This park has a lot in common with one of its neighboring parks, Don Castro. Both of these Castro Valley parks are primarily focused on the swim lagoon at the center. Indeed, Don Castro's lagoon was modeled on the one at Cull Canyon, which came first. Here is the blurb about it on the park's website see here and here):
The lagoon won the 1966 Governor's Design Award for Exceptional Distinction for Recreational Development in the category of landscape. When the swim area was constructed, a secondary dam was built to provide an inner swimming area complete with a sandy beach. Never previously tried, this innovation made the swim area water level independent of the reservoir's, unaffected by summer draw-downs... It is ideal for families with small children, who will enjoy splashing in the shallows and playing on the white, sandy beach. To see more photos of the park, and to read more about our little adventure, click "read more."
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This was a milestone hike for me: my 149th and 150th parks visited! I opted to do this hike, recommended by the EBRPD for their 2019 Trails Challenge, a moderate 5-mile hike that links the two parks together via the Chabot-to-Garin Trail. It was a really different hike than what I normally do because it wanders in and out of a lot of suburban space in Castro Valley. I don't know that I would do this specific trail again, but I definitely plan to visit both of these parks separately in the future. They are very different from each other, but both Don Castro and Five Canyons are really wonderful parks. Click "read more" to see more photos from my adventure.
This 6.2-mile loop through the northern portion of Redwood Regional Park was a variation on the hike that I originally intended to do--apparently there was storm damage from the rainy winter that we had, and the Stream Trail was closed from the Fern Trail to the Skyline Gate Staging Area, where I parked. But, I made do and adapted my hike. It was SO lovely. It gave me a chance to see even more variety in the types of forest along my route.
Joaquin Miller Park is a wonderful city park, managed by the City of Oakland. It's amazing to me how lush and remote the park feels when it is so close to such a major urban area. I went on a 4.4-mile lollipop trail that took me on a pretty thorough tour of this park. Click "read more" below to see more details of the hike and more photos from the day's adventure.
This past week I went to Livermore's Arroyo Mocho Trail on two separate occasions. It's a paved, multi-use path through a greenbelt along the banks of the creek ("creek" is the English translation of arroyo). On Memorial Day, my daughter and I stopped there on a spur-of-the-moment hike, because as we were driving across the trail at Arroyo Rd., I saw literally hundreds of goats. Apparently, the city of Livermore contracts with a goat herder to have the herd brought for weed control and fire prevention ahead of the Livermore Rodeo (a historic rodeo held every year on the second weekend in June). We went back today to look for the goats again, but they were already gone. Nonetheless, we very much enjoyed our walk along the creek as we listened to birds singing and watched butterflies flitting among the blossoms of California buckeye.
Sibley Volcanic Preserve is part of the East Bay Regional Park district. It neighbors Huckleberry Botanic Preserve in the Oakland hills near the Montclair Village. This 2-mile loop around an ancient volcano is an easy, flat, one-hour hike that features lots of gorgeous wildflowers in the spring.
Huckleberry Botanic Preserve is an EBRPD park in the Oakland Hills near Montclair Village. Here is the EBRPD's blurb about it:
Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve is an ecological jewel. The native plant community here is found nowhere else in the East Bay. It represents a relic plant association found only in certain areas along California's coast where ideal soil and climatic conditions exist. It was really a lovely park to visit, and the self-guided nature trail is really well done! It's been a minute since I've been to Tilden Park, and this weekend I went for the first time to the Tilden Nature Area. This part of the park is an awesome place to bring young children--not only for the charming Little Farm but also for a gentle 1.28-mile loop that is stroller accessible.
It's been an uncharacteristically wet/cold week for May. I decided to take advantage of the lingering spring to explore more of Sycamore Grove Park in Livermore. When I explored the Valley View Loop last Tuesday, I said that I wanted to explore the area around the Arroyo Del Valle connector trail between Del Valle park and Sycamore Grove. On this hike, I did just that!
I made a return trip to Sycamore Grove Park in Livermore, exploring more deeply into the park for this loop, just under 5 miles. It was nice to see a more rugged side of the park.
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