I took a super enjoyable 7.9-mile loop through Windy Hill Preserve today. It was a glorious hike through a beautiful variety of forests and landscapes. It's made me wish I had explored deeper into this park before I moved away from the peninsula!
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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.
I only had a short amount of time for a solo hike today, and Sunol was already at maximum capacity when I arrived at 9:45 this morning, so I decided on a whim to try hiking at Vargas Plateau. This was my first time to hike this park in the dry season, and it was so different from what I have come to expect from only ever hiking here in late winter and early spring. I learned a lot, and I have a new loop planned for the next time I come back here.
The Callippe Preserve Trail is a trail maintained by the City of Pleasanton that circles around the Callippe Preserve Golf Course. My daughter and I had an unusual hike here this morning before the heat set in. Click "read more" to see maps and photos and to read about our hike.
The weather was so gorgeous today in the Tri-Valley and the East Bay. I don't know how we've gotten so lucky this late into June to have had 4 or 5 days in a row of temperatures in the 70s when it's normally closer to 95°F. The forecast predicts that it's going to start getting hotter tomorrow, so my daughter and I made the most of this amazing weather by trying out the 2.7-mile paved nature trail around the Lafayette Reservoir. It was our first time to this park, and we had a blast.
On Sunday, I took a 6.5-mile solo hike deep into Morgan Territory, a park local to me in Livermore. This hike combined legs of several other hikes that I have done in the park before and it comprised a really good "greatest hits" of the park, or at least the part of the park that is most easily accessible from the main staging area.
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.
This 8-mile hike through Sunol Regional Wilderness was a welcome return to a beloved park after its temporary closure earlier this spring. This loop, which was new to me, hits many of the highlights of the park: Little Yosemite, the cave rocks, and the old barn in the High Valley. It offers gorgeous views of the distinctive Maguire Peaks, and I saw so many of a favorite flower of mine: mariposa lilies! I love these gorgeous flowers that look like delicately painted china teacups.
The Marilyn Murphy Kane Trail in Pleasanton is a 1.7 mile paved trail that parallels the Arroyo de la Laguna. It is a flat hike through mostly open grassland that borders the riparian corridor along the arroyo. It's a nice place for an easy hike, and a great place for families with young kids.
Acalanes Ridge Open Space in Walnut Creek is a relatively small park that serves as an important connection in the greenbelt between Walnut Creek and Lafayette. This makes it feel bigger than it actually is. There are some impressive 360° views from the top of the Ridgetop Trail, but the hike is quite steep at parts. I enjoyed this 1.5-mile loop, but I think I would have enjoyed it much more if I had done it without bringing my young daughter. It was a bit of a roller coaster, both literally and metaphorically.
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