Little Farm and Boardwalk-Loop Road Trail at Tilden Nature Area

It's been a minute since I've been to Tilden Park, and this weekend I went for the first time to the Tilden Nature Area. This part of the park is an awesome place to bring young children--not only for the charming Little Farm but also for a gentle 1.28-mile loop that is stroller accessible.

Detail of EBRPD map for Tilden Nature Area

The first thing that my daughter and I did when we arrived was explore Little Farm. I had never been before, and I did not realize that the EBRPD lets you feed the animals your own celery and lettuce. I assumed that it would be more like Ardenwood Historic Farm, which only lets you feed the animals during the feeding activities. We will have to file this information away for later!

After enjoying all the animals, especially the one-week old piglets (so cute!), we had ourselves a nice picnic and explored the Environmental Education Center. Then we took the loop indicated in red on the map, going in a clockwise direction. We started on Wildcat Creek Trail and then turned left onto the boardwalk trail. This part of the hike was really cool! The boardwalk was over marshy ground bordering the creek that feeds into Jewel Lake.

We saw one or two pack rat nests (conical piles of twigs and sticks), and we listened to birds chirping all around us. The trees and bushes made a green tunnel for us to travel through. Then we arrived at Jewel Lake, a man-made lake that is bordered by redwood trees and filled with a variety of gorgeous grasses. We spent some time circling the lake, and then my daughter fell asleep in her stroller. She's almost two now, and she almost never falls asleep on a walk, so I took advantage and went the "long" way back along the Loop Road, which is a well graded, gently inclined fire road through an attractive eucalyptus forest. Her stroller easily handled the route, which I chose because it was marked in red as "easy" on the map, something one could potentially do in a wheelchair with assistance.

I saw lots of wildflowers, many butterflies, and one deer. This part of the park was actually really peaceful and quiet, which surprised me because it was so busy at Little Farm. I would go back here on my own to hike further into the park, and the loop I am eying is the Wildcat Peak-Laurel Canyon Loop.

I am very glad to know about this lovely park; it will be a great place to cool off from Livermore's hot summers once the heat really gets going.