5-30-13 Anthony Chabot

It was another day for hiking with Darby. I didn't feel like anything very hard or far to drive, so we went to the Marciel Gate in Anthony Chabot Regional Park. As is often the case, it turned out to be a harder hike than I expected. I hadn't seen much of the area south and west of Marciel Gate for a long time, so I had a rough idea of making a loop there.

The morning fog had burned off, but it was still cool as we started off along the Redtail Trail, then down to the Brandon Trail. As we headed generally south, we began to hear gunshots, and I realized that the trail passes near the rifle range. Darby was getting more and more upset, so I put him on the leash because I was afraid that he would run off. For a few minutes, the sounds were quite loud, and he was pulling as hard as he could to get away from it. I felt sorry to be putting him through this, but I knew that we would soon be past it. A few minutes later, the sounds were fading away, and Darby calmed down and went back to doing his normal dog stuff. We turned right on the Two Rock Trail, and followed it down to the group camp areas. From the Lookout Ridge Camp, we found a path down to the Columbine Trail, and followed it to the right. We were soon down in the willows along the dry creek bed, and then climbing along the west side of the canyon of Grass Valley. After a mile or so, we branched right onto the Cascade Trail, which contoured along the shady hillside a couple hundred feet above the creek. The last time I was on this trail was probably at least 35 years ago, and I remembered it following the creek and passing some nice little waterfalls. On the trail today, at one point, I could see down a hundred feet or so to the creek bed and lots of large rocks. A family of raccoons just happened to be walking by down there. About a quarter mile further, I came to the end of the Cascade Trail at the stone bridge. From there it was a familiar climb, but a hard one, back up the Cottontail Trail to the trailhead.

When I got home, I looked up the Cascade Trail in my book, and saw the picture of the waterfall that I had taken along the trail. What happened? I figure either the park district realigned the trail sometime years ago, or else I had missed the actual trail when I thought I had been following it. The latter seems more likely. In the 70's, the trails in this part of the park were not much more than deer trails. No signs, overgrown, and hard to follow.

So, in spite of the traumatic sounds of gunshots, it turned out to be a very pleasant little hike that turned out to be a bit longer than I expected, but quite enjoyable anyway.

6.2 miles -- 1200 ft. of climbing.

5-25-13 Huckleberry

Another day when Maureen was busy all day, so I combined a trip to Blick in Berkeley for watercolor supplies with a hike on the Huckleberry Path. This was going to be the hike that I had intended to do in January when I ended up in Sibley because dogs are not allowed here. I intended make a loop that included the part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail between Redwood and Sibley parks. Both trails contour around the very steep east slope of the Berkeley Hills, an unusual area of lush vegetation with many plants found few other places. Much of the trail is a narrow path between walls of huckleberries and ferns shaded by bays and oaks, but there are also dry, bare areas with a couple of different manzanitas.

My plan was to start at the parking lot at Sibley, but it was full, so went a quarter-mile or so south to the small parking area for Huckleberry. I picked up a map and saw that it also included information for numbered stops on a nature trail, so I went back to the car and got my reading glasses (one of the drawbacks of senior-citizenhood). I took my hat too, but didn't need it because the trails are very shady. Very soon after I started, the trail forked, and the left fork led down the hill to the Bay Area Ridge Trail. So I realized that I could make a shorter loop than planned if I wanted, and I kept that in mind. I stayed to the right and followed the original Huckleberry Path a mile and a half or so until I reached Pinehurst Road, not far from the Skyline Gate in Redwood. On the way back, I took the lower trail, which was much like the other but more shaded by bay trees. I wasn't intending a long hike, and when I reached the connecting trail, it seemed like far enough, so I used it to climb back to the start. I can do the rest of the Ridge Trail section another time. A quite pleasant hour and 20 minutes of walking.

3.2 miles -- 500 ft. of climbing

4-16-13 Cull Canyon

Another good day for a hike. Maureen and Cherry were going to spend the afternoon with the horses, so I decided to do some hiking. After hiking into the EBMUD Watershed to Dinosaur Ridge, I wanted to do more of that section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. I thought I could start at Cull Canyon and hike the other direction to Dinosaur Ridge. As usual, my plan was way too ambitious, but I was able to do about half of it. Since Darby is still limping a bit and probably wouldn't benefit from a long hike, and I was hoping to get into EBMUD Watershed land where dogs aren't allowed, I left him at home.



Yesterday afternoon was extremely windy, and it was still cool and windy today, but not nearly as bad. I parked at Cull Canyon Lake and looked around for the trail. It was a deja vu moment -- 30 years ago or so I remember doing the same search for the trail, but I had forgotten the result, so I had to do it again. The trick is to follow the outside of the stone wall on the north side of the creek crossing. The trail goes high along the steep west bank of the creek, in bay trees and ferns. After a while it crosses to the east side, and at this point it used to go along side of a pasture with llamas, but now it is just an empty field. After another half mile or so, the trail begins to switchback up the west side of the canyon and it is quite a long, hard climb. Even walking slow, I had to stop a few times to catch my breath. I felt quite uncomfortable, but after a couple minutes rest I felt like I could go on. When I saw houses up ahead not far away, I thought I was almost there. Years ago I remember the trail coming out to the street near this point. But then the trail heads down along the side of the ridge again and goes another half mile or so before coming out again at the top of the ridge. At this point the street at the end of the housing development is only a gate away, and the trail continues through another gate into a horse pasture. On the street-side gate, there is a sign "no trail access". This also appears on the Bay Area Ridge Trail map at this point. I guess local residents don't want anyone parking there to enter the trail, but I don't see how it would be a problem -- the street is wide enough for parking, and I doubt that many people would use it anyway.

By this point I had had enough. I couldn't face the prospect of going back the way I had come over all those ups and downs, so I squeezed around the gate and walked out to the street. It seemed like kind of a lame way to finish the hike, but I was tired and I didn't care. So I walked to the left down the street to Columbia Drive and followed it all the way back.

I was fine for a couple of blocks, but then my nose was running and I wiped it and it was blood. I had been having nose bleeds now and then for the last year or so, but it seemed like a minor annoyance. Anyway, I found a little park, I lay down on a bench until it stopped. I continued down feeling very self conscious because I imagined blood all over my face, but when I got back to the car, I saw that it wasn't bad.

A few days later, I found that my nosebleeds were more than a minor complaint. Feeling uncomfortable, much like I did on my hike, I checked my blood pressure and found it was dangerously high. I went to the doctor the next day, and began working to get my blood pressure under control.

4.8 mi. - 1200 ft.

4-9-13 Dinosaur Ridge

I don't know how or when this place got it's name, but it must have happened since I first visited it about 30 years ago. At that time it was just an unnamed hill, 1160+ ft. elevation on the topo map. However, once on top, it's easy to see that it must have been named for sandstone spine sticking through the grass, looking something like the back of a Stegosaurus.

A year or so ago, I got the idea that a good project for my retirement would be to hike the Bay Area Ridge Trail in sections. This is a trail that is planned to go all the way around the bay following ridges. Right now it is about 60% complete, about 340 miles of trail. Now that I am retired, and I might have time for such a project, I'm doubting that I have the motivation, energy and stamina to do it. I'm thinking "Why get obsessive about hiking the whole trail? Why not just sample a few sections of it?". So on this day, with that idea in mind, I decided to check out my first piece of it.

This trail is on EBMUD watershed land, and to hike any of these trails, you need to get a trail permit, which is easy to do online for a small fee. I left my dog, Darby at home, knowing that dogs are not permitted on these trails. I parked at the Chabot Staging Area which is about a half mile north of Willow Park Golf Course on Redwood Road in Castro Valley. I signed in at the trailhead and started hiking.

The first mile or so goes along a wooded hillside just above a Christmas Tree farm. Near the beginning I kept looking to the right for signs of a trail going up the hillside. Years ago, when I made several hikes in this area working on my book, there was a single-track trail that climbed a spur ridge and led to the fire road along the main ridge. This was at a time when EBMUD had just opened their trails to the public, and had not settled on trail alignments, or really even finished building the trails. I had thought about trying to find the old trail so I could make a loop of my hike, but all I saw where it should have been was dense thickets of poison oak. It was obvious that getting off the trail here would not be fun, so I quickly gave up on that idea.

Past the tree farm, the trail comes out along the edge of a large pasture area, and the trail divides, the Ramage Peak Trail going left, and the Ridge Trail going right. Now you start some serious climbing and gain nearly 1000 ft. in less than a mile. It took me quite a few rest stops to get me up it. But finally I reached the top of the hill, the highest point for quite a distance around, and enjoyed the great views.



The climbing had worn me out pretty good, so I didn't feel like trying to go any further. So after a few photos, I headed back down. Back at the pasture area, I thought about hopping a fence and following the gravel road back. It would have been easier, but I would be risking getting caught by EBMUD employees who use the road to access the dam of the Upper San Leandro Reservoir. I decided to play it safe, and the trail was not that bad anyway, and I was soon back at my car.

4.4 mi. - 1200 ft.

4-6-13 Ukraina

Not long after we moved from Oakland to Hayward in 1976, I found out a little about Hayward history, and came across the fascinating story of Agapius Honcharenko. He was a Russian Orthodox Priest in the Ukraine in the mid-nineteenth century who became a revolutionary fighting against the Czar's oppression of the peasants. He was forced to flee into exile and was stalked around the world by the Russian police until he ended up on a remote farm in the Hayward Hills in 1873. He and his wife lived there for more than 40 years while he continued to write in support of the Ukrainian peasants and give church services in a grotto in the rocks near his farm. They called the place Ukraina.

So for 37 years I have known about this story and approximately where his farm was, but never got to see it because it was on private land and its exact location was never made public. Then I found in the Daily Review an announcement of a hike to be led by the Hayward Historical Society to visit the site of the farm. So on a cool Saturday morning with intermittent drizzle, I went up to the new Stonebrae Elementary School and joined about 40 others for a hike. It was a nice, friendly group and I met a couple of old friends that I hadn't seen for a long time. The hike leader gave us a brief history of Honcharenko and we stopped at various points along the way for him to expand on the story.

This trail was just recently opened by the EBRPD, but looking at their website, there is no mention of it, and it doesn't appear on their maps. It is in a part of Garin Regional Park that has been owned by the district for a long time but not open to the public. Since this trail is along the edge of the new Stonebrae development and golf course, I believe that the development had a lot to do with its being opened now. Fortunately, for most of the trail, the development is hidden behind a low hill, so you feel totally out in a natural area.



After an easy hike of a mile or so, we came to the site of the farm. Nothing is left of the home that once stood here; it is just an open field with a stone monument marking the spot. A few yards further down a grassy hill, there is an old pine tree with a fence around it protecting the graves of Honcharenko and his wife, marked with wooden crosses. This spot is right on the edge of a hill that drops steeply to the upper reaches of Dry Creek and there are great views out across the bay.

From there we made a short loop over a low hill and along the edge of the golf course before retracing our path back to the start. It had turned out to be a very interesting day, and in spite of a little drizzle along the way, it was a beautiful hike. I want to go back soon to show the trail to Maureen and Darby.

about 3 mi. - about 200 ft.

3-26-13 Knobcone Point

Mt. Diablo State Park has many miles of beautiful trails, and some of the most spectacularly rugged terrain in the east bay. But in my hiking the last couple of years, I have avoided it because I like to take along my dog, Darby, and dogs are not allowed on any state park trails. For some time before this hike, we had noticed Darby limping on his right front leg, and we finally took him to the vet. He diagnosed it as arthritis asked us to limit Darby's exercise for a couple of weeks. So since a long hike with Darby was out, I decided to take advantage of the situation and go to Mt. Diablo.

Years ago (probably about 30), I had made several hikes east from Curry Point on the Knobcone Point Trail, and I had found a way to make a loop hike out of it by cutting across to the Blackhawk Ridge Road in the canyon to the south. The key was about a half mile of cross country travel along a faint use trail. It was a little rough, but I was able to go back and do it with a friend and my wife, and she is not especially tolerant of rough hiking.

Driving up the South Gate Road from Danville, I encountered my first problem. Previously, there had always been a ranger at the entrance gate to take your money, but with the current cutbacks in park services, there was no one there, and a sign said you had to put $10 in an envelope and deposit it before entering the park. I looked in my wallet, and there was only $8. I re-read the sign, and noticed that seniors got a $1 discount, but I was still a dollar short. The other problem was that I hadn't bothered to bring my reading glasses, which I don't need for distant vision, and I didn't have a pen. I searched the car and found a pen, but I could barely see the form I was supposed to fill out on the envelope. I wasn't about to give up my hike for the lack of a dollar, so I did my best to fill out the form, deposited my $8, and took my chances.



It was a beautiful spring day, and the hike out along the ridge was very enjoyable. The terrain changed from grassland to chaparral with lots of rocks, as the trail climbed toward Knobcone Point. I began to notice the Knobcone pines for which the place is named. Years ago, I remember scattered trees, but now there were large dense groves where skinny little trees were packed so close that you could hardly get through them. Then I realized that my previous hikes had been only a couple of years or so after a big fire, and this little forest had all grown up since then.



Finally, the trail ends at a gate marking the park boundary, and I headed to the right down a short access road leading to a tower of the high-voltage lines that cross the park here. This was the point where my old use trail had started, but I saw nothing but dense brush. There is a line of sandstone cliffs here, and I climbed a few feet to look over the edge. In the basin below, where I remembered grassland and vernal pools with scattered brush, really a beautiful little spot. Now it appeared to be totally filled with brush. I was already quite tired and the prospect of some difficult bushwhacking did not appeal to me. So I turned around and headed back. After the steep climb back up to the ridge, the return hike wasn't bad, and I enjoyed seeing everything once more.

When I got home, I did a search to see what I could find out about the area. I found a recent post which described a connecting trail a little west of where my old path had been. On the short access road, I had noticed a use trail heading to the right through the trees, but I thought it was probably made by climbers to reach the rocks and cliffs. According to the post, it goes all the way through to the Blackhawk Ridge Road. They called it the mountain's best kept secret. So one of these days, I want to go back and try it.

4.9 mi. - 900 ft.

3-13-13 Las Trampas

On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon, I decided to go hiking with Darby. We've been avoiding popular hiking spots on weekends because there are often so many unleashed dogs, but I thought a weekday at Las Trampas would be OK. I wanted a moderate hike of about an hour and a half, so we hiked one of my favorites, a loop on the Chamise Trail, Las Trampas Ridge Trail, and Bollinger Creek Trail.

Right at the start, I noticed a couple of young guys with a golden retriever ahead of me, but they were far enough that I wasn't worried. The climb to the ridge is always hard work, but I was feeling pretty good, and made it up with only a couple of rest stops. I noticed the two guys had gone off trail to try to climb on the rocks near the top, so I passed them. I love the trail along the ridge, going up and down through grassland and woods with lots of wildflowers. This hasn't been a very good year for flowers, but there were enough to keep me happy.

As I headed down through chaparral into the canyon, I suddenly came across a woman with three large, dark shepherd type dogs coming down another trail. One of the dogs started approaching, and pulled out my can of Spray Shield getting ready for an attack. The spray, which I picked up at Petco, uses citronella, and is supposed to be a harmless dog repellant. This was the first time I had pulled it out and got ready to use it, but fortunately, the dog turned back and didn't come any closer. I yelled to the woman that my dog might not be friendly, but she seemed unconcerned and made no attempt to control the dogs. I waited for her to pass, and at that moment, the two guys with the golden retriever came along behind me. They put their dog on a leash to pass, but there was no problem with the dogs. I followed far behind the people and dogs, and was relieved when the woman took her dogs on the trail along the far side of the creek, away from my trail. I could still see the dogs running all over the place, sometimes far from the woman.

It's too bad that we have to worry about dogs so much on the trails. Of course, since Darby got attacked and injured a few months ago, we are especially worried -- probably more than we need to be. Most people with dogs that we run into are fine -- they put their dog on leash to pass, or at least keep them under control. The problem is that there are a few people who are not willing to do anything to control their dogs, and as we found out, it only takes one bad encounter to cause a lot of damage.

about 4 mi.

2-22-13 Dublin Hills

In looking at the maps on the EBRPD website, I noticed a new addition in the hills west of Dublin and north of 580, named Dublin Hills Regional Park. It looked like a pretty small area with just one out and back trail, but when I had a free afternoon, I took Darby out there to check it out. We took the 580 frontage road (Dublin Canyon Rd.) out to Rowell Ranch, and right across the road there is an underpass where Shaefer Ranch Road heads into a new development. To the right on Dublin Blvd. is the Donlon Point Staging Area. We parked there and headed up the trail which skirts the hillside above the new houses for nearly a mile. A prominent hill, Donlon Point is a short distance above, but we didn't bother with that. The trail soon reaches the ridge top with great views to the east over Dublin and the valley. We came to a trail intersection with gates and big "No Trespassing" signs. A couple of women had stopped there wondering whether it was OK to continue. I wondered too, but the park map clearly shows the trail going on, so we all decided to ignore the signs. Beyond this point, we left the houses behind, and soon it seemed that we were in beautiful hills far from the city.



We went on up over another hill and down through a pretty little dip with a few big eucalyptus trees. A large bull was grazing on the next hill, so we detoured around him a bit, but he was unconcerned with us. On the far side of that hill, I could see most of the trail going down and up along the ridge and climbing up the flank of the bigger ridge of Wiedemann Hill. Our time was limited, and we had gone far enough to see what it was like, so we headed back.

I decided that this area was definitely worth coming back to. I'd like to explore the trails going down into Donlon Canyon and Martin Canyon, which connect with a City of Dublin open space area.

about 4 mi. - about 400 ft.

1-22-13 Sibley

It must be about 30 years since I have been on the Huckleberry Trail between Redwood and Sibley Regional Parks in the Oakland hills. A section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail runs parallel to the trail in the canyon below, and I thought it would be nice to make a loop using both trails. I remember the Huckleberry Trail as about a mile-long path contouring across the east slope of the Berkeley Hills, in brush and woods with some relatively rare native plants along the way. I thought a weekday afternoon would be a good uncrowded time to go.

Darby and I arrived at the turnout at the north end of the trail, and to our disappointment, there was a sign saying "no dogs". So we needed a change of plans. Fortunately, the entrance to Sibley Regional Park is only a short distance north on Skyline, so we went there instead.

We took the trail to the right that circles around Round Top, the highest hill in the vicinity. Then we followed the Volcanic Trail exploring several of the quarry pits that line this ridgetop. The brochure and map explains the geology at many points along the trail, and is an interesting story of an ancient volcano, but without a little more explanation, it's not easy to see much more than a lot of rocks. It's a fun place to explore anyway, with steep-walled pits, and great views all around. We made it to the north end of the trail, then looped back on the Quarry Trail.



It was only a month or so after Darby was attacked by another dog and badly injured, so I was still quite nervous about running into dogs. We only passed one other dog with no problems until we were nearly back to the parking lot. Then, here comes a guy up the trail with seven dogs on leashes, and several of them were quite big dogs. We somehow got past without incident, but I wondered why some people think it is OK to walk more dogs than they can possibly control.

about 4 mi.

1-18-13 Pleasanton Ridge

Last winter, I just didn't feel like keeping up this blog. I haven't done anything to publicize it, so I doubt that anyone reads it. I'm not sure how public I want to be. One day I feel like it's a good thing to share information about trails, and another day I feel like who needs another self-absorbed blogger documenting everything they do. Lately, I've been thinking maybe it is worthwhile after all, and I may as well keep doing it, but I don't need to put so much work into it. I liked doing the little maps, but they are a bit superfluous with all the maps available online, so I'm going to drop them*. I've gone back and written up most of the hikes I have done this winter and spring, and I'm going to try harder to keep up with posting stories about future hikes.

* Half a year later I changed my mind and went back and inserted maps on most of my posts.
 

I had hiked Pleasanton Ridge last spring, but at that time I had wanted to go all the way to the beginning of Augustin Bernal Park, but ran out of energy. Today I thought I could make it that far and maybe a bit further. The climb to the ridge was strenuous as usual, and the climbing along the ridge top wasn't easy either. It was a beautiful cool sunny day and I made a number of good photo stops along the way. Finally I reached the point where the trail drops down the steep east slope of the ridge a 100 ft. or so. We soon came to a sign marking the entrance to Augustine Bernal Park, and then to a saddle on the ridge where the trail splits. To continue, we would have to climb the hill ahead. It is not such a big hill, but I was tired enough to decide that this was far enough. We turned left on the Thermalito Trail.

Recent nights had been cold, and next to a water faucet there were inch-thick slabs of ice that someone had broken out of a puddle. Heading west into the canyon, the warm afternoon light coming through the oak trees was really pretty. After a mile or so, we cut across up the hill to the Ridgeline Trail again, avoiding the ups and downs of the rest of the Thermalito Trail.



I was glad that I had accomplished my goal, but I was still curious about the miles of trails through Augustine Bernal Park and beyond. I looked online and found out that there is trail access to Augustine Bernal, but the staging area is within a gated community and it is only available to residents of Pleasanton. Non-residents can apply for a one-week pass from the city, and I may do that some day, but it sounds like a lot of hassle. I feel that open space land should be open to anyone, and that limiting access like that is just wrong.

about 5 mi. - 1300 ft.