Evergreen College Hike

On 4-20-2022 Gary Lohr led a hike to Evergreen College and Montgomery Hill Park. They met at Cribari at 8:50 and  departed at 9:00. The walk was to the campus and then up Yerba Buena to Falls Creek Dr, and then back to the campus and on to the shopping center for coffee. There was a moderate elevation gain going up Yerba Buena.

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Linear Park Rambler Hike

On 4-13-2022 Pam Thompson  met the group at the old B of A parking lot at 10am and then they hiked to Linear park off Yerba Buena and then onto Le Boulanger for lunch then back to B of A( 4 miles round trip).

They saw this statue on their way.

Gloria Victis (“glory to the vanquished”) is a sculpture by Antonin Mercié. Created in 1874, the sculpture as pictured is seen at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Another copy of the statue can be found in Bordeaux, France, where it faces Saint André’s Cathedral. Mercié designed this sculpture following France‘s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. He intended to honor those French soldiers who had fallen in the conflict, especially his friend, the artist Henri Regnault (1843–1871). Upon France’s defeat Mercié changed the hero’s head from lifted to fallen.

A winged female allegorical image of Fame (or of Hope) carries to glory a dying French hero, his broken sword a sign of defeat. Mercié’s original plaster sculpture won a medal at the 1874 Paris Salon. Bronze copies were cast in different sizes by the great foundry of Ferdinand Barbedienne.

Its uplifting reassurance that those defeated were nevertheless cared for and granted immortality[1] made this work well received among the French public, who felt humiliated after losing the war.[2]

Despite its acclaim, the work was harshly criticized by fellow French sculptor Jean Baffier for its High Renaissance style and for its celebration of a defeat: “We have been beaten like wheat in a barn, and we shouted: ‘Glory to the losers’ – And along comes some sort of bastard artist, the pupil of a sexless school, to put up the image of our cowardice.”[3]

 

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Russian Ridge Hike

On 4-6-2022 Johanna and Wate Bakker led their annual flower hike along Russian Ridge, near Skyline drive in search of elusive wildflowers.  The group was pleasantly surprised by the number of flowers present. The hike was 4-6 miles

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Steven’s Creek Park Hike

Saturday April 2 Akiko Giordono led long hikers on 7-8 mile hike in Stevens Creek County Park. They hiked on Stevens Creek/Tony Look Trail to Madrone picnic area then up on Lookout Trail into Fremont Older Open Space to Nob Hill, where they took a lunch break and enjoyed a panoramic view of Silicon Valley.

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Rambler Lite Hike 3-30-2022

Bonnie Preston  led a hike to Olivis south boarder. They met at the Vineyard center  They walked along the western border of Olivas to the trail up along the southern border, then down the streams.

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Wunderlich County Park

On 3-30-2022 Rich Banbridge and Wendy Ledamun  lead a hike in Wunderlich County Park in Woodside.  The hike was 41/2 miles and wound through beautiful stands of mixed redwoods, madrones, oaks, and a lovely open meadow.  Elevation gain was moderate with hiker-friendly switchbacks.

 

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Annual Trail Maintenance Day

The Hiking Clubs’ Annual Trail Maintenance Day was Saturday March 26th from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.  With lunch provided afterward.

Listed below are some of the areas identified for trail improvement that were worked.

  1. Top of Meadow from 45 to 46.  Need to level out dirt from erosion.
  2. Meadow from 46 to 47 .  Same thing.
  3. Upper Meadow from 48 to 39 where pigs have obliterated the trail (unless maintenance has already fixed.)
  4. New picnic table location near location 50.  Needs leveled from pig damage and path created to the table.
  5. Switchbacks starting at the top of the hill.
  6. Bay trail through woods from 37 to 46. (Russ has already volunteered to lead this one.)

 Villages Maintenance Services  provided “mule rides” to the work sites.  Tools were provided.

 

 

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Rambler lite hike 3-23-2022

Bonnie Preston  led a hike to Village Cribari along the west walkway and back through the central park area.

 

 

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