The Preserve Trail Loop at Gold Creek Open Space

The weather has been uncharacteristically temperamental this May. It's been hot and dry, then cold-ish and wet from one day to the next. Sunday was a particularly crazy day in the Tri-Valley because it started off raining, and then cleared up but was very windy. I took advantage of the weird weather and ventured out for a weekend hike with my young daughter. The park we visited in Pleasanton, Gold Creek Open Space, was almost entirely empty. Social-distancing win! Click "read more" to read about the park and the trail.

The website for parks and recreation department in the City of Pleasanton is actually quite poor, especially if you are just looking to see what parks are available for hiking. If you already know the name of the park that you want, then you can do a google search and find a PDF brochure of the park (along with a map), but if you don't know the name of the park to begin with, then it's hard to get an overview of what's available. The best overview I can find is here, and it's at least a start.

Here is the brochure for Gold Creek Open Space, titled The Preserve and Moller Ranch Trails. The brochure includes the following blurb:

The Preserve and Moller Trails are located within the 38-acre Gold Creek Open Space, a natural area south of The Preserve housing development on the west side of Foothill Road. This public open space is adjacent to additional private open space owned and operated by both The Preserve and Moller Ranch subdivisions. The Preserve Staging Area includes a paved parking lot, public restroom and trailheads. Public trails crisscrossing the open space and the restroom are open to the public year round. Gold Creek Open Space includes grassy hillsides, oak woodlands with related understory plants, seasonal creeks and springs, wooden bridges and riparian vegetation.

We had a great time on our hike of the 1.3-mile loop. We took it in a counter-clockwise direction, which I recommend. The trail starts off steep but then has a gentle grade for the downhill portion. There is a lot of direct sun along the exposed hills (so sunscreen and hats are a good idea), but there are still lots of nice shady spots along Gold Creek.

I took my toddler in the carrier, which made it doable. And there is a really nice shady spot right near the parking lot that would be good for a young child to play. But the steepness of the path would make it hard for a young child to hike on his or her own, so if your kids are too big for carriers and too little for hiking then maybe just play in the nice shady of the riparian woods by the parking lot. That would be a good way to make this a kid-friendly option. I do not think that the trails would be good for strollers.