Huckleberry Botanic Preserve

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!

Detail of the EBRPD map

I was actually surprised that there were no redwoods on this hike--there were madrones, bay laurels, manzanitas, chinquapins, valley oaks, huckleberries, and a few eucalyptus trees, but I did not see any redwoods despite it being cool and misty in the deep canyon of San Leandro Creek. From the under story of the trees, views of Round Top (from the neighboring Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve) and Mount Diablo (from much further away)  would occasionally pop up.

There were loads and loads of flowers on this 1.7-mile loop. My favorites were the columbines and the Douglas Irises, but there were plenty of others to see as well in addition to a variety of ferns. I took the hike in the clockwise direction, descending into the canyon and then climbing out of it, and I really enjoyed that experience--it ended the hike on a nice, flat ridge-top portion instead of ending with a steep uphill climb. If you wanted to make this a flatter (and easier) hike, you could just do the Upper Huckleberry Loop Trail and then double back when you get to the manzanita barrens.

This hike was very beautiful, and it felt like entering into another, greener world. It was quiet on the day when I hiked (quiet enough that I got a close encounter with a deer!), but that may have been because it was a weekday. I have a feeling that this park gets popular on the weekends. I would gladly return to this lovely park.