light enough
to see without a flashlight, starting at 7:30p. An hour later I needed
the headlamp to avoid tripping on the downhill sections that I chose to jog. The weather
was cool, but I managed in just a tshirt for most of the outing. Only for the last half
of the return did I don my fleece to keep off the chill.
The first mile and a half goes through the SE corner of 
Joseph Grant, the rest
on private property across several ranches. The first is the 
Le Deit Brothers
Ranch, an active ranch with several barns located along the route. 
The first
of these was empty and rather rundown, 
the second stocked with hay and in use.
Beyond that I passed into two other 
ranches both owned by Hewlitt/Packard of
HP fame, according to 
the signs I found along 
the way. Near Divide
Springs which I reached around 8:50p, I found a large ranch complex
with barns, buildings, equipment, a truck and other items suggesting regular use. I was
very cautious in passing by this area in case it was occupied, but it
appears to only be used in the daytime. On the way back I cut across a field to the west
to give it a wide berth in case I had just gotten lucky on the first pass. There was a
herd of cattle between this ranch complex and San Felipe Hills South, but they moved
aside easily and only complained with loud mooing after I had passed by. Brave they are
not. The only other animals I encountered were the gobbling of wild turkeys heard in
the background, the occasional small mouse scampering through the leaves along the
roadway, and a few owls hooting in the night. There was much evidence of rooting pigs,
but I saw none in the flesh this night. The lights of the San Jose stretching south
to 
Gilroy can be seen for much of the hike, with fine 
nighttime views
from both summits. Neither requires more than a short hike from the main road, both are
crowned with 
oak trees but otherwise open to views in an open, grassy field.
Cow Hill features 
a benchmark
from 1947, with a set of power lines running over the summit.
The moon had risen not long before I reached Cow Hill and provided a good deal of light for much of the return hike. I still used the headlamp when jogging downhill in the shady sections to avoid accidents, but mostly I just walked and jogged by moonlight - very delightful. I covered about 16 miles in the four and half hours I was out, eventually getting home around 1a. Not a bad way to spend an evening...