We prefer the steep hills of the Carmel Valley trails in the early morning over high tide at Carmel Beach. That means trading the Monterey Cypress for the California Live Oaks with their gothic lichen drapery.
Fifteen minutes from our rental, we begin our morning treks next to the Carmel River. Of course, it is swollen but, thankfully, not flooded.
The first half mile is easy on us as when walking on dirt roads, but that soon changes and the steeps confront us. Up, up, up we go before we get a flattened reprieve. This is where we enter the first mystical oaken tunnels with the California lichen, which looks so much like the South’s Spanish moss, hanging gracefully from the branches.
We walk along a verdant shelf and see how far we’ve climbed and over to the opposite hills.
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