Return to Del Valle

Today, my daughter and I took an easy hike at Del Valle Regional Park along the East Shore Trail from the parking area near the boat launch to the Hetch Hetchy Group Camp (about 1.5-miles total in an in-and-out hike). This was a lovely little return to a beloved park for us!

The last time that we were here in March was right at the beginning of the shut down, and the park district closed the park shortly after our visit because people were gathering in high numbers at several popular parks. Then, there were a series of fires, especially the SCU Lightning Complex Fire, that necessitated the closure of parks in the Bay Area. Parts of Del Valle are still closed while rangers make some of the remote areas along the Ohlone Trail safe for the public. But the East Side of the park from the main entrance is now open in a limited capacity.

I chose this relatively flat easy hike because I knew that I wanted to push my daughter in her stroller. They've recently repaired this hike, also known as the "Dog Run," from some storm damage this winter. The fresh gravel that they put down made it a little hard to push the stroller, but it did not take too long to get past this section of the trail. There is a little hill right at the beginning of the trail, but then the trail is relatively flat and well compacted for the rest of the way. In the late morning, there is some shade and a nice breeze from off of the lake kept things extremely pleasant, even though it was quite hot for this late in October (it was a "red flag" day today). We hiked to the Hetch Hetchy Group Camp site, where we had a morning snack at the picnic table under the shade of the oaks. We enjoyed listening to song birds and watching water birds.

I am so glad that Del Valle is open again. We have had to many happy trips to this park, and it felt like going home driving into the park again.