I've been working on building a landing page for all of the California State Parks that I have visited, and in sorting through the many parks of Northern California, I started to notice that there were several parks that I visited many years ago that have not made it into my blog. Although I do have photos from those trips, they are from older cameras and the quality of the images is not as good as the camera I am using now. So this is a single post to remember three trips from years past: 1) Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve (in Guerneville), 2) Ed Z'berg Sugar Pine Point State Park (in Tahoe), and 3) Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (in Big Sur). The photos are not as good as what I can do now, but the memories of these places sure are powerful and dear.
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Last winter, I made a couple of lovely trips to Shadow Cliffs Regional Park to walk through the quiet arroyo area of the park. This morning, my daughter and I went swimming in the beach area and walked along the marina.
Lake Chabot Regional Park is part of the complex of parks that forms a greenbelt from the Berkeley hills to Castro Valley. It's on the southern end of this greenbelt, near San Leandro and Castro Valley, and it abuts Anthony Chabot Regional Park. The park has a marina (where you can either rent a boat or sign up for a one-hour excursion on the tour boat, the Chabot Queen) and a Cafe/Grill. I had heard good things about the grill, but they were closed today. The park is also a midway point for a paved trail along the shore of the lake that goes about half way around. This is perfect for anyone who is bringing their young kids for a walk in the stroller!
I've been taking care of my daughter during the weekdays while I am on a reduced work schedule for the summer (I am a teacher), so most of my hikes and outings lately have been geared more towards her. However, today (a Sunday), I got to have a solo hike for the first time in a long time. I decided to check out a trail that I have been thinking about at one of my all-time favorite open space parks: Del Valle Regional Park. It was a surprisingly cool day for summer in Livermore, and it was really lovely to hike in the morning.
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." 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.
Del Valle Regional Park is an amazing park near my current hometown of Livermore. Out of nowhere we had snow early on Tuesday morning, and the snow stuck in the higher elevations of the Bay Area including in some of the mountains surrounding Livermore. An easy hike along the East Ridge Trail allowed for some stunning views of the snow on the mountains in the Ohlone Wilderness, accessible from Del Valle. The contrast between the rolling green foothills and the snow-covered mountains was just wonderful! Click "read more" below to see more photos.
This post is another pull from the archives, this time from my first trip to Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley in 2013. I am moving to the East Bay later this month, and I am starting to get excited about the new areas to explore!
I really enjoyed my hike today at St. Joseph's Hill Open Space Preserve near Los Gatos. The preserve is contiguous with both Lexington Reservoir County Park and Novitiate Park, a Los Gatos city park. I was able to access the trailhead by parking at Lexington Reservoir boat launch (there is a small vehicle fee). Once I climbed to the summit of St. Joseph's hill (1,253'), I could see fantastic vistas of Mount Sereno (to the north), the Santa Clara Valley (to the east), distant mountains in the Diablo range (further east), the Sierra Azul range (to the south). and the reservoir (to the west).
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