 On Saturday I took my young daughter on a very short hike from the Macdonald Gate, but I was itching for more. So on Sunday I returned to that staging area in Anthony Chabot for a much more ambitious solo hike. This ~9-mile lollipop hike went along the ridge top and then descended into Grass Valley for a nice loop. I really liked the variety on this hike!
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 This lovely 5-mile loop links two areas of Tilden Park that I had previously only visited separately: the area around Lake Anza and the Nature Area. It was fun to take the Wildcat Gorge as a connector between these areas of Tilden.
 Today on a longer solo hike, I made the 9-mile loop around Lake Chabot. This was an extension of the short hike that I took last summer with my young daughter. I am so glad to have finally completed this longer loop, and I have more ideas for another hike when I can make a return visit.
 Today, I took a lovely solo hike to Tilden Park, and I finally made the loop to Wildcat Peak that I have been wanting to do for about two years now. Click read more to see maps and trail descriptions for this beautifully varied 4.75-mile loop.
 Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. My daughter and I decided to celebrate the cooler weather by going to a park that is new to us: Kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Area. We took a loop trail of a little more than 2.25 miles. It was such a nice outing! A really great option for families with young children.
 Yesterday, my daughter and I both finished school for the year. Although I have work to do still, I submitted the final grades last night to the registrar for all the classes that I teach, and she had her last Zoom circle for her toddler class of the 2019-2020 year. So we decided to celebrate today by exploring a new park: Point Pinole Regional Shoreline, which offers amazing views of the San Pablo Bay and the mountains to the west in Marin County, such as Mount Tamalpais.
 Every time I go for a hike now, I assume that it may very well be the last time for a long time that I will be able to visit a particular park. Indeed, I came home to the news that the California State Park system has closed all of its parks to vehicular traffic. So I do my best to be very much in the present and to savor every detail. It helps me to focus on my hike, to calm my anxiety in this very nerve-wracking time of global pandemic, and to notice the flowers and the birds with even greater clarity. This trip to Brushy Peak Regional Park was all the more enjoyable for that mentality. I saw so many flowers and heard so many birds. I even saw a coyote!
 The shelter-in-place ordinances in both the Bay Area counties and, now, in the whole state of California have been a major adjustment. I am *so* grateful that hiking and walking is compatible with social distancing as we all do our part to flatten the curve, so that we can keep our hospitals from being overwhelmed. Because we have been having intermittent rain showers in the Bay, it's been a little hard to get out, even though we all need to walk in the sunshine more than ever. So when the rain cleared up this weekend for a few hours, we headed over to the Arroyo Mocho Trail, to a segment of it that is in our neighborhood.
 Our family has recently had two more incredible trips to Ardenwood Historic Farm. Honestly, I cannot praise this place enough as a destination for families with young kids. It's been, hands-down, one of the best discoveries that we've made in the East Bay since moving here with our toddler. Winter, spring, summer, and fall, there is always something wonderful to do at this park. Fall seems to be the busiest of the seasons at Ardenwood, with Perry's Pumpkin Patch, the Harvest Festival, and the Haunted Railroad. But for our family this fall, the thing that made Ardenwood really special was the beginning of monarch season!
 Today, my daughter and I took our maiden voyage to Anthony Chabot Regional Park, an expansive park in the East Bay. To see more photos of our hike, click "read more."
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