7-26-13 Las Trampas

 It looked like another good day for a hike -- morning fog promising to keep the heat down. After dropping off my grandson, Zachery, at Camp Tenderfoot, Darby and I drove to Danville. I wanted to check out an entrance to Las Trampas Regional Wilderness that I hadn't been to before, the Ringtail Cat Staging Area at the end of Hemme Ave. This appeared to be a good starting point for a loop through the northern end of the Park.

This area around Las Trampas Peak has always been special to me because it was one of the first wild areas that I knew as a kid. In the mid-50s, When I was about 10, my dad got the idea that we could hike over the hills from our home in Lafayette to my aunt and uncle's home in Danville. Dad and I and my younger sister set out without any directions or maps and somehow found our way there. At that time the whole area was undeveloped private land, but we rarely encountered anyone. If we did, the ranchers didn't mind too much as long as we didn't bother the cattle. We made many more hikes like that, and found a nice route along the northern end of Las Trampas Ridge to Las Trampas Peak, and then down the present Madrone Trail into San Ramon Valley. I wanted to revisit part of that route today.

Climbing Ringtail Cat Trail

The fog had cleared but it was still a bit cool as Darby and I started off following a dry creekbed from the small parking lot. Soon, the trail began a steep climb up the hill to the left. After a good hard climb, we came to a junction with the Madrone Trail in a open grassy flat overlooking the valley. I remembered this as the site of an oil drilling rig that was once here in the late 50s. They must not have found any oil, because it didn't stay there long. My plan was to head up the Corduroy Hills Trail to Eagle Peak, but right at this junction I saw a fairly well worn path heading straight up the hill. I figured that if it kept on going that way it would intersect my intended route, so I gave it a try. It turned to be a pretty good trail, but a steep climb. We continued on the Corduroy Hills Trail up the steep-sided crest of a ridge to Eagle Peak, coming out of the woods to steep chaparral and sandstone outcrops. Several years ago, I was hiking here, stepping between these rocks, when suddenly there was a big rattlesnake coiled and rattling in the middle of the trail. Somehow I managed a mid-stride leap and missed the snake. He was as startled as I was and slithered into the rocks before I could aim my camera.

Eagle Peak

 A steep, slippery scramble down across a saddle brought us to the Las Trampas Ridge Trail and we turned right. Now on a more familiar trail, we followed the ridge northwest to Las Trampas Peak. The actual peak is up a short side trail, but I had visited it fairly recently, we didn't bother going to the top. We descended a long grassy ridge to the northeast, then curved back into the canyon on the Madrone Trail. By now it was a bit warm, and I knew that Darby was getting pretty dry. On our park map there was a "horse water" symbol on the trail, and we found it as a small, muddy pond in the main canyon. After drinking for about 5 minutes without a break, Darby was now feeling better. We climbed a bit and contoured along the south side of the canyon shaded by oaks and bay trees. We finally completed our loop, and headed down the Ringtail Cat Trail back to our car.

Eagle Peak from near Las Trampas Peak

I hadn't bothered to estimate how long a hike this would be, but I knew it would he a pretty challenging one. It turned out to be just about the same distance and elevation gain as the hike I did on Mt. Diablo last week. I thought it was well worth the hard work, a good place to cover a lot of beautiful, rugged country.

7.2 miles, 2000 ft. climb

7-16-13 Mt. Diablo - The Grand Tour

Juniper Trail near start of hike

For the last couple of days, it has been foggy in the mornings and fairly cool in the afternoons. Today promised to be the same, so I thought it might be a good day for a hike on Mt. Diablo, where it is usually too hot this time of year. One of my favorite hikes on the mountain is a loop around the north side that I have done several times, but not for at least 20 years. The last time was with Maureen and a friend, Kim, a young guy that she worked with who loved a challenging hike. It was mid-winter, cold and windy. There were patches of snow in some spots along the trail, and near the end of the hike it began to snow again.

I remembered the hike as a demanding one, and I debated with myself for a while about whether I was too old for this now. I decided to go ahead. If it seemed to be getting too hard I could always turn back if I hadn't gone too far. But once I neared the half-way point, I would be committed to finishing because there are no short-cuts.

Driving out through Danville, I could see that the top of the mountain was still in clouds, but by the time I parked near the Juniper Campground, they had gone. Next to me was another older guy getting ready for a hike. He asked if I was doing the Grand Tour. I had seen this name for the route on my map, so I answered yes. But he was heading out in a clockwise direction and I had chosen to go the other way. I wanted to get the climb to the summit out of the way first, or maybe find a way to avoid it.

I started out up the Juniper Trail, climbing steeply, then leveling off for a bit. I had thought that maybe I could cut down off-trail to the road to avoid climbing the last 400 ft. or so to the Lower Summit Parking Lot, but although it was only a short distance, it was all solid chaparral that would have been very difficult to get through, so I stuck to the trail.

Clematis lasiantha

I noticed here and there in the brush was a plant with pretty white puff balls. I looked it up later and it appears that they were the seed pods of Clematis lasiantha, or Virgin's Bower. I continued to see lots of it throughout the hike. I also saw silk tassel, with similar feathery tassels, but not in a ball like the Clematis. In fact I noticed that there are all kinds of plants up here that I don't see in the hills nearer to home. I thought that being a dry July, it would be rather dead looking, but it was quite beautiful to see mountainsides patched with so many colors of green and gold.

On North Peak Trail

My climbing done for the next few miles, I headed down the Summit Trail to the hairpin turn called Devil's Elbow, and across the steep mountainside on the North Peak Trail, enjoying the great views to the south and east. As well as the many sights, I was enjoying the fragrant smells of pine and juniper, and the total quiet except for the occasional wind in the trees.

Prospector's Gap Road

By the time I reached Prospector's gap between the main peak and North Peak, I was feeling good and ready to commit to the whole route. Heading down the very steep road, I passed the guy who had hiked the other direction. He was making better time than I was although he still had about 1000 ft. of climbing ahead of him. Near the bottom of the descent, I passed Big Spring, a shady spot I remembered from previous hikes. For the next mile or so, the road stayed fairly level, then climbed a bit to Murchio Gap on the ridge leading out to Eagle Peak. The road dropped fairly steeply down grassy hillsides with views of Mitchell Canyon and then up again to Deer Flat.

Rocks somewhere on north side

There is not much there but a trail junction, but I remembered the spot from my Boy Scout days when I was in my early teens. As a training hike for a Sierra backpacking trip, we hiked with full packs from Mitchell Canyon all the way over the mountain to the Scout camp near Rock City. It was one of those 100 degree plus days, and I had a seriously hard time with it, suffering from dehydration and probably heat exhaustion, I had to stop and puke a couple of times. Deer flat was the spot where we stopped for a rest and wait for stragglers, of whom I was probably one. It was still another 800 ft. or so over the ridge to Juniper Camp, but after the rest I was better able to go on and complete the hike.

Manzanita and pine cones

Today, the weather was comfortably cool and I felt fine -- just a bit tired. I sat down and ate a granola bar and an apple. I could have used some water, but I didn't bring any. I guess lots of people would think it was pretty foolish to do a hike like this without water. I see people with their camelback packs hiking or cycling with a water tube in their mouths, apparently needing constant water. That way is probably healthier, but I've always gotten by without much water. On my first scout backpacking trip, I was told that it was not good to drink when you were hot and thirsty, that it would make you sick. Just suck on a little pebble and your thirst won't bother you so much. It was bad advice, but I learned that I could survive without frequent drinking. So I usually don't want the extra weight of a water bottle unless it is quite hot or the hike is long.

Today, the climb to the ridge didn't seem so bad. Most of it is an easy grade. I think doing the hike in the counter-clockwise direction was easier than the other way, although the elevation gain and loss are the same either way. But you don't have the steep sustained climb of nearly 2000 ft. on the last half of the hike.

There were a number of campers set up in Juniper Camp as I walked through. I always thought that this would be a very nice place to camp, although I never have. Shady sites with great views. When I got to the car, I noticed that the other guy's car was gone, confirming that he was a faster hiker. I don't mind. I'm way past being concerned with speed these days. This really was a great hike. Besides the rugged country and great views, I think what I like best about it is the feeling of being way out in a wild place, even though the surrounding cities are always in view far below.

 7.2 miles, 2000 ft. climb    (mileage from gps on my iPhone -- the map says 6.2 miles)

7-12-13 Carquinez Straits

There are a couple of fairly new regional parks in northern Contra Costa County that interested me, so today I checked out one of them, Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline near Martinez. I was a little reluctant to drive so far for a short hike, but the drive wasn't really that bad -- 45 min. or so.

Finding the Nejedly Staging area on Carquinez Straits Scenic Drive took a little hunting through the little old streets of the Martinez waterfront, but we found it. There was only one other car in the parking lot, and as Darby and I prepared to go, the woman at the other car called out to me, saying that she had just locked her keys in her car. I was going to let her use my cell phone to call AAA, but just then she noticed two tow trucks parked in an upper parking area. She went up and talked with them and returned a bit upset because they rather rudely informed her that they weren't associated with AAA, and for 100 some odd dollars, they would help her, but otherwise she could get lost. So she went ahead and used my phone to call AAA.

We started up the Hulet Hornbeck Trail which climbs steeply and steadily up a shady little ravine. I remember Mr. Hornbeck from years ago when I was working on my book and went to meetings of the East Bay Trails Council. At that time he was in charge of land acquisition for the park district. I met him a couple of times, as well as one of his assistants, a young guy named Bob Doyle, who is now the general manager of the district.

At the top of the ridge, we had to choose between a couple mile loop trail to the right or  the continuation of the Hulet Hornbeck trail which follows the ridge to the left. The map showed the loop trail going pretty far down into a canyon meaning a lot more climbing, so I chose to go left. We went about a mile with lots of nice views before turning around and retracing our steps. We took the Rankin Park Trail back down off the ridge (the map shows two trails with the same name -- we took the western of the two). Near the bottom, we found a little path to the left along the upper edge of a cemetery that led us back to the staging area.

The locked-out-woman was back at her car, having got her car unlocked and finished her hike and run. She thanked me again for helping.

about 3 miles, 700 ft. climb

7-9-13 Tilden

Maureen and Cherry were off to their riding lessons, so with a free morning, I decided to finish off the Trails Challenge by hiking in Tilden. Maureen had expressed some interest in doing this hike, so I thought maybe I shouldn't go without her, but then I rationalized that we could always go back and do it again sometime. Since it was a Tuesday, I thought it would be OK to bring Darby, that we wouldn't run into too many dogs. I was wrong about that -- there were lots of dogs. There were several groups that were probably professional dog walkers because there was a single human with 5 or 6 dogs. Luckily, they all turned out to be quite well behaved, and Darby was OK with all but one who came a bit too close and elicited a growl from Darby.

The route started at Inspiration Point on Wildcat Canyon Road. We took the Curran Trail down a short ways and turned right on the Meadows Canyon Trail which winds along the hillside, descending into the canyon. At the bottom, near the Nature Area, we turned left on the Wildcat Gorge Trail, which follows Wildcat Creek upstream. The creek is pretty, flowing in a rocky bed. Midsummer in a dry year, there is not a lot of water, but more than most East Bay Creeks, which are totally dry now. High on the far bank of the creek is an impressive cliff of volcanic rock with several caves in it. We turned left again on the Curran Trail which brought us back up to our starting point.

I drove down to the Nature Area and went into the Visitor Center. I told the young woman at the counter about my hikes for the Trails Challenge, and she gave me my T-shirt. She said that I needed to mail in my completed log sheet to get a pin, but I don't really care about that. I hadn't realized that I could have got the T-shirt without completing the hikes, but I enjoyed doing them anyway.

3.3 miles, 600 ft. climb

7-7-13 Redwood

Maureen and Cherry were going to ride the horses, so I had a free day for hiking. There had been a heat wave all the past week with record-breaking temperatures, but it had finally cooled down. I thought it might still be pretty warm inland, so I decided on a nice shady hike in Redwood. I chose another Trails Challenge trail there, one that is rated "challenging". Since it was a Sunday, I knew there would be lots of people and dogs there, so I left Darby at home. As I was leaving, seeing his pleading eyes, I almost changed my mind, but it was good that I didn't because it turned out that there were lots of potential dog problems on the trail.

It was perfect weather for hiking, and it was very pleasant walking up the stream trail, enjoying the sunlight filtering down through the big redwoods. I was even thinking that maybe this hike was too easy and I should have chosen something more difficult, but that soon changed when I neared the head of the canyon and started up the Tres Sendas Trail, which climbs very steeply. I turned left onto the French Trail, which continues to climb steeply. This part of the park is a favorite, steep ravines with big redwoods and lush ferns, but it is hard on the legs. The trail climbs over high spur ridges and drops into hollows several times before it becomes a bit more gentle, contouring along about midway up the side of the canyon. Looking down, the steep slopes appear endless, the redwoods disappearing far below. I had expected to see lots of people on the Stream Trail, but I was surprised at the number that I passed on the French Trail, which takes some work to get to. I guess the nice weather brought them out. After what seemed like a long ways, I came to the Orchard Trail which headed very steeply down into the canyon to complete the loop.

I was surprised when I looked at the GPS app on my phone and it said I had covered 7.79 miles. The Trails Challenge booklet says it is 6.57 miles.

7.8 miles, 1250 ft. climb.

7-6-13 Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline

Continuing with the Trails Challenge, I did the Ukraina Trail again on July 3. It was the same hike that I wrote about on May 6, except that now everything is dry and dead. I won't bother with a description except to say that it was a nice early morning walk that gave me a chance to try out my new camera. I replaced my lost camera with a Canon SLR which seems to be working out pretty good, although I've been using my iPhone more and more because it is so easy to carry.

On Saturday after the fourth, I told Maureen that I was thinking about doing another of the Challenge hikes and she wanted to go too. I had in mind one of the more challenging ones, but Maureen wanted an easy one, so we went to Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline. Our son, Chris, worked there a couple of years ago, so Maureen had been there to see him, but I hadn't been there since many years ago when there was not much there. We left Darby home because I thought dogs were not allowed, but that wasn't the case. It was just as well, because there were several other people there with dogs, and it was nice not to worry about potential problems.

The flat, paved trail makes a big loop with nice views of Arrowhead Marsh and San Leandro Bay -- the water that separates Alameda, Oakland and the Airport area. I was hoping to try out my new camera again to shoot some birds with a telephoto lens, but we didn't see many. Winter would be a better time of year for shorebirds. Anyway, it was a pleasant little walk and took a little less than an hour.

2.1 miles, level