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