It's been harder to go out hiking since the shelter-in-place orders came down. I can't go for a long hike at all during the week because I am both working from home and taking care of my toddler daughter. And during the weekend, I am reluctant to go out because the parks were packed the first couple weekends of the quarantine: I want both to avoid the folks who are irresponsible and to keep the crowds down so that government agencies don't close ALL of the parks in the area. So mostly, I have been taking very short trips with my daughter to open space parks mid-week. On Monday, we explored Tassajara Creek Regional Park for the first time.
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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! 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. This winter has been so dry, but we actually got a nice little front of showers this weekend. I actually really like hiking in the rain if it's not too heavy of a downpour and the trails aren't too muddy. The greens really pop in a rain, and my family subscribes to the mantra, "more muddy, more fun." So I decided to hit the trails this weekend even in the rain to explore Briones Regional Park from the Bear Creek Staging Area.
Yesterday was the first day of March, and it was a great day to visit a favorite place: Picchetti Ranch Open Space in Cupertino!
Hayward Regional Shoreline is much, much nicer than I assumed it would from driving past it on the San Mateo Bridge. I had seen the Hayward Shoreline Interpretative Center, and I assumed that this was the only way to reach the park. The center itself looks nice enough, but the trails would almost certainly be noisy due to the traffic from the freeway. It turns out that there are actually three entrances to the park. I took the one on West Winton Avenue, and it was really beautiful--no traffic noise at all, but just lots of gorgeous marsh grasses and shorebirds in Cogswell Marsh.
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!
The Don Edwards Environmental Education Center in Alviso, CA (a suburb of San Jose) is a beautiful, weird park. I love it there, and I always see tons and tons of birds when I go; however, there is something about that park that seems harsh. I have bad luck when I go there.
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!
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