Intro to Brushy Peak Regional Park

Two separate teasers to Brushy Peak Regional Park in Livermore.

On my fist trip this this park, I was with my husband and my daughter. It was a crisp and windy day in January, and it ended up being a little too much for her since she was still recovering from a mild cold. So we just let her roam a little as long as she was still feeling good. She was very interested in all of the ground squirrels and in the prairie falcons swooping overhead!

Since we didn't venture too far from the parking lot, I decided to return on my own the following weekend if the weather permitted. It's been raining a lot the past week, and when I saw that today was going to be only intermittent rain I decided to jump and go for it. My family motto is "more muddy, more fun." And BOY this park did not disappoint, let me tell you.

I originally wanted to do the Brushy Peak Loop, connecting with the West Side Loop in order to return back to the parking lot. I definitely want to do that hike one day; however, today was not the day. The rains made the unpaved multi-use road extremely muddy. And while it was no problem stomping through mud on the relatively flat portion of the hike highlighted in yellow on the map to the left, the mud was quite slippery and it seemed to make the path dangerous once the trail started to become steeper.

I basically went on this leg of the trail between rain storms. No one else was on the trail, and the Western Meadowlarks were just singing their hearts out, calling to one another.

The video above is not my own, but just a sample of the song of the Western Meadowlark.

It was enchanting to hear these birds calling to each other back and forth with their sweet songs. The sun would pop out from behind a cloud and the emerald greens of the hills would just pop. It was amazing. Even though I only hiked about 2.3 miles in and out, this was just a lovely, lovely hike. I am so glad to have done it, and I am looking forward to returning to this park to explore more when it is not quite so muddy, perhaps when the spring wildflowers start to bloom.