As a treat to myself this weekend (ahead of Mother's Day), I decided to take a nice hike on a loop that winds in between Morgan Territory and Mount Diablo State Park. I loved this 8-mile route, and plan to do a variation of it again next spring! Click "read more" to see my loop and more photos.
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I have been looking over some of my archives from years past lately, and I've been thinking a lot about Lake Berryessa. This place was very special to me during my time in grad school, but I haven't been back in a long time. Read more to hear about some of the highlights from the past.
Although some high-use parks are starting to close to prevent the spread of COVID-19, there are plenty of less-used parks that are still open. The state park system is especially affected in the Northern California counties of Marin, San Mateo, and Sonoma Counties, but that is a dynamic list. Point Reyes had to turn people away from Chimney Rock this weekend because there were too many people trying to go and it was not compatible with social distancing. But there are still LOTS of parks that are not too crowded.
I went--for the first time--to Castle Rock and Diablo Foothills Parks, which are part of the East Bay Regional Park District. Although there were other folks on the trial, I still had plenty of solitude along some of the trails deeper into the interior of Diablo Foothills. There were some cattle guards (so bring your hand sanitizer), but the wide fire roads of the park were great for hiking while maintaining 6 feet of distance. And it was so gorgeous! I loved this hike, and I can't wait to come back to both of these two parks. Last Saturday was a particularly mild January day, so I went out to a park that I've long wanted to visit: Ohlone Regional Park. Part of the appeal of this park is that it is so remote. Here is a blurb from the EBRPD website:
You have to hike or ride horseback to see this magnificent 9,737-acre parkland, accessible only by way of the Ohlone Wilderness Trail. Its centerpiece is 3,817-foot Rose Peak, just 32 feet lower than Mount Diablo. Surrounding Rose Peak are grassy ridges, profusely flowered in season. The abundance of wildlife includes golden eagles, mountain lions, and tule elk. Murrietta Falls, the tallest waterfall in the Bay Area can be found at this park, but the hike to get there is a real butt-kicker, and the waterfall is only seasonal--there is no guarantee that you will actually see it once you've gone all the way out there. On my hike on Saturday, I only went about halfway to Murrietta falls, to the scenic Williams Gulch. It was such a pleasure! Not this weekend, but last, I went on a really interesting 6.5-mile loop (with 1,200 ft of elevation gain!) through Las Trampas Regional Park in San Ramon. This hike offered stunning views of the entire Bay Area, wind caves, and a "box canyon" called Devil's Hole. I was surprised to see that golden poppies and sky lupine were still blooming late into October. I am glad to have done it while the skies were still clear. We are experiencing a historic wind event that is spreading wildfire in Santa Rosa and bringing smoke down to the Bay Area.
I don't know why exactly, but I was expecting this park to be lame. I guessed from looking on the map at how close it is to both interstates 580 and 680 that it was going to be nothing but exposed ridgetop hikes with deafening traffic noise. While there was some hiking along the exposed Calaveras Ridge, the hike I took descended into a canyon and I could neither hear nor see the busy freeways nearby. It was unexpectedly tranquil!
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.
After dreaming about this hike for a while, I finally made it deep into Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park to explore Kilkare Canyon. This 7-mile hike is a variation of the hike to Turtle Pond that inspired me. I originally planned to do that longer hike, but the temperature in Pleasanton exceeded the forecast, and I adapted the hike to maximize shade and minimize direct sun exposure. The route I did was very nice, and I was mostly successful in turning what could have been too hot of a hike into something fun. One of the features of the hike (for me) was the explosion of Mariposa lilies, which are one of my all-time favorite flowers. It was worth it for me to brave the heat to see these flowers blooming in such abundance. With that said, I think that I will make sure to repeat this hike (or a variation of it) when it's earlier in the year--and therefore cooler--next spring.
This 8-mile loop through Mount Diablo State Park's northern area is one of the best hikes that I have been on in recent memory. The different parts of the loop had wildly different ecosystems, which meant that every new leg of the trail offered something more. I think that this might be the tail end of the season to do this hike. Although I was lucky to see water in the waterfalls and wildflowers at every stage of the hike, it was starting to get hot. I can imagine that it would not be pleasant to do this hike in even a couple of weeks. I will have to come back here next winter or spring to do this hike again though, because it was incredible! Wildflower highlights
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