timone and Pumba and…let them know that, hey, there’s a sleep podcaster out here saying, what about the under…what about the main story? What about the intermediate successional understory? Alright, we're here. We got manzanita burls, which are knobby, swollen structures at the base of the manzanita, and it’s a mass of latent buds that sprout after stuff happens. It gives this plant a competitive edge to produce a flowering, mature shrub faster than shrubs that will rely only on dormant seeds.

 

This podcast is about not making your thoughts dormant totally, but more distracted and at ease. So, just give it a few…podcast a few tries, I think, because every episode is different. Every…I’ll explain a little bit more, I guess. But it just takes some getting used to, 'cause this is a show that’s here to be a friend, a podcast that you kind of barely listen to, which is different; like a TV on in the other room, a show streaming under your pillow, a roommate or a friend that’s talking to you about nothing for a few hours just to keep you company and be a presence there for you, that’s kinda reassuring, kinda distracting, but kinda silly, like number 5, brittle-leaf manzanita. Low-spreading growth, bright green, stalked leaves…it’s a shrubby pioneer of the barrens.

 

Forms dense colonies, a big basil burl…Big Basil Burl sounds like a band member. Flowers in February and March. So, yeah, I’m here to…oh, be barely listened to, right? That takes some getting used to. It’s like, it’s a podcast but I don't…I kinda barely listen to it? Yeah, and it’s also a sleep podcast that’s not here to put you to sleep. There’s no pressure to fall asleep with this show. That’s why I’m out here hiking. It does put a lot of people to sleep, but it’s here for the people that can't sleep at all, too, and that’s why the episodes are over an hour. That’s why we do so many different styles of episodes. There’s TV recap episodes; there’s improved storytelling episodes; there’s written episodes; there’s personal essay-style episodes; there’s trip reports.

 

There’s so many different things because, I don't know, I just…what’s I figured out works over the years is having some variety to help you fall asleep, but more to keep you company while you fall asleep. That’s why there’s no pressure to fall asleep. That’s why there’s a variety of shows, in case you can't sleep, in case 4; chinquapin…chinquapin has boat-shaped, dark leaves, golden fuzz on the undersides, yellow, burl-like fruit, nutlets. Flickers and jays extract the nutlets from thorny burrs in the fallen winter. It’s got a basil burl. The plant flowers from June to September. That was number 3, right? 4. So, we got three more. We're almost…it’s perfect timing here.

 

So, I’m here to…my job is to keep you company while you fall asleep, to be your bore-friend, your bore-bae, your bore-sib, your neigh-bore, your bore-bie, your bores, your bore-friend, your boreman, your Boris Borlaf, your bore…three-petaled manzanita; very rare plant, flowering as early as mid November. Reddish, smooth, crooked branches. This is a rare jewel. It was more widespread in the ridgeline of Skyline Boulevard at one time, but it’s now almost wholly confined to this preserve and one small area on Sobrante Ridge near El Sobrante. In the summer it’s…the sticky, viscid berries adhere to your clothing. Viscid…yeah, I mean, we're here and we're…really, a plant that only exists…I mean, how lucky are we? But you don’t really have to pay attention to me, either.

 

I’m here to keep you company whether you're awake or asleep. That’s what the job of your bore-friend is to do, to be at your side, to be on-call, and someone you could listen to. But again, there’s no pressure to fall asleep. But ideally, yeah, it makes…it brings you comfort, it brings you friendliness, but then maybe it also works that you just fall asleep because of that situation. So, it’s a podcast most people don’t like, you just barely listen to it, it doesn't put you to sleep but you do fall asleep, and the structure of the show is a little bit different. So, let me explain to you the structure of the show as we just finish out this hike here. The show starts off with a greeting; friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, so you feel seen and welcomed in and you say, oh, okay, I might check that podcast out.

 

Then there’s a long, meandering intro that’s meant to ease you into bedtime. Oh, first there’s support; sorry. So, there’s the teaser, we call it, the very beginning of the show, the greeting, then there’s support so that paying for the podcast is optional, and that’s…yeah, so, so many people just come and use this podcast for a little while, you know? While they're going through something tough or they have something coming up or they're on a trip or their work schedule changes, people that are in the middle of something. Then there’s people checking the show out for the first time or just giving it a trial run, and then there’s long-term and mid-term, long-term listeners, right? Between the listener support and the sponsor support, we're able to do that for everybody.

 

But if you decide you want a ad-free experience or the podcast makes your life better, you could support the show. Yeah, in exchange you get ad-free episodes and a bunch of other cool stuff. But that’s what the support’s about, because most people prefer this ad-supported version. They listen linearly and they just listen while they're going through something. Then there’s…after the support, totally separate from the support, is this part, which is a long, meandering intro meant to ease you into bedtime. The intro isn't really designed to put you to sleep.

 

While a small percentage of people fall asleep, most people are getting ready for bed, in bed getting comfortable, or doing some sort wind-down activity or chilling out. It’s 'cause the intro’s kinda like a buffer between the…your waking period and falling asleep, to ease you into bedtime, like a landing strip. That’s what the intro is there for, and we get to hang out, right? If you prefer something without intros, we have Bedtime Stories from Sleep With Me in every podcast app — that’s also ad and listener-supported — or story-only versions on Sleep With Me, or kinda wait and see what works for you if you're new, or try both. Some people listen to the show five nights a week. So, yeah. Then…yeah, I guess that’s kinda the purpose the intro serves. We’ve got some deer buddies that just went by.

 

So, that’s what the intro…goes on and on and on. It’s also supposed to introduce the show but in a kind of inefficient manner, right? But every intro is different. Even these on-location episodes…I record a intro, and as we’ve gotten…we’ve been doing these more and more often…like, at the beginning…earlier in the show we used to do them a lot, and then we kinda moved away from them, and then we’ve kinda found a new way to make them possible. So, I do the episode part, and then once I know what the episode’s gonna be, I do the intro. Instead of just doing some standardized intro or even…sometimes I may have to do a on-location intro from home or something.

 

But I think it’s cool to kinda already be in the environment, have the familiar structure of the intro, though I’m in a different place, I’m following different distractions, I’m looking at birds, I’m looking at manzanita and whatever…other plants, and thinking we have two more interpretive signs left, maybe three. How much distance we have left on this trail? I don't know. So, that’s…the intro goes on and on and on to ease you into bedtime. It could put you to sleep, but it’s more about kinda hanging out and easing you into bedtime. Is that what I was trying to explain? I can't even remember. I think so, and it’s kinda hang time. So, that’s what the intro is.

 

That’s what the structure of the show is, and I guess this will be an extended intro, maybe, 'cause…I know some people are gonna be like, hey, I want those other two…what do you call it? Interpretive signs. But yeah, so, what else do you need to know? The structure of the show…so, the show comes out…well, I don't know in 20…currently when I’m recording this, my show is kinda going through a transition, but we’ll see. By the time you're hearing this, the goal is to put two new episodes out a week, and then we put…oh no, we must have missed 2, 'cause this is 1; pink-flowering currant. Long, pendulous racing…race…racems…R-A-C-E-M. Racems? Of pink, dangling blooms unravelling highly aromatic, sticky leaves as the plant breaks out of its winter dormancy, much like leatherwood. Flowers from January to March.

 

Blue and blackberry forms of this species grow in this preserve. I kinda forgot what I was talking about. Structure of the show…I don't know, but I guess it’s getting…the trail’s getting busier, anyway. So, I’m really glad you're here. I think I covered everything. I work really hard; so do a team of people, and I really hope we can help you fall asleep. Thanks again for coming by, and here’s a couple ways, if this podcast makes your life better, you could help us keep doing it for you and everybody else that it benefits. Thanks.

 

Alright everybody, Scoots here, and I think we're in for a treat. I don't even know if this will be a episode. This is a…could be a Walk With Me episode, or depending on how it goes…or a piece of bonus content, because I’m walking or hiking, and it…I guess I probably would have set it up in the intro, but…so, it’s one of those days where you gotta be flexible, and my plans have changed a few times. I almost wanted to give up and not get out and do something and have an adventure, but oh boy, we're on a little trail here, and…oh, you could breathe with me, too, but I’m smelling some eucalyptus, I’m hearing some birds, I’m looking down into a canyon, and I have…I’m on a trail in a park that I won't get lost in, but I don't have any idea where we're going, and I hadn't planned on coming here.

 

We're at Sibley Volcanic Regional Park, or Robert Sibley or Roberts Sibley Regional Volcanic Park. It has been at least…oh wow, hear that? I don't know what kind of bird or frog that is. But it has been at least twelve years, thirteen, fourteen years, since I’ve even been in this park, and I’m definitely on a trail I’ve never been on before, even though it came right out of the parking lot on the left. Or, I don't think I’ve been on it before. I’ve probably only been hiking in this park once or twice, though when I was checking…if you listen to older episodes, Protector of Oakland Stone Fruit, I would use…this was…I’m up on Skyline Drive in Oakland. Right now I have a view of Mount Non-positive…person involved in the non-positive, post-earthly regions, or one of the figures. Yeah, so, I guess we’ll just walk.

 

How about that? Walk with me, right? We’ll just see how this goes. Unexpected, but I am smiling. I don't know if you could pick up on that. Happy to be out here doing something. So, originally, I had everything prepped today and a plan to do a episode in Golden Gate Park. I was pretty close to departing for that when I found out there had been a miscommunication and my daughter needed a ride. So, I went and got her, and it was somewhat far away. So, then that was a couple hours. Then we ate lunch and got lunch at a grocery store. So, I did a little grocery stopping, unloaded my groceries…and today’s kind of a combo thing. It’s a artist date and a recording. So, these on-location episodes, especially the impromptu ones like this one, are a twofer.

 

It’s kinda like a hobby of the podcast or a hobby version of the podcast, 'cause we're out here in my hobby time. Now I just came up on a bend in the trail, and there’s some lavender and just a little bit of a open…not quite a meadow. Some orange flowers…really beautiful. You can kinda hear the thicker grass on my feet. So…holy moly…sorry, I didn’t expect to turn and see a beautiful view of San Francisco. I didn’t know we had views of that up here. Wow. So, I’ll keep on this trail. Wow. There’s just a little bit of mist and fog. But yeah, the original plan was to record in Golden Gate Park, but by the time I got everything settled, it was getting close to 2:00 p.m. and I was like, man, driving to the city…the fog’s gonna kinda come in. Not ideal. There’s a road below us; that’s a motorcycle going by.

 

So, then I was like, okay, if it’s a artist date, I don't have to record today. So, I could go to a movie or go hiking, because I had planned on walking in Golden Gate Park five to seven miles. So, I didn’t go on my Sunday morning run. So, that…I was like, well, if I go to a movie, then I’m not getting in what I want to do, and that’s okay, but it’s kinda part of my plans. So, it’s a little bit windy up here, so I will go for a view. I’m gonna just take a peek at San Francisco, but…and Oakland, downtown Oakland, San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge, Emeryville, Berkeley, motorcycles, and the Oakland Hills. Lake Merritt you can even see, Alameda…wow, what a view. I’m gonna get out of the wind, though. So then…oh, and there’s another view. As soon as I turn around I see Mount Diablo, Di and Ablo. Mount Di and Ablo.

 

So, then I was like, okay, I’ll either go to a movie or go hiking, right? This is kinda the nature of these Walk With Me episodes, where I just go off topic. So, this trail may end at another trailhead, and then I’ll just turn around and check out the other trail. This was a nice, little, short trail we went on. I just want to see if there’s another trail down here. We're back on Skyline Boulevard. It doesn't look like it, though you could take the side of the road, I think, and keep going towards Tilden? Okay, let me walk a little bit more just to make sure there’s not a trail going down this valley here. No, not that I see. Oh wow, so, there’s another trail up there. Huh, I wonder if that’s…hey, not important. Okay, we're gonna turn around and head back towards the parking area and then head out. There’s a couple more trailheads.

 

So, yeah, by the time I got up here…there was no phone service up here, so I couldn't check my trail app, which is okay. So, then…so, I said to myself…this is what I love about these Walk With Me episodes; I’m out here in nature and totally off topic. It’s perfect. There’s so many ships in the bay. When I’m recording this it is right at the beginning of May, so…one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen at least, big ships, either tankers or container ships. So, I was like, okay, I’ll go to a movie. That’s a good artist date for me. Museums are another one I like to do, but not…I’m trying to do less of those on Sundays when the weather’s really nice.

 

So, I was like, okay, there was a movie I did want to see, or I could go hiking at Redwood Park, which we did a episode of, and I was like, okay, yeah, I could complete the hike or do a little bit more of it, shoot some video, and then I was kinda going back and forth even on that. I’m like, or I could just go and hike and shoot video and not record; the reason being on Sunday that park is very popular, 'cause it’s got a lot of different…it’s got paved hiking, it’s got gravel hiking, it’s dog friendly, it’s got a bigger parking area. So, it’s just a really popular place. Recording audio there is tough, but even recording…if I was gonna record the video, it might be tough because there’s just…wow, I got a tree with some great moss. I got more birds. Wow, man, are we lucky to be out here. So, I was like, okay, yeah, that sounds good.

 

Let’s go to Redwood, and yeah, maybe we’ll shoot some video. Maybe we’ll just go for a hike. Then I was driving, and then I was literally debating…I don't know, but we could be recording something. It is pretty fun when we record. It just adds this layer, and it is…it adds, actually, to the unpredictability instead of making it predictable. ‘Cause if I’m not recording, this dialogue is in my head, but it’s not the same dialogue. If you listen to Sleep With Me or you have trouble sleeping, that could be one of your issues, right? If I’m on a hike by myself and I’m just shooting video, I may not enjoy the hike as much as I want to. So, I was like, well, yeah, if I record it, though, I know I’m gonna enjoy it more. Oh, and…well, do I need to shoot video? There’s gonna be a lot of people out walking. Yeah, I don't know. Back and forth.

 

Then I was like, wait a second, what about Sibley? That’s right by there. I was like, but I haven't been there. I don't even know where the trails go. The last time I was there was with…on a hike with somebody, and I can kinda…was that even Sibley? Will Sibley be as busy? I said, yeah, let’s just do that. Full adventure. Whether we record it or not, whether we video it or not, we know we want to go for a hike, and so, let’s just do that. I said, okay, okay, that’s a good idea. That sounds fair and that sounds like an adventure. Like, [inaudible] Park we haven't been to before. We don't know if we're gonna record the audio. We don't know if we're gonna record the video. We don't know if it’ll be busy, and we don’t even know…we don’t have a trail map. I was already almost sure that we wouldn't be able to get service.

 

So, it was like, okay, we probably can't get service, so what does that mean? I said, oh, okay, well, let’s see what happens then, right? We started driving up here, changing directions via audio. That failed the first time, but the second time it took. As we were getting here…it’s a pretty winding road, right? It was like, okay, there’s…there was people walking towards their car with water bottles. I was like, oh man, maybe the parking lot’s full. That’s gonna mean…okay, that’ll mean I’m probably not recording, probably not videoing. But then I got here, and actually, the parking lot wasn’t full. It seems like it’s filling up now, or even since I’ve been here. So, we’ll have to see how this goes. But even this is a win 'cause we are on an adventure, and I can catch a little bit of audio. Okay, now I’m here.

 

Oh, this is a Huckleberry Botanic, so I’m not even at the Sibley. So, I’m not even where I was supposed to be. Okay, but we could take this. Well, we're Huckleberry, so we’ll stay to the left, stay to the left, and then go across the creek and then come back. Okay, so, we're not even at Sibley Park. Okay, so, fair enough. Stay to the left twice. That’s all we need to remember. So, yeah, I’m not even at the park I thought I was at. That’s funny. Cool. So…wow, this is a nice trail here with a fence, a wooden fence. Oh wow, really a lot of smells now. So, yeah, I’m gonna lower my voice 'cause other people are hiking, and give the birds a chance to…thing. Let’s see, the pallid manzanita shrub overhanging this trail was cut down in 2012. Pallid manzanitas are…‘Hey, leave the pallid manzanitas alone’ is that sign.

 

Huckleberry Park…I even forgot about this one. Wow, how lucky are we? Now we're headed off on a full-on adventure, and we're gonna take the lower loop. Oh wow, so, you could take this. It has a full-on loop. If we do that left, we can come back. Does it say how long it is? So, the connector is 3.2…oh yeah, so we got plenty of mileage in us. Okay, I’m hearing talking, though, so I gotta make sure…I guess it doesn't matter which loop I choose. There’s probably gonna be some people out here, but we’ll just do our best. We can pause and…yeah, so…wow, some ferns here, and now we're really into the…a forest feel. The other thing I’m already noticing is if you listened to the other…the Redwood Park one is like, already how different the vegetation is here than Redwood, which had a lot of redwoods.

 

This seemingly…I don't see any redwoods. There’s trees, there should be pallid manzanita. We may see some of that. We got nice, slowed down…man, the smells. I know podcasts…and even though this is binaural, it can't quite capture that. Bless you; somebody sneezed up at the…so, yeah, we're going down. So yeah, it kinda worked out, I guess, with my thing. It worked out so much that I think I was supposed to keep going to get to Sibley, but I turned in here, and there was parking, and it’s not busy. There are other people out on the hike, but this just isn't as popular. It has a much smaller parking area, and…how lucky are we, again? Those birds agree with us. It looks like they've been working on this for spring right now.

 

As I go through here I notice, yeah, whoever is in charge of maintenance here is doing a great job. I am dressed…Bay Area dressed. I’ve talked about this on the show before. I did wear shorts today even though I knew I was gonna be in San Francisco, because it…just because…I was like, okay, I’m gonna wear a sweatshirt. I was planning on only being in San Francisco from like, 11:00 to 2:00. I know my legs don’t get as cold, but I wouldn't…even on a day like today, would have recommended most people get…wear pants. Then when I was getting ready to go, I actually packed a second sweatshirt, just 'cause I had a really light sweatshirt packed and because…for layers. So, I have a sweatshirt or a jacket on, like a…whatever, track jacket? Warm-up jacket?

 

Alright, so, I’m back, and I forgot what I was talking about in a good way. We're in the wrong park. We're hiking. Manzanita…oh, we have our first interpretive sign; 21. Pacific madrone…smooth, reddish bark, flaky with age, and evergreen spark…spreading leaf canopy. Madrone will resemble a tree-like manzanita. Heavy clusters of dark-red to orange-ish berries appear in fall and winter, and a delicacy for mourning doves. Madrone’s developed basil burls. Oh, I see…can see what they mean about it being…it’s much bigger. I mean, I would say a giant tree-like manzanita. Hm, I already learned something really cool and I’ve only been out here a few minutes. Alright, so, on we go through these ferns. Again, just really lucky and happy to be able to share this with everybody.

 

Wow, there’s a thick woods canopy. I think I’ll kinda switch things up. I haven't been trail running in quite some time, 'cause once you kinda fall out of that, it takes…I just don’t have the schedule to get back into it. I got big into trail-running when I drove my daughter to school because where I pick her up from school, there was trails that I could run on. So, I would drive over before the end of the school day, go for a run, and then pick her up. Then on Sunday mornings I would go somewhere and hang out with some of my friends that don’t drink and then go for a trail run there. But my daughter drives herself to school now, and Sunday mornings, if I have Koa, I can't really leave her for like, two to three hours. Just usually…it’d be like three, two and a half or three hours I’d be gone from home. So, both those I kinda…my life changed.

 

But now we get to be the beneficiaries of it, 'cause I still love being out here. Yeah, I would say this is…trying to avoid too much forlorness, right? When I’m recording this, I have three more months living in the Bay Area, depending…how a lot of other things that are unexpected and out of my hands go, and…wow, so we're on some…I wonder if this rock underneath us will be identified with any things, 'cause it is a kind of thing where it’s like…yeah, interesting. So, yeah. So, by the time you're hearing this, presumably someone will have some clarity on that stuff, but maybe not. Who knows? Maybe I’ll still be in the bay. I’m doubtful of that, but who knows? Next up is this California hazelnut. Multiple trunks, felt-like leaves, snowy mail somethings? Hard nutlets, vase, peppery fruits, sweet, edible, related to market filberts.

 

Wow. It’s a California hazelnut. Maybe we got really lucky. This is the most…a lot of these times, these trails used to have…you'd have to carry a guide, but this has nice public signs that we can look at. They have another valley. This is really cool. It is now the dry season, so it’s kinda the perfect time to be out here hiking. I didn’t bring any hiking poles with me just 'cause I was…knew I was gonna try to get audio and video of this one. One of the keys behind-the-scenes is marking the audio on the app I use to record the audio, 'cause then it gives us a pretty good idea of how many cuts there’s gonna be, like necessary cuts where people are talking or something loud happens that has to definitely be cut out of the show, and it helps me time it.

 

‘Cause it’s like…I did one recently where there was like, sixty marks, so I was like, okay, that means I probably need to record for two hours or an hour…sixty cuts probably means at least sixty minutes of the recording is gonna be lost. So, it’s like, okay, we want our recording to be fifty minutes of usable material. So it’s like, yeah, you probably want…if you had sixty marks, you’d have sixty…you'd want sixty minutes of recorded audio at least. So, you'd want 120…and it just helps when you look at the editing. Just part of being more efficient with me and Russell and Posty as we’ve tried to become as efficient as we can as a team and as things change, but also being like, hey, let’s keep putting out these episodes that people love.

 

But I’ve also thought about using a clicker. I did briefly in the past, but to be honest, this is the first time over the past three months — and part of it is knowing I’m moving — that it’s like, no, no, no, we have to be much more deliberate in planning our…consistently recording on-location episodes just like the other episodes now that we’ve made this decision to release them in the public feed. Again, it’s kind of a positive creative constraint where it’s like, okay, if we're gonna release these, then we want to make them on a regular basis, which means making…recording at least one a month.

 

But then knowing I’m leaving here kinda bumps that up to be like, okay, let’s record more than one a month so that we get kind of…I want to do a couple more hikes, I want to get all of Golden Gate Park or at least one more Golden Gate Park if I can't get two more, a couple of Alameda more where I live, and…but marking them. For example, this is a very quiet trail, so right now we’ve only had one…two marks where we were coming across a couple that was hiking and I could hear them talking, and then another mark when they were walking away. So, it’s like two…it probably was like, two minutes. Wow, here’s a little stream or a creek — it’s not making any noise, though, but maybe it’ll pick up later — crossing our path. How nice. There’s a plane passing overhead. I’ve got more of these rocks on both sides of me.

 

Oh man, another heady scent, not of…something other than whatever that stuff’s called. We get nice foot sounds, which I know actually people are fans of. Okay, so here’s our second left, and I’m just gonna check our time, 'cause we're gonna want to go back on that loop just because…oh, actually, we have four marks on here. Oh wow, we're at thirty minutes. Okay, so, I’m gonna probably do a little bit more on this, and then I’m gonna stop recording me talking, and then on Sleep With Me+ there will also be this portion, which I guess will be at the end or separate, of just me hiking without talking. So, yeah. But I’m still proceeding downhill, and then it goes…the only thing is…maybe I did as much as I can going downhill.

 

But yeah…someone hiking up on me, so…alright everybody, this is Scoots, and I’m gonna be doing the second half of this loop here for the end of this episode and then the intro probably towards the end of the loop depending on the trail traffic. I did continue my hike, and I recorded all of it on…I recorded all of it in binaural audio of just me hiking without me talking, and that will be on Sleep With Me+. Maybe down the road I could figure out a way to release those with a shorter intro or something. I don't know. But…yeah, and I recorded half of it on video. But yeah, we're gonna continue on this interpretive path that we're doing in reverse. Now we’ll be gaining elevation versus losing it. So, yeah, Lower Huckleberry Loop Trail. Yeah, let’s go.

 

I’m looking forward to seeing what else we can learn about it, except something is clicking in my pocket, which is a spare battery which we did need. So, it’s a good thing we brought it. Yeah. Alright, so, let’s get that. Is that gonna work in that pocket? I don't have a backpack with me on this trip. Just trying to travel light. Yeah. So, I’m looking forward to these interpretive things. I think we learned about things…madrones, which I think are trees that are like manzanitas and California hazelnuts? Don't worry, with Sleep With Me there’s never a quiz. But yeah, so, I did walk all the way to Sibley, got a drink of water there, 'cause I don't have a backpack with me here just 'cause it was kind of like…this was impromptu.

 

I had a backpack with me; I just decided not to bring my backpack on the hike just 'cause it adds another form of possible noises. That’s the main reason. So…and I’ll probably get more distance without it, even though it’s not that full. So, yeah. So, we hiked all the way to Sibley to that parking area and back. It was a really nice hike, but not as…I don't know if it’s as nice and calm as this one. We got a tree here with some quality moss, and there was no interpretive signs on that trail, so…and 'cause I didn’t have a trail map, I stayed left every time. So, when I came back, I had to go…I went right every time. I didn’t…I thought I was headed towards Sibley.

 

I didn’t think I would make it that far, to be honest, but then I got to a paved kinda road, hiking path, or service road hiking path, so I was like, oh, I must be close, so I might as well go get some water and see. Okay, we got a nice valley here with more water sounds that you could really hear. Babbling brooks, as the listeners say. This is more like less babbling and more sprinkling. This stream or creek, I think it’s part of San Leandro Creek, and it’s actually underneath a large amount of vegetation, probably from the winter and the rains that got…when it was going stronger. Okay, a interpretive sign, though…oh boy, so these are the ferns…some fern facts, 19.

 

Western sword fern; this fern is identified by large, leathery, glossy-green fonds…fronds, rusty undersides due to the maturing double-rowed saury, which new ferns develop from shedding spores. The plant thrives in cool, shady, moist sites, frequents and borders the huckleberry thickets or the shade of bay woodlands, which we may be in both, technically. Cool. Alright, so, yeah, we have another…I don't think this is actually a path here along the water, so I’m gonna stay on this main trail. I don't think that…I think that’s more of a human wherever…a side path people created. But yeah, so, I was staying left, and I was like, okay, since…this is again…even though it’s very…you always want to practice good practices, right?

 

So, it’s like, you might as well go left every trailhead so that when you come back, you can go right every trailhead. Even though this is a urban hiking park, you don’t have cell phone service, so…and I was just wanting to go what I knew I could handle distance-wise without…'cause I didn’t have any water on me. But that ended up being Sibley. Or, once I got to the paved path, I was like…even if it was a half mile, I was like, okay, I’ll take this paved path, get some water, get back on the road to sleepy stuff. Oh, there’s a nice white-flowered plant. Sign 19 was our last sign. That means we're counting down, counting down. Huckleberries…top…18 now, maybe, unless we miss a few, which is probably likely. Interpretive points…you got a nice view of I think the Skyline Ridge — but I don't know — directly across.

 

I may have been on the left…oh yeah, so, somehow I got over there, but not at the part I’m looking at now. But I could have gone…at some point I probably think we could have gone right. Then you have a view into the East Bay. So, probably…I don't know on that side what you could see. Moraga, maybe? San Pablo…is that where the San Pablo Dam is? I think so. But yeah, we got some good foot sounds. On the quiet hike there was a lot of different foot sounds, including a lot of inconsistent foot sounds, 'cause again, I didn’t…this was impromptu. So, I have running shoes on, and luckily it’s dry but not unbelievably dry. I could have worn trail-running shoes, I guess…next time. But yeah, you can tell that I’m gaining some elevation, so, I guess kinda extra sleepy, and Scoots can kinda keep his pace here and get a nice view.

 

Yeah, just kinda keep going…I do try to remind myself to walk slow. Yeah, and…I mean, for these it doesn't matter too much, but when you're gaining elevation, I was in better…but even when we're not, it’s…the more I do these, hopefully this is where I’ll learn to walk. But then we cover more ground, right? So, it’s a win-win. We got a plane overhead. We're in a nice, really forested…I want to say thicket, but I don't think that’s the right word…of trees and stuff. I’m presuming we’ll go up and to the right. At some point I’m thinking these…the trails will…there will be a trail to a redwood park or connecting to the Skyline Park. There’s something called Pinehurst Trail when we were lower, and I’m not exactly sure where that goes.

 

But again, down…if you knew where you were going, you would have downloaded your trail maps too, right? Alright everybody, this is Scoots. There was a little traffic at number 18, which was fern species. I did take a picture of it, but sword fern was on there and a couple other ferns. So, it would have been fern facts or fun fern facts. So, that’s always funny. Also, Fern was one of…way back when the show first started, it might be hard to believe this but at first, for the first six months to a year, we didn’t really have any listeners or very many…initially not any listeners, and then very few, and then…which was cool, but…and then eventually…I don't know when it was that I started hearing from listeners occasionally, but Fern was one of our first listeners that e-mailed in.

 

So, just fun fern facts related to ferns and people named Fern. So, that was cool. So yeah, this trail looped around. There’s other people enjoying it, and you can kinda still hear them in the background, but far enough away that it’s sleepy and always good…again, kind of mind-blowing like the Redwood Trail…I guess even moreso mind-blowing that I’m in this park encountering almost no people, and I could be in downtown Oakland in…I mean, if I can finish this hike, but from where my car is parked…it would only depend on traffic. It’ll take me ten minutes to hit traffic, so it could take anywhere from twelve minutes to twenty minutes to get to downtown Oakland, and you would have no idea that two huge cities were just minutes away, 'cause San Francisco’s not far from Oakland, either.

 

The fact that this is part of this East Bay park system…and it really is visionary. I don't know a lot about the history of the East Bay park system, but when you're in the East Bay, all of the hills are not developed behind the cities. There’s parts of the hills that are developed, but there’s also this green belt that goes up and down the East Bay, and a lot of the peninsula has a nice green belt, too, and that it’s just such a treasure, and obviously sometimes it takes realizing you're gonna move away from the treasure to appreciate it, unfortunately. So, a formal apology to these parks that I haven't had…well, it’s not totally true, though, 'cause back when I was trail-running, I would come to Redwood Park. But these parks…I guess I got into a groove, right?

 

Where it’s like, I knew the trail in Redwood that I could run and how much it took, the distance, and so, I just stuck with that trail versus…well, and then Tilden. So, wait a second, I’m not giving myself credit, here. Okay, here’s the wood fern, coming in at 17. Wood fern; soft, leathery appearance…feathery appearance distinguishes it from the dark, leathery fronds of the sword fern. Oh, I see. It is feathery. Wow. It’s a true dweller of the shaded woodlands. Tolerates dryness better than the sword fern. Oh wow, and it is feathery versus leathery, and that rhymes. Feathery versus leathery. Let’s see if I can find…now I got a sword fern next to a frond fern? I can't even remember the name of it now already. I forgot it. Oh, wood fern.

 

That was 'cause it’s kinda like…yes, we're looking at…got some…a sword fern right next to a wood fern here, and you could definitely see the difference. There must be a third fern out there, 'cause there was three ferns on the other sign that…yeah. So…so yeah, really grateful to have resources. But again, it’s also…I have to remember that it’s using these resources wherever you are versus comparing, and this isn't supposed to be a life lesson for anybody else, but it’s like, I am one of those people that procrastinates, says tomorrow’s gonna be a better day, or one day I’ll do more hiking, and…or comparing; well, if I lived in a place with better hiking, or oh, if I lived…or if/then. So, I gotta remember that.

 

It’s where you are, right, right here right now that matters, and right here right now, we're just walking and snoozing on a countdown, looking for number 16. We had sword fern, we had types of ferns, and we had wood fern coming in. 19, 18, and 17, here at Night Water Radio. I love saying that. Oh wow, we’ve got another sign coming up. What will be coming in at 16? Is it 16? It is 16. Bay trees take over in latent successional stage. Bay trees are here standing out…shading out all competition. Eventually only a bare understory of spindly sword ferns and huckleberries will be around. Large and trees or groves…understory gets depleted…soil erosion…in other areas they may help perform erosion control.

 

Spicy aromatic leaves…oh yeah, 'cause it’s bay leaf. Wow. So…but at this point there’s a lot of trees. Oh, 'cause it says ‘bay trees’. It doesn't just say ‘bay tree’. Hearing some traffic sounds, so there must be a road down there. Alright, so that was 16. It was a mouthful; bay trees crowding out competition. Circle of life. Disney’s never done a movie about that as far as I know of, but…I mean, the huckleberry, the sword fern, and the bay trees…what will be number 15? I don't know, but I know we're coming around into another turn in our valley here, and…oh, interesting. I would presume we go to the right, right? Yeah, a lower connector. Yeah, so, we're going up here. Got a trail, and it’s kinda like…I forget this, 'cause there was magic hour where you take pictures, right, which is closer to sunset.

 

But, I don't know, magic hour when you're hiking is right now. So, I don't know, that’s…well, I guess it’s close to…it’s 4:30. I forgot there was a hour that was off of here, but…yeah, so, it…what was my point? My point is that it is magic hour, like these late…when the sun is lower in the sky and trickling through the leaves, it does take on this emotional coolness. We got some forest stairs, maybe a different third kind of fern. I don't know, but I don't…I depend on interpretive signs for all my information. Yeah, you can hear other people enjoying the trail, birds enjoying the world. They were on the trail where it split and goes to the Skyline Trail. That one probably goes to Redwood, maybe? But yeah, people are having a real time down there discussing things.

 

Maybe they realized…they were like, wanting to head this way. I mean, their trail’s just right below us. I don't know. But again, I’m really pressed that…I don't…I can't say with certainty where I have or haven't been, but I really don’t think…if we're Monday-morning quarterbacking, Scoots has passed. He definitely did not fully utilize these parks. But I guess what I was saying, kind of, is like, okay, you're using them now. Again, I’m not prescribing any behavior for anybody else, but maybe putting my humanity on display is relatable to anybody. But…and I also know from being a sober person that moving is not gonna change anything for me on the inside or my behaviors and…or my kind of circumstances.

 

So, as I was looking at this moving thing and thinking about it as a real option, I really did have to evaluate that and talk it through and say, okay, we’ll remember. If there’s other changes you want to make in your life, maybe start making them now, or behaviors that you want to bring with you that you fantasize — totally normal for a lot of us — that moving will create, and this was one of the big ones; not spending all weekend working. Yeah, and getting out and doing more stuff. So…or even…yeah, I mean, especially for just…yeah, I guess it’s that simple. And being like, well, there will be a better time for me to get out and do stuff. Eh, there will be a better time for that. It’s like, no, no, now’s the time. Alright, now I gotta see…Huckleberry Loop…oh, 14 and 15 are the right. Huh. So, is this…? I guess this is a loop?

 

Oh, maybe this is a little side trail, though, 14 and 15. Let’s see. So, we're going to the right, and maybe this is where I’ve gone hiking with someone a while ago. Yeah, this is it, I’m pretty sure. So, we must have came in on that other side of that loop and gone out, 'cause this is like Manzanita City and scrub that we're headed out to, and I think a nice, little promentory action. So, yeah, we're in some manzanita now on both sides. I always associate manzanita a lot with Southern California. Yeah, so, this is a manzanita barren habitat, 14. Manzanitas are shrubby pioneers on exposed, rocky soil. Young huckelberries seeded in…by bird droppings are slowly taking over the canopy. With time, huckleberries will enshroud and shade out these pioneers. Hm. I’ll have to look at which ones are huckleberries. Huh, okay.

 

Let’s see if it tells us the difference over here. Now, this is more a manzanita barren. Brittle-leaf manzanita and pallid manzanita. A barren is home to two species of manzanita; the pallid manzanita is just in a few East Bay localities. The brittle leaf is endemic in California, larger. The difference is in their leaves. Pallids clasp the branch while the little leaves…the manzanitas aren't slender. Petriols…in addition, brittle leaf has a structure called a burl at its base. This is a knobby growth full of latent buds that develop after things. Both plants produce seeds, but pallid manzanita lacks a burl and relies soley on seed. I don't see any huckleberry, though, but I don't know what huckleberry looks like. But yeah, I definitely remember this hike, 'cause it was a situation where…yeah, I was hiking with somebody that…yeah, it was a nice hike.

 

It didn’t work out, but…but yeah, I got a nice view of D and Labo, Mount D and Labo. Somebody’s car having some issues there…okay, so this is the manzanita barren. This is just a little thing here. I remember 'cause I was like, I hope this hike lasts forever. It didn’t, but whatever, man. I’m out here with everybody else now. So, yeah. Okay, so, it was Huckleberry Park. So, I have been here before, but just on this short part of this loop. But yeah, I just was trying to be like…I remember that manzanita thing and a bench and a prom…a great view. Because the manzanita barren is so much different, very…it feels like when I lived in LA and I’d go hiking in Angeles National Forest. It’s just a different type of feel. Or maybe…yeah, maybe manzanita’s also coastal scrub? I don't really know.

 

Alright, so now we are going to take a right and continue on. We got 14 and 15 done, and…yeah. Oh, by the way, pallid manzanita only grow between Oakland and El Sobrante, so don’t mess with them at all, please. Leave the pallid manzanita alone. They're pallid for a reason. They don’t need blush or anything. Is that what ‘pallid’ means? Okay, so, here we are. We're on a loop that presumably returns…oh yeah, 'cause I was like, man, what if that right was a part of the loop? Which way to go? But we're just continuing on the same loop we’ve been on. You gotta look at…start in the intro, too. So, what I’ll do is I guess when we get to the number 10 plus 3, I will do the intro, right, and work the rest of it in.

 

So, you'll have heard that before already, unless you're listening to the story-only version of this somewhere, which luckily it seems like we got a full episode out of this. So, it’s cool, and an hour of me hiking that I already forgot about. I don't know how many…how much distance did we get in? Oh, it looks like we got in four, four and a half miles, but a decent amount of up and down, so it’s pretty good. Got some good bird sounds. Again, it’s like…I don't know if this may be a more silent of part of the woods here. We got some bird sounds. We're shaded all around, so we're not really hearing any echo or wind or road. So, you get that…when people refer to stuff like a cathedral. I don't know, is that what they…? I guess that would be more of a abbey, quiet. A cathedral’s more grand and spacious, huh?

 

So, a cathedral’s more where there’s…some of the other videos we may have had earlier. I don't know. I make a sleep podcast, not…I’m not the Accurate Metaphor Podcast, right? Am I right? Am I right? Glad we all get to hike together here. We're looking for number 1 plus 2 plus 10, counting down. 14 came in, and 15 were related to manzanita and manzanita barrens. Now, very soon, we have the Douglas iris. Thickened grass-like leaves, elegant, purplish flowers of spring. The Douglas iris…it prefers the moist seepage areas, and first peoples here used the outermost strands of fiber from the leaf margins for weaving. There are two forms of species in this preserve, and because it is spring, it is blooming, and wow, what a way to end a episode. It is lavender and yellow, and it is gorgeous.

 

I am getting some video of it, so if you ever are curious about what we saw on this particular hike and the video worked, you could find that on YouTube or Sleep With Me+, maybe some other places. But yeah, it was nice hiking with you today. I appreciate you coming along for the hike. Sleep well, and for the love of Douglas iris…I wonder if there’s two styles of it. Yeah, the birds and I are saying goodnight. Thanks, thanks, and goodnight, everybody.

 

[END OF RECORDING]

(Transcription performed by LeahTranscribes)

On Location / Walk With Me

 

Chinquapin

https://poorprolesalmanac.substack.com/p/chinquapins

https://www.treehugger.com/the-essential-chinkapin-1343342

https://www.chinquapinowners.com/post/what-s-a-chinquapin

 

Dressing for Bay Area Weather

https://www.travelfashiongirl.com/what-to-wear-in-san-francisco/

https://www.sftravel.com/info/what-to-pack

https://www.racked.com/2017/7/25/15950098/san-francisco-weather-jackets

 

Manzanita

https://glamorwood.com/types-of-wood/hardwood/manzanita-tree/?srsltid=AfmBOoqWniSeLTvocPe32m5wdsDMAGczhHLBI7zWgs_83TeAOnxNPYzQ

https://ucanr.edu/blog/garden-notes/article/manzanita-little-apple

https://www.onceuponawatershed.org/manzanita

 

Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve

https://oaklandgeology.com/2022/10/17/introducing-deep-oakland-9-sibley-volcanic-regional-preserve/

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3e80aa360f98479b92ac4264af0aa04a

https://www.kqed.org/quest/15110/sibley-volcanic-regional-preserve-exploration

 

DOWN TO BUSINESS

I’m gonna take you on a hike

There are 12 interpretive signs left to see

Huckleberry Regional Preserve in the East Bay

 

PLUGS

Sleep With Me Plus; SleepPhones; Story Only Feed;Emily Tat Artwork; Crisis Textline

 

SPONSORS

Helix Sleep; Zocdoc; Progressive; Coyuchi

 

INTRO

We are on a hike right now

Interpretive Marker 12 Right now

The California Bay

One tree is standing on top of a sleeping tree

You deserve a good night’s sleep

The first hour of my night last night was tough

I had too much caffeine but I also didn’t

We missed 3 interpretive markers

You always want to leave stuff undone, I suppose

A lot of these hikes are just me getting distracted

Host Huckleberry – no berries on it now

Ooh, its fruit is sweet, okay

Have I ever had huckleberry?

We’re at sign #7

Intermediately Dense Leaf Canopy

Competition for the Understory

Somebody let Timon and Pumba know about the understory on this

Manzanita Burls

This is more about keeping your thoughts distracted or at ease

Kind of reassuring, kind of distracting, and a little bit silly

Big Basil Burl

I’m just here to be barely listened to

#4 – Chinquapin

I’m just here to be your borefriend

#3 Pale Manzanita, a rare jewel

Explaining the show structure

Some deer buddies just went by

Introducing the show in an inefficient manner

We’re returning to doing more episodes on location

I hope it’s okay to say that I’m definitely distracted

Long Pendulous Racines

I forgot what I was talking about

I’m glad you’re here

Thanks for coming by

 

STORY

I think we’re in for a treat

I don’t know if this’ll be a bonus episode or not

My plans for today have changed a few times

Smelling eucalyptus and hearing some birds

We’re at Sibley Volcanic Regional Park

It’s been at least 12 or 14 years since I’ve been to this park

I’ve only hiked here once or twice

This was from the Protector of Stone Fruit era

On Non-Positive Person Mount

I was gonna do an episode at Golden Gate Park today, but then I had to go pick up my daughter

Then I did some groceries

Today is an artist date / impromptu recording

A hobby version of the podcast

Lavender at a bend in the trail

Holy moly, I didn’t expect to turn and see such a beautiful view of San Francisco

Technically, my artist date could’ve been anything

I’m just gonna climb this hill and take a peek at San Francisco

Wow, what a view

Mount Dean Ablo

Okay, we’re gonna head back towards a different trail

I’m out in here in nature, totally off-topic

It’s the beginning of May

At least 14 ships in the bay

I thought maybe I’d watch a movie or hike in Redwood Park

Wow, are we lucky to be out here

If I’m not recording, this dialogue will be in my head anyway

So I thought, lemme just hike Sibley

I didn’t have any plans and I knew I wouldn’t get any service

A pretty winding road leads the way

Oh gosh, there’s some great smells right now

A palate (?) manzanita shrub

Into Huckleberry Park

Should we do the full-on loop?

The vegetation here is already very different from Redwood

Man, I wish binaural audio could capture the smells

How lucky are we on this?

Whoever is in charge of maintenance here is doing a great job

I’m Bay Area Dressed

Shorts and a Sweatshirt

Our first interpretive sign

Pacific Madron

Basil Burls

That’s a very big tree

I already learned something really cool

On we go, through these berms

I kind of fell out of trail running

It changed when my daughter’s school schedule changed

We still get to be the beneficiaries of it

Right now, I have three more months of living in the Bay area

Next up: California Hazelnut

I didn’t bring any hiking poles with me this time

It’s hard to mark audio while also using poles

A behind the scenes look at recording and editing

I have a few more hikes I’d like to do

We’ve only had two marks so far on this hike

A little creek that’s not making noise at all

We get nice foot sounds

I’m proceeding downhill

Now we’re doing the 2nd half of this loop

Something is clicking in my pocket

I don’t have a backpack with me on this trip

Fortunately, there’s not gonna be a quiz on anything we’ve learned today

Some nice babbling brooks

Less babbling and more sprinkling

This spring is underneath a large amount of vegetation

Fern Facts

A great view of the bay right now

I don’t know what you’d see over that hill, though

Some more great foot sounds

I’m not sure where Pinehurst Trail goes

There was a little traffic at sign #18

Shoutout to Fern, an early listener of the show

More Fun Fern Facts

It’s mind-blowing that I’m only 10 minutes away from traffic

Sometimes you don’t appreciate a local treasure until you move away

Apologies to my local parks

#17: Wood Fern

Well, maybe I’m not giving myself enough credit

Wow, that is definitely feathery

Feathery vs Leathery

I definitely procrastinate getting out and exploring

#16: Sword Fern

We’re running down the ferns here on Night Water Radio

Bay Trees

What will be #15?

Coming around to another turn in the valley

It’s magic hour

Emotional Coolness

I depend on interpretive signs for all my information

Monday Morning Quarterbacking Scoots’s Past

Moving is not going to change anything for me on the inside

If I want to make changes in my life, I might as well get started now

Change I want to make: not spending all weekend working and getting out and doing more stuff

Okay, coming up is Huckleberry Loop

Maybe I hiked here once with someone else

Manzanita City

I associate manzanita with Southern California

#14: Manzanita

Shrubby pioneers

A Barren is home to 2 kinds of manzanita

I don’t see huckleberry, but I also don’t know what it looks like

Don’t mess with any pallid manzanita

We’re continuing on the same loop we’ve been on

Sunbird Sounds

This is as quiet as an abbey, not a cathedral

I make a sleep podcast, not the Accurate Metaphor Podcast

The 10 + 3: Douglas Iris

It prefers moist seepage areas

It blooms in spring aka right now

Thanks for coming along on this hike

 

SUMMARY:

Episode: 1431

Title: Sibley / Huckleberry Preserve | Walk With Me

Plugs: Sleep With Me Plus; SleepPhones; Story Only Feed;Emily Tat Artwork; Crisis Textline

Sponsors: Helix Sleep; Zocdoc; Progressive; Coyuchi

Notable Language:

• Yet Undone
• Intermediately Dense Leaf Canopy
• Competition for the Understory
• Big Basil Burl
• Chinquapin
• Inefficient Manner
• Long Pendulous Racines
• Non-Positive Person Mount
• In my hobby time
• Mount Dean Ablo
• Bay Area Dressed
• Pacific Madron
• Basil Burls
• Fun Fern Facts
• Feathery vs Leathery
• Emotional Coolness
• Monday Morning Quarterbacking Scoots’s Past
• Manzanita City
• Shrubby pioneers
• Sunbird Sounds
• Moist Seepage Areas

 

Notable Culture:

• • Huckleberry Regional Preserve

• The Lion King

• Sibley Volcanic Regional Park
• Night Water newsletter
• Accurate Metaphor Podcast

 

Notable Talking Points:

• We are on a hike right now
• Interpretive Marker 12 Right now
• The California Bay
• One tree is standing on top of a sleeping tree
• You deserve a good night’s sleep
• The first hour of my night last night was tough
• I had too much caffeine but I also didn’t
• We missed 3 interpretive markers
• You always want to leave stuff undone, I suppose
• A lot of these hikes are just me getting distracted
• Host Huckleberry – no berries on it now
• Ooh, its fruit is sweet, okay
• Have I ever had huckleberry?
• We’re at sign #7
• Intermediately Dense Leaf Canopy
• Competition for the Understory
• Somebody let Timon and Pumba know about the understory on this
• Manzanita Burls
• This is more about keeping your thoughts distracted or at ease
• Kind of reassuring, kind of distracting, and a little bit silly
• Big Basil Burl
• I’m just here to be barely listened to
• #4 – Chinquapin
• I’m just here to be your borefriend
• #3 Pale Manzanita, a rare jewel
• Explaining the show structure
• Some deer buddies just went by
• Introducing the show in an inefficient manner
• We’re returning to doing more episodes on location
• I hope it’s okay to say that I’m definitely distracted
• Long Pendulous Racines
• I forgot what I was talking about
• I’m glad you’re here
• Thanks for coming by
• I think we’re in for a treat
• I don’t know if this’ll be a bonus episode or not
• My plans for today have changed a few times
• Smelling eucalyptus and hearing some birds
• We’re at Sibley Volcanic Regional Park
• It’s been at least 12 or 14 years since I’ve been to this park
• I’ve only hiked here once or twice
• This was from the Protector of Stone Fruit era
• On Non-Positive Person Mount
• I was gonna do an episode at Golden Gate Park today, but then I had to go pick up my daughter
• Then I did some groceries
• Today is an artist date / impromptu recording
• A hobby version of the podcast
• Lavender at a bend in the trail
• Holy moly, I didn’t expect to turn and see such a beautiful view of San Francisco
• Technically, my artist date could’ve been anything
• I’m just gonna climb this hill and take a peek at San Francisco
• Wow, what a view
• Mount Dean Ablo
• Okay, we’re gonna head back towards a different trail
• I’m out in here in nature, totally off-topic
• It’s the beginning of May
• At least 14 ships in the bay
• I thought maybe I’d watch a movie or hike in Redwood Park
• Wow, are we lucky to be out here
• If I”m not recording, this dialogue will be in my head anyway
• So I thought, lemme just hike Sibley
• I didn’t have any plans and I knew I wouldn’t get any service
• A pretty winding road leads the way
• Oh gosh, there’s some great smells right now
• A palate (?) manzanita shrub
• Into Huckleberry Park
• Should we do the full-on loop?
• The vegetation here is already very different from Redwood
• Man, I wish binaural audio could capture the smells
• How lucky are we on this?
• Whoever is in charge of maintenance here is doing a great job
• I’m Bay Area Dressed
• Shorts and a Sweatshirt
• Our first interpretive sign
• Pacific Madron
• Basil Burls
• That’s a very big tree
• I already learned something really cool
• On we go, through these berms
• I kind of fell out of trail running
• It changed when my daughter’s school schedule changed
• We still get to be the beneficiaries of it
• Right now, I have three more months of living in the Bay area
• Next up: California Hazelnut
• I didn’t bring any hiking poles with me this time
• It’s hard to mark audio while also using poles
• A behind the scenes look at recording and editing
• I have a few more hikes I’d like to do
• We’ve only had two marks so far on this hike
• A little creek that’s not making noise at all
• We get nice foot sounds
• I’m proceeding downhill
• Now we’re doing the 2nd half of this loop
• Something is clicking in my pocket
• I don’t have a backpack with me on this trip
• Fortunately, there’s not gonna be a quiz on anything we’ve learned today
• Some nice babbling brooks
• Less babbling and more sprinkling
• This spring is underneath a large amount of vegetation
• Fern Facts
• A great view of the bay right now
• I don’t know what you’d see over that hill, though
• Some more great foot sounds
• I’m not sure where Pinehurst Trail goes
• There was a little traffic at sign #18
• Shoutout to Fern, an early listener of the show
• More Fun Fern Facts
• It’s mind-blowing that I’m only 10 minutes away from traffic
• Sometimes you don’t appreciate a local treasure until you move away
• Apologies to my local parks
• #17: Wood Fern
• Well, maybe I’m not giving myself enough credit
• Wow, that is definitely feathery
• Feathery vs Leathery
• I definitely procrastinate getting out and exploring
• #16: Sword Fern
• We’re running down the ferns here on Night Water Radio
• Bay Trees
• What will be #15?
• Coming around to another turn in the valley
• It’s magic hour
• Emotional Coolness
• I depend on interpretive signs for all my information
• Monday Morning Quarterbacking Scoots’s Past
• Moving is not going to change anything for me on the inside
• If I want to make changes in my life, I might as well get started now
• Change I want to make: not spending all weekend working and getting out and doing more stuff
• Okay, coming up is Huckleberry Loop
• Maybe I hiked here once with someone else
• Manzanita City
• I associate manzanita with Southern California
• #14: Manzanita
• Shrubby pioneers
• A Barren is home to 2 kinds of manzanita
• I don’t see huckleberry, but I also don’t know what it looks like
• Don’t mess with any pallid manzanita
• We’re continuing on the same loop we’ve been on
• Sunbird Sounds
• This is as quiet as an abbey, not a cathedral
• I make a sleep podcast, not the Accurate Metaphor Podcast
• The 10 + 3: Douglas Iris
• It prefers moist seepage areas
• It blooms in spring aka right now
• Thanks for coming along on this hike