Mt. Diablo 11-8-14

It has been great hiking weather lately, cool and clear, and I've been taking advantage of it. On Friday, Darby and I did a nice hike at Las Trampas, a beautiful loop on Las Trampas Ridge, all on trails that I have previously written about here, so no point in writing more about them. Usually on the day after a good hike, I'm feeling like taking it easy, but on Saturday morning I felt like going out for another one. I thought that it was about time to visit Mt. Diablo again, so I left Darby at home. I wanted to see some of the rugged north side of the mountain, which I especially like, but don't visit often because of the longer drive.

I arrived at the Mitchell Canyon Staging area around mid-morning and was confronted with the problem of paying for parking. I didn't want to block the road while I tried to figure out the payment system and there were "no parking" signs all around, so I went on into the parking lot and into the visitor center. I thought for sure I could pay there, but I was told that I would have to go back to the entrance road, quite a distance away. So I went back and put my envelope with my payment into the slot, then back to the parking lot. I looked around for a ranger so I could complain about their stupid, inconvenient system, but didn't see one, so I just started hiking on the Mitchell Canyon Trail.

I remember Mitchell Canyon from when I was a kid in the 50's, and went to a big picnic at a park there. Our neighborhood in Lafayette used to get together for a picnic every summer and it was a great time for us kids because we all knew each other. I doubt that there are many neighborhoods today with such a sense of community, but it was a place where lots of young families had moved into new homes about the same time, and the kids quickly made friends. At the picnic, one of the older boys, a teenager, decided to climb Eagle Peak, and set off up the steep slope. Several hours later he was back, and I was so impressed that he had done it. Looking up at that rugged mountainside today, it's still hard to believe.

As I hiked up the canyon today, I kept looking for some sign of the picnic area, but didn't see any. In the 50's, none of the north side of the mountain was part of the state park, and the picnic site was a private park. On the USGS topographic map of the area which is dated 1953, there is a dashed rectangle marked "park" a couple of miles into the canyon. That must be the place.

Mitchell Canyon

The canyon was very pretty today, with lots of fall color, and I was enjoying the easy, mostly level trail the first couple of miles. Then the fire road begins to climb and just keeps on climbing. I remember this part of the trail from another time when I was a kid. My scout troop hiked up the mountain with full packs as training for a Sierra backpacking trip. It was a 100 degree day in early summer, and it made me pretty sick, but somehow, I made it up the mountain. Looking back on it now, it seems pretty careless that our leaders would make us do something that dangerous to our health. Today, the cool weather and lack of a pack made it a much nicer hike, but it was still pretty hard work and it seemed to take forever before the trail leveled out at Deer Flat. I was pretty well soaked with sweat when I got there.

Climbing to Deer Flat

I turned left at the trail junction, descended to cross a little dry creek, and then there was more climbing to Murchio Gap. I was tired, but still really enjoying this part of the mountain. It's a beautiful area that feels especially wild and remote. It's a patchwork of oak woodland, grassland, dense stands of manzanita and many rocky outcrops. Although it takes some hard hiking to get there, it was a popular place on a nice Saturday. I passed a couple of older people like me, but most of the other hikers were young and fit looking. Even though there were plenty of other hikers, it didn't feel at all crowded because it is such a big area.

Murchio Gap

From my high point at Murchio Gap, I started down the Back Creek Trail, which begins a steep descent on a rough single-track trail cut through thickets of manzanita. There would have been some great views if it were not for the brush which was well over my head. The footing was a bit tricky on the steep trail with lots of loose rock. I was quickly losing elevation and noticed that the manzanita had changed to Chamise, but it was still over my head. At Murchio Gap, I had been about level with Eagle Peak, but now its rugged cliffs were high above me. The downhill steepness didn't let up and my legs were starting to feel kind of rubbery. I had to concentrate on going slow and stepping carefully to avoid a fall. Finally, as the trail neared the dry creek bed, the slope began to lessen and the walking became easier.

Eagle Peak from Back Creek Trail

As I passed the junction with the Meridian Point Trail, I remembered another time on the mountain. In the early 70's, when I was working on my book, I joined a group of volunteer trail builders and spent a day working in Back Canyon. I don't remember much about it, but knowing that I had played a part in this trail being here felt pretty good. At that time the Meridian Point Trail was the only way up out of the canyon, and the trail up to Murchio Gap had not been built. As the trail came out of the canyon into gentler slopes, I took the Coulter Pine Trail across the grassy hillside back to the staging area.

It was a really enjoyable hike and I saw a lot of interesting and beautiful country, but I was pretty well worn out at the end. I got in the car and started driving home when I began to feel a bit light-headed. The feeling passed after a few minutes, but next time I finish a long hike, I will rest a while before driving.

7.5 miles, 2100 ft. climb

Garin 10-28-14

High Ridge Loop Trail

It's a beautiful cool, clear fall day, perfect for a hike. I don't feel like driving very far, so Darby and I go to Garin. I chose to start from the staging area near Mission Blvd. and Whipple Road in Union City, but we could just as well have started from the park's main entrance at the end of Garin Ave.

We started off up the little valley of Dry Creek's north fork. I've always especially liked this stretch of trail along the meandering creek with lots of big old sycamores. After a mile and a half, we came to Jordan Pond, where a couple of people were fishing. In the picnic area near the main entrance, we turned right and headed up the hill. After climbing about 500 ft., the trail bends to the southeast and continues gently climbing along the ridge. All along this ridge there are great views out across the bay. A side trail takes you a quarter mile to the Gossip Rock, some oak-shaded sandstone with depressions where native americans ground acorns. It's an interesting place, but we skipped it this time. The trail then descends steeply into a little canyon and back to the starting point.

This loop is one of my favorite hikes because it gives you a taste of several types of terrain -- a lovely creek, a high open ridge, and a shady little canyon. Until I got back home and looked it up, I couldn't remember whether I had covered it in this blog. I found that three years ago I had covered a shorter loop via the Pioneer Trail, but not this one. Then I remembered that hiking that shorter loop was not at all easy for me. I was not feeling very good and had to stop to rest several times. On today's hike, I went slow on the hills, but didn't stop, and I felt pretty good all the way. It made me realize that my bypass surgery really did make a difference, and that I am able to do a lot more now than I could before.

6.0 miles, 1200 ft. climb

Wildcat Canyon 10-17-14

View from San Pablo Ridge Trail

I've been trying visit most of the larger regional parks, and Wildcat Canyon near Richmond was an obvious one that I hadn't got to yet. That's mostly because it is not the easiest to get to from Hayward. It's not really such a great distance, but it means passing through some of the worst traffic in the area, and I saw plenty of it this morning. I left home a little after 9 am, which I thought would miss the worst of the commute, but ran into barely moving traffic on 580 in Oakland, and got off at High Street to take my chances on surface streets. So I wound through much of Oakland and Berkeley — an interesting tour of lots of funky neighborhoods, but a slow and tedious one. Well over an hour later, I made it to the Alvarado Park Staging Area of Wildcat Regional Park.

I immediately saw that things have changed since I was here around 40 years ago. The entrance road used to continue about a mile and a half up the canyon to a parking area. Now, that road was the trail. Darby and I started off and soon turned left on the Belgum Trail. I soon passed a sign with information about the Belgum Sanitorium that once existed on this hillside. It was established in 1914 by Dr. Hendrik Belgum to treat the mentally and emotionally disturbed. It was housed in a large stucco mansion that had been built earlier. All that remain now are some foundations and some palm trees and other exotic plants. It sounds like it was a rather strange and interesting place.

The trail soon climbed high above the sanitorium site and along a ridge to a junction with the Clark-Boas Trail coming up from El Sobrante, and the San Pablo Ridge Trail. It was all open grassland with great views all around the north bay. It was a cool, mostly overcast day which was good for hiking, but up on the ridge, the cold wind was a bit too much. From the junction, the fire road headed down across the ridge, but a well-worn path led straight up a steep hill. I chose the path to avoid losing elevation, but it was a hard climb. Then, back on the fire road, there was another steep climb up a higher hill. I was slowly making my way up when I was passed by a couple of young women going much faster and making me feel old. Finally a third hill brought us to the Mezue Trail heading down a spur ridge to the right, which took us down to the Wildcat Creek Trail, where we turned right again. It would have been nice to follow a shady trail along the creek, but it stays high up the hillside with no view of the creek at all. After a while the dirt road became a wide paved road, the old access road that I remembered from years ago.

Other than the change in the road, the park was pretty much as I remembered it — steep grassy hills with nice views and little wooded canyons — much like many of the east bay parks.

5.9 miles, 1200 ft. climb

Redwood 10-2-14

Macdonald Trail

Hot weather was forecast for today, so I thought of where I could go hiking where it might be a little cooler. I chose Redwood Regional Park, but I thought I would try some trails that I hadn't been on in many years. I wanted to hike the Macdonald Trail in Anthony Chabot Regional Park from Redwood Road to the top of the hill at Parkridge Drive, a segment of the Bay Area Ridge Trail that I had missed in my recent hikes. But I wanted to make a loop out of it, and the only way I could figure that was to walk along Skyline Blvd. for a mile or two until I could get into Redwood Park. After that I could loop around along the Dunn Trail and the west ridge, a part of Redwood that I hadn't seen in many years.

Darby and I started hiking from the Macdonald Staging Area at about 9:30 am, early enough that it was still nice and cool. Actually, it stayed relatively cool all morning, with a nice northerly breeze. The climb up the hill wasn't too hard, and soon we were up on the ridge with some nice views through the trees. We left the park at Parkridge Drive, and walked through several residential blocks to Skyline Blvd. The walk along Skyline was much nicer than you would expect on a major street through a residential neighborhood. It's a divided road with a nice path through the median shaded by big old pine trees all the way.

Skyline Blvd.

At Redwood Road, we followed it east a few feet and then followed a trail past the Skyline Ranch Equestrian Center. Soon we were at the Trudeau Center, the former site of the EBRPD headquarters, and continuing on the Dunn Trail into the park. The trail is signed for off-leash dogs, so we were on the alert for them. We passed a couple of them with no problems because the owners were considerate enough to keep their dogs under control. The trail winds in and out of a number of little ravines with some redwoods, but mostly oak and bay trees. The Baccharis Trail led to the West Ridge Trail, and then we turned off on the Toyon Trail, a single-track leading down off the ridge. I don't think I had ever been on this trail that contours along some very steep wooded slopes. At the bottom, the Golden Spike Trail took us to the Big Bear Staging Area, and then back to our car.

I was a bit tired at the end, but it didn't seem like a particularly hard hike. It felt like maybe 4 or 5 miles, so I was surprised when I looked at the GPS on my phone and it read 7.75 miles. I usually don't look at the distance on my phone until I am done hiking. That way I don't give myself any excuse to feel more tired because of how far I have come. I guess the nice weather and the lack of any really steep hills made it easier.

7.75 miles, 1300 ft. climb

Sunol 9-16-14

Another Tuesday morning hike. I'm thinking that I should keep trying new places — at least new to me in the last few years, so I choose Mission Peak. It seems that I have been avoiding the place because I know that it is a pretty big climb to the top, and there is not much shade on the trail. I think maybe I'm ready for it today. So Darby and I drive to the Stanford Ave. Staging area in Fremont. Most Regional Parks are nearly deserted on weekdays, so it is quite a surprise to find the parking lot completely full and all of the nearby streets all parked up for blocks around. Something must be going on that I don't know about, but I don't feel like dealing with crowds, so I change plans and we drive to Sunol Regional Wilderness.

When I got home from the hike, I looked on-line and found out about Mission Peak. It seems that sometime recently, people started posting selfies on Facebook of themselves on the peak. Now, it has become an internet phenomenon, and hundreds of people are climbing Mission Peak every day to take their selfies. They have to line up at the summit to get to the pole for their shots. It is becoming a major problem for the park district. I guess that it is good that people are getting outdoors and getting some exercise, but it has become really crazy. It seems especially crazy that while all this is going on, I can drive a few minutes over the hill to Sunol, a wilder and more beautiful place in my opinion, and be the only one on the trail all day.

Sunol was deserted when we got there except for a couple of people doing maintenance work on the Visitor Center. We started off up the Indian Joe Creek Trail, one of my favorites. It winds up a tight little canyon shaded by maples and sycamores. After a while, it climbs steeply, and passes the Indian Joe Cave Rocks, a pile of basalt boulders that are great for a bit of climbing. I pass on the scrambling, though, and just concentrate on getting myself up the trail. By this time we have gained over 1000 ft. We turned right on the Cave Rocks Road, climbed some more, and then left on the Eagle View Road to the Eagle View Trail. After crossing a steep little ravine, the single-track trail contours across a very steep brushy hillside to the Vista Grande Overlook, the high point of the hike. By this time, the day was pretty warm, and Darby and I were both beat. We enjoyed the far-reaching views for a few minutes and then started down the Vista Grande Road which follows the crest of the sharp ridge. I remembered coming down this ridge in the spring a few years ago when it was beautifully carpeted with poppies. It was quite dry and dead today. We greatly appreciated finding running water at the faucet at High Valley Camp, and continued down the Hayfield Road back to our car.

Indian Joe Creek Trail

Indian Joe Cave Rocks

On Cave Rocks Road

Eagle View Trail

 I was quite worn out and Darby appeared to be too. On days like today, when he gets home he crashes on the floor and doesn't move the rest of the day. But it was really a nice hike with changes of scenery at every turn -- shady canyons, rocks, open hills with far off views. That's why I like to keep coming back to Sunol.

5.4 miles, 1400 ft. climb

Sunol 9-9-14

Maguire Peaks from Loop Trail

Seems that Tuesday hikes are becoming a regular thing. Maureen's horseback riding lesson means that I generally have the day free. I hadn't been to Sunol for a while, but I wanted to do something new, so I thought of the Maguire Peaks Trail. I had hiked it about 40 years ago, but my memories of that are pretty dim now. I do remember it as being a pretty long hike, and when I looked at the map I saw that it would be about 10 miles from the park headquarters. That sounded much longer than I had the energy for, but then I looked closer and saw that the park map showed a parking symbol on Welch Creek Road. Years ago, parking was not allowed anywhere on this road, but apparently, now it was permitted. The note on the map said that a permit would be needed, available at park headquarters. Starting from this road would cut the hiking distance by nearly half, so I set out to try it.

It was foggy when I left Hayward, but over the hill it was all sunny. Luckily, the day stayed relatively cool making the hiking much more enjoyable. Welch Creek Road is a steep winding one-lane road which is a bit scary to drive, and mostly with no shoulders, but I found a place to pull off about 100 yards above the start of the trail. Darby and I started off up the trail, a fire road climbing steeply out of the canyon. We passed what appeared to be the site of a former ranch, judging from the trees that didn't belong there — eucalyptus and redwoods. The redwoods were tall dead snags, victims of a fire. We kept climbing over a ridge and down into a little valley where a road branched left, so we turned on it. It soon became a single-track trail, and I realized that we must have made a wrong turn. But there was a trail marker, so we continued on. We passed through a group of cows with young calves lying in the grass nearby, and several of the cows started bellowing and coming after us. Undoubtedly they felt that their calves were threatened. I've never been attacked by a cow, so I was not really concerned, and we just kept walking past them and soon they went back to grazing.

On the north side of the peaks

We joined the correct trail again, and continued on the fire road around the west side of the peaks. The road climbed to a ridge with a great view of Sunol Valley and San Antonio Reservoir, and we sat on a bench for a few minutes to rest. A couple of guys appeared hiking the other direction. They said that they had started at the park headquarters, a long hike, but they looked pretty fit. We continued on down across the north side of the peaks, and finally around the east side to finish the loop. I noticed in several places patches of yellow-flowered tarweed, and its distinctive sweet aroma, something that I always enjoy about this season. The climb back over the first ridge was tiring, but no too bad, and we made it back to the car in pretty good shape. I usually use the gps on my iphone when I hike, and I did use it today, but I forgot to turn it off, so it read 29 miles when I got home — not very useful. Fortunately, the park map shows mileages for the trails.

Southeast of the peaks

It turned out to be a very nice hike, and it seemed to be a good place to get away from it all. It seems that this part of the park does not get a lot of use, especially on a weekday.

5.5 miles, 1300 ft. climb.

Tilden 9-2-14

Seaview Trail

On the day after Labor Day, I was expecting more hot weather because the last couple of days had been quite hot, but the TV weather said it would be cooler. A hike in the Berkeley Hills where the fog tends to linger would probably be cool, so I headed for Tilden. I knew that I would likely run into lots of dogs, so I left Darby at home. It turned out to be a lot cooler than I expected.
Tilden is one of the oldest parks in the East Bay. I have fond memories of family picnics under eucalyptus trees back when I was barely able to remember anything, in the late '40s and early '50s. The park was and is filled with features like a golf course, merry-go-round, swimming area, pony rides, and a little steam train ride. Throughout the park there is stonework that was built by the CCC in the 30s. The developed areas are all along the valley of Wildcat Creek, and when you get away from the creek, up along the ridges on either side, the park is still surprisingly wild considering that it is just over the hill from Berkeley.

Driving from Hayward around mid-morning, it was all overcast, but when I got up into the hills, I found dense fog. My plan was to do a loop around the ridges around the headwaters of Wildcat Creek starting from somewhere near Lake Anza, so I parked at the Brook picnic area just below the lake. I crossed the creek and started up the Curran Trail, then turned right on the Seaview Trail. Soon I was up in the fog again, and it was a wild scene with wisps of fog racing over the ridge against the dark trees. I had forgotten what a pretty trail this is with lots of big old Monterey Pines along it. I noticed that in many places the ground was damp and muddy, and the grass bright green, surprising because most of the east bay hills are dry as a bone right now. There has been no rain, but the fog has been condensing on the trees and dripping on the ground. It is the same process that keeps the coastal Redwood forests so green.

Vollmer Peak from Seaview Trail

 As I reached a high point on the ridge, the sun broke through and revealed distant views to the northeast, but the view to the west was still all fog. After dipping down a bit, the trail climbed again toward Vollmer Peak, the highest point of the Berkeley Hills. I turned right on the Vollmer Peak Trail which contoured around below the peak and then brought me down to cross South Park Drive. I didn't feel the need to reach the top. As I remember, it is just a flat area with lots of antennas. I found the gravel road leading to the Gillespie Group Camp, and a bicyclist stopped me and asked if it led to the Grizzly Peak Trail. I answered yes, and then as he disappeared down the road, I realized that with his skinny tires he wasn't a mountain biker, and he was looking for Grizzly Peak Blvd. I felt sorry for directing him down a dead-end road.

I turned off on the Grizzly Peak Trail, a single-track that climbed steeply a short distance and then leveled off along the hillside below Grizzly Peak. I was headed back to the northwest and it would be mostly downhill from here, so I coasted along at a steady pace. Fog was still hanging over the ridge so I was in and out of sun. The trail was not as scenic as the one on the other ridge, going through woods and cut through dense brush. After a while, I was looking down on the green grass of the golf course, and passing just below residences on the hill above. I was getting tired of walking and my feet were getting a bit sore. After crossing Golf Course Road, I didn't see any trail signs, so I just followed a rough path straight ahead. That turned out to be the Selby Trail, which I followed all the way down to Lake Anza, although there were a couple of unmarked road crossings that were confusing. Luckily, I guessed right every time. The lake was nearly deserted. On warm summer weekends, it can be packed with swimmers, but today there was only one. After a steep scramble down a dirt hillside below the dam, I was back at the car.

Lake Anza

 This turned out to be a very enjoyable hike. I especially liked the part along San Pablo Ridge with the blowing fog. I was surprised when I looked at the gps app on my phone and saw that I had gone more than seven miles. It didn't feel like that far. I think the cool weather had a lot to do with that. Several of my recent hikes have been considerably shorter than this one, but seemed a lot harder, and I think it was mostly because they were on hot days in the hills further east.

7.2 miles, 1550 ft. climb.

Mt. Diablo 8-16-14

Amphitheater Trail

It was a Saturday and Maureen was doing a riding clinic all day, so I headed out for a hike. I left Darby at home because I was headed for state park land and it was going to be a hot day. My plan was to go into the Riggs Canyon area of Mount Diablo State Park, which I had visited several times before, but always from the Finley Road park entrance. A trail enters the regional park and state park at the end of Finley Road, but the nearest place you can park is the roadside 3/4 mile from the trailhead. On the map, I saw that there is a trailhead on the northeast side of the area on Morgan Territory Road. It was new to me, so I decided to check it out.

I drove up over the hill on Morgan Territory Road, and I had forgotten what a tight-knuckled road it is. For several miles it is a very steep and windy one lane with no shoulders. Luckily, I only met one on-coming car, and he backed up to a wide spot to let me pass. I passed several gates, some marked as regional park, and some private, before I came to the right one. The only sign was a fire road number, but I could see a state park trail signpost beyond the gate. There is really no place to park, but I managed to get off the pavement at a wide spot. There were no other cars around. There is a road heading to the right which is apparently the Old Finley Road, but it is signed "Private Road", so I took the straight ahead trail, the Morgan Creek Road.

The first thing I noticed was the silence. It was the kind of silence you find in the high Sierra or in the desert, but not very often in the Bay Area. As I climbed up the canyon, the second thing I noticed was the gnats. Swarms of the little buggers hovering around my face requiring nearly constant waving them away. They weren't so bad when I got out of the trees and when the breeze picked up, but they were annoying. I took the Jeremiah Creek Trail which contoured around the canyon before climbing to the top of the ridge. There were nice views west into Riggs Canyon and east to the hills of Morgan Territory. I started down into Riggs Canyon on the Old Finley Road, then turned left onto the Amphitheater Trail.

I soon came to a spot I remembered from years ago where the trail passes through a little glade with a large rock jutting out from the hillside. The curving rocky ridge above it is what they call the amphitheater. It is quite impressive, but before you know it, you are past it and back on ordinary grassy hillsides. After a while, the trail climbs steeply to the ridge top, which proved hard work for me. I was getting pretty tired and it was now quite hot. I turned left on Crestview Road, then right on Highland Ridge Road, which to my disappointment climbed a bit more until I turned left on Morgan Ridge Road. Now it was just a long descent down this grassy ridge back to the trailhead.

It turned out to be a pretty good hike, and I would have enjoyed it even more without the gnats and the heat. This must be a very little used corner of the park. When I returned to the trailhead there still were no other cars, and all day I passed only one other hiker, which is unusual for a Saturday.

4.6 miles, 1400 ft. climb

Shell Ridge 8-6-14

on Fossil Hill Loop Trail

We had been having some unusual weather for August, several days of cool foggy days and news of flash floods in southern California. On Tuesday, the system was reaching the Bay Area, and that night we had a little rain in Hayward. By mid-morning Wednesday, everything was dry again, and I decided to go hiking at Shell Ridge. I hadn't been there in a very long time, and after hiking at Lime Ridge last week, I wanted to check out Walnut Creek's other big open space area. Shell Ridge Open Space is an even larger area than Lime Ridge and it has lots of trails. The map shows several trailheads with parking, and I chose the one at the end of Sutherland Drive, off of Walnut Blvd.

I had been debating whether to bring Darby along. I saw from the website that dogs are allowed, but wondered whether a long hike in warm weather would be good for him. I finally decided to bring him. He always wants to go with me but he doesn't know what he's getting himself into. As we started hiking, I could feel the lingering high humidity and it was already quite warm — probably in the 90's. This hike would be hard on Darby, but he was excited about going. I wasn't very concerned about running into other dogs since it was a weekday, and we passed several other hikers and runners, but only one dog, and it was no problem.

We took the first right onto the Indian Creek Trail, a single-track which followed a little dry creekbed for a mile or so. Then we were on the Briones to Mt. Diablo Trail, a fire road gradually climbing along the southwest side of the main ridge. The Borges Ranch Trail soon took us down to the Borges Ranch, an old ranch run as a living history museum and picnic area. Green grass was a welcome sight after the dry trails, and we went looking for a water faucet. We found a drinking fountain and I was letting Darby have a drink, when a park employee asked me to let him drink out of the hose instead. I guess not everyone is as casual about dog germs as I am.

on Briones to Mt. Diablo Trail

We started heading back west again on the Costanoan Trail, which kept climbing high up the hill. It was now past noon and getting hotter all the time, and we needed a couple of rest stops to make it to the top. From there it was mostly downhill, and we were able to cruise along pretty good, although we were both getting tired, and just wanted the hike to be done. I was starting to feel a bit light-headed from the heat, but maybe also from my blood pressure medication which sometimes seems to work a little too well. Back at home, we were both pretty wasted, and Darby didn't do much except lie around for the rest of the day. He's not a young dog anymore, and today's hike was probably a little too much for him, especially with the hot weather.

Except for the heat, it was a fun hike and I'll be going back there again. I like that there are a lot of small hills and valleys that bring a new views with every few steps on the trail. It's a pretty place even in this dry season, and it must be really beautiful in the springtime.

4.6 miles, 800 ft. climb

Lime Ridge 7-28-14

Mt. Diablo from ridge high point

It was a Monday morning, and I had an appointment in Walnut Creek. Since I was already out there, I decided to take a little hike at Lime Ridge, an area that I have driven by often but never explored. It is an open space park run by the city of Walnut Creek along Ygnacio Valley Road. As I started off at about 11:30, it was a bit warm but there was a nice breeze from the west. As I gently climbed up grassy hills, I noticed that the whole hillside appeared to be much too bumpy to be natural. A lot of the hill had been dug away leaving a few steep slopes with white rocks exposed. I checked later and found that this had been a quarry for limestone that was used to make cement during the first half of the last century. Grass and trees are reclaiming the landscape, but the bumps remain. I followed the Ridge Trail, a single-track heading for the high point. No one else was around, but I could see that these trails were popular with cyclists because there were more tire tracks than footprints. There were wide open views to the north and west.

I came to a trail junction next to a rusty water tank, and chose to continue up the ridge to see what it was like at the top. I kept climbing, now in chaparral dominated by Chamise, and soon came to the high point of the ridge. There was an area closed off with a cyclone fence for some unknown reason, but there were good views from the top. I turned right onto the Lime Ridge Trail, another single-track. It wound down the hill to the west in chaparral and oak woodland with lots of buckeyes. It looked like autumn because the buckeye leaves turn brown in mid-summer rather than fall. When it appeared that I was nearing the bottom of the hill, I left the trail and cut across to the right to the Blue Oak Trail, which I followed back up the hill to the rusty water tank. I went down the other side of the hill on the Paradise Valley Trail which drops into a little valley which is not quite paradise, especially in this dry season, but it is nice enough.

So now I at least have some idea what Lime Ridge is like, and it is pretty nice. Lots of trails and lots of variety in the terrain and vegetation. The route that I took was mostly the result of random wandering around, so it should be easy to figure out a better one. I only explored a relatively small part of the park, so I may go back again some time.

3.25 miles, 750 ft. climb

Briones 7-19-14

Diablo View Trail

It was a Saturday and Maureen was going to spend a few hours at her riding teacher's ranch practicing Western Dressage. It seemed like a good day for a hike, and if I chose someplace in that area, we could share a ride. Then she decided to ride with her friend, Marsha, but we could still come home together. My recent hikes had all been rather short ones, so I wanted to do a longer one today, just to prove to myself that I could still do it. So I decided to do a loop into the northeast part of Briones Regional Park. Briones is a fairly large park with lots of trails, so there are many different possibilities for a loop hike.

I drove north through Walnut Creek and parked in the Alhambra Creek Staging Area. I started hiking up the Diablo View Trail. The morning fog was gone and it was a beautiful day. I was soon climbing along a ridge with several ups and downs, much of it shaded by oaks. I turned right on the Spengler Trail, descending to cross a small creek and then climbing again. This part of the trail felt quite remote although it is not really far from roads and homes. Over a hill and down the other side, I came to the junction with the Blue Oak Shortcut. Up to this point I had been feeling pretty strong, but now the hike turned more serious. The trail climbs to the top of the main ridge in unrelenting steepness, gaining 700 ft. elevation in a little more than half a mile. Once I was at the top, I knew it would be mostly downhill, but I was quite tired. In planning the hike, I had thought about extending my loop further west, but now all I wanted was to get back to the car. I was also starting to be a bit concerned about the time. I didn't want Maureen to be waiting for me to drive her home. Now that I was gradually descending along grassy hilltops, I felt a bit revived, and was able to keep up a pretty good pace down into the valley of Alhambra Creek and back to the trailhead.

Even with that stretch of steep climbing, it was a very enjoyable hike. There were plenty of other people out on the trails, but for much of the way I was alone. I noticed quite a few mountain bikers, and I was glad that I wasn't one of them trying to pedal up some of those steep grades. In several places I saw unofficial single-track trails through the woods, with cyclists speeding along them. I don't imagine that the park rangers appreciate that too much. When I got to the ranch, Maureen was still riding but almost done, so my timing worked out pretty well.

6.0 miles, 1550 ft. climb

Leona Canyon 7-13-14

Leona Trail

Sunday afternoon seemed like a good time to go out for a little hike. I thought that it would be nice to try someplace new, at least new to me, but I didn't want to drive far, so I came up with Leona Canyon. Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve is a relatively small park tucked into the hills of East Oakland between 580 and Skyline Blvd., just south of the Merritt College campus. I left Darby at home to avoid any problems with off-leash dogs. I usually don't take him out on trails on weekends, and I had heard that this park was popular with dog walkers.

The map showed a trailhead just off Keller Ave., so I drove up that street looking for it. I went all the way from 580 up to Skyline without seeing any sign of a trailhead. After a closer inspection of the map, I saw that it is just off Campus Drive on Canyon Oaks Drive. It looks like it is just a parking lot for a group of condominiums, but beyond that is parking for the trail. I started up the Leona Trail, gently climbing on a shady trail beside a small creek. There was still a trickle of water, which was nice since so many east bay creeks are bone dry in this drought year. I had looked at the map for possibilities for making a loop, but the only ones I came up with involved a lot of walking on city streets, so I just continued on up the canyon past two trails branching left and right. At the top, I found myself in one of the back parking lots of Merritt College, and I turned around and headed back down. I had seen on the map that the two side trails looked pretty steep, but I wanted to check one of them out anyway. I started off up the Artemesia Trail, and as I expected it was quite steep and getting steeper. I soon decided that it wasn't worth the work just to satisfy my curiosity, and turned around. So Leona Canyon was a nice little hike, but nothing too special. A good place for a walk for people who live nearby, but probably not a place that I'll keep coming back to.

Back at the car, I wanted to drive up to Skyline and take another look at the Oakland City Stables that I had hiked through several months ago. I found the entrance road with a gate across it and a "no parking" sign, so I gave up on that idea. I was hoping to take some pictures of the old spanish-style building that I had seen before. Just this morning, I read in the paper that the city had made a deal with a group that was going to fix up and re-open the facility. That sounds like good news and maybe I'll go by and take another look at it some day.

3.1 miles, 500 ft. climb

Utah & Colorado trip 7-9-14

My dad passed away last January, and my brother Richard and I wanted to take his ashes to his home town of Logan, Utah, and have them buried next to our mom. We had a memorial service for him in March, and my cousin John came to it from Colorado. He invited us to come see him sometime, and it sounded like a good idea. We thought we could work out a trip to visit Logan, John's place, and some country in between. Maureen wasn't too thrilled by the prospect of driving across Nevada, so we came up with the idea of flying to Salt Lake, renting a car, driving to Colorado and flying home from Denver. It's not that we don't like Nevada — we have visited a lot of beautiful places there — but I-80 can be long and tiring.

So we took off from Oakland on Monday, June 30, for a 10-day trip. We don't really like to fly very much, but one thing that I like about it is being able to look out the window and see all of the interesting patterns of the land. Unfortunately, we didn't get a window seat and as soon as we were in the air, the young woman by the window shut the shade and went to sleep. In Salt Lake, everything went smoothly, and we were on the road to Logan in a little Toyota Yaris. We had asked for a compact, but I wasn't expecting a car that small. But it worked out fine since we didn't have a lot of stuff with us.

It was really great to come over the hill and see Cache Valley and Logan up against the mountains. It always brings back fond memories of vacation trips when I was a kid and we visited with family in my parents' home town. After getting a motel room in Logan, I called my cousin Leo and we found our way to his home. He and his wife, Susan, took us out to dinner at the Bluebird, a restaurant that my parents always talked about as the fanciest place in town. Leo and I were able to catch up a bit on the last 30 years or so since we had seen each other, and reminisce about some of the crazy things we did together as kids.

My maternal grandparents' home in Logan

Tuesday morning, Maureen and I walked around the old neighborhood where my mother's family lived. It hadn't changed much from my childhood memories. My grandfather had built his own home there along with many of the other houses on the street. The houses of two of my aunts and uncles were only a few houses away from my grandparents' home. We also walked around the neighborhood where my dad grew up, near the Logan Temple. Logan is really a nice looking town, with old tree-shaded streets and views of farmland and mountains all around. We were struck by how green everything was. It seems that northern Utah has not suffered from drought this year like California has.

Richard and three of our cousins, Charlotte, Leo and Joy, at the Logan Cemetery

In the afternoon, we went to the cemetery, and had a little informal memorial for dad. Leo had contacted some of my other cousins and relatives and I was very pleased that they all came. I hadn't seen them in many years and it was nice to be together again. We all shared memories of dad and I was surprised that they remembered so much about him, since they were from my mom's side of the family and only saw dad when we visited from California. Later, we spent the evening at Leo's home and got to talk some more.

Logan Canyon

View from the trail at the summit of Logan Canyon

On Wednesday, we packed up and drove up beautiful Logan Canyon and stopped at the summit where there is a wonderful little loop trail through the forest. There were firs and aspens and lots of wildflowers, and sage meadows with mountain views. I always loved seeing Bear Lake, but it was a little disappointing that day because the air was very hazy. A little later, we passed through Randolph, Utah, which I was interested in seeing because my dad's father spent his first year in the U.S. there after emigrating from England in 1901. Randolph is still a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, and it must have been quite a shock for my grandfather to come alone from an industrial area near Birmingham to such as remote place. After passing through Evanston, Wyoming, we could see the snow covered peaks of the Uintas ahead, and we were soon up among them. I had good memories of a trip my family made with my maternal grandparents to Mirror Lake, and I wanted to see it again. Maureen and I took a little walk along the lakeshore and it was every bit as beautiful as I remembered it. We came down out of the mountains into Heber Valley, and stayed in a funky old motel in Heber City.

Mirror Lake

Thursday morning, we drove for a few hours east to Dinosaur National Monument. From the visitor center, a shuttle took us a short distance to the dinosaur quarry, where a building against a cliff face protects the site where many fossilized dinosaur bones were discovered. It is pretty amazing to see the bones of many dinosaurs packed together and sticking out from the rock. We drove a short ways to the Split Mountain campground and walked along the Green River. It was very scenic, but the day was rather hot, and we didn't go far. We drove to the end of a road that crosses the river and goes to the ranch of a woman who lived there alone and raised cattle until she was nearly 90. There was a log cabin in a pretty green spot in the cottonwoods, and we hiked the Hog Canyon Trail through meadows and into a box canyon heading into the sandstone face of Split Mountain. I didn't mind the heat so much because it was such a beautiful place. We spent the night in Vernal, Utah, and found a pretty good Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Green River at Split Mountain Campground, Dinosaur National Monument

Hog Canyon Trail

On Friday, we drove east into Colorado, and up a side road back into Dinosaur. This time we were on a plateau high above the rivers, and at the end of the road, we hiked the 1 mile trail to Harper's Corner. It follows a narrow ridge through Pinyon Pine and Junipers to its end where you can look down thousands of feet to the place where the Green and Yampa Rivers flow together, a really spectacular view.

Steamboat Rock from Harper's Corner Trail

Next, we drove on to Maybelle, a tiny farm community, and made a side trip in hopes of seeing some wild mustangs. A few miles northwest is Sand Wash, a large area of BLM land where wild horses have been relocated. There are a couple of loops of dirt road where they say that with luck you may see horses. As we started out off the pavement, a large, dark cloud loomed in the west. Several miles in, the road wound up to the top of a hill, and raindrops began to fall. Suddenly, it was a downpour with some hail coming down too. We stopped, thinking that it might soon blow over, but then I realized that the ground was really getting wet. I decided that we had to try to get out of there, and started driving down the hill. The road was getting very slippery, and several times, we almost slid off it. I was really getting worried that we would get stuck out there in a very remote place with no cell phone service. But we made it back to the highway as the storm moved on by, and with no harm done except for the mud-covered car. We got a motel in Craig, and spent the fourth of July evening hearing fireworks but seeing nothing because we were on the wrong side of the building.

Near Sand Wash

In the storm, Sand Wash

On Saturday, we drove on east through lots of nice country — sagebrush flats, green farmland, and pretty mountains — and up over Berthoud Pass to the rushing traffic of I-70. Then up through Central City to the mountains west of Boulder where we found our way to my cousin John's home. He and his wife, Pat, have a big log house on a good-sized piece of land with green meadows and pine forest, a couple of horses and four dogs. It was really a wonderful place to stay. They fed us great meals, took us on great walks, Maureen got to ride with Pat a couple of times, and I hope we didn't stay too long, but we had the best time there.

John and Pat's place

Walking the dogs with John and Pat

Pat and Maureen with Ben and Ruby

Besides several walks around the area with their dogs, on Monday we drove a few miles for a hike at a place called Brainard Lake. Parking at the two trailheads was full, so we had to park a mile or so down the road, but it was well worth a little extra walking. We did the trail around Long Lake, about a four mile loop. At over 10,000 ft. elevation, below 13,000 ft. peaks, it was a gorgeous place. We soon discovered that the going wasn't so easy because there were many patches of snow and muddy trail to go through. But it was still a very enjoyable hike. Back at John's house, I helped him unload and stack a load of hay. John kept at it until it was done, but I had to stop and rest every few bales. I guess I'm not in shape for that kind of work.

On our hike around Long Lake

On Tuesday, John and I walked the dogs again while Maureen and Pat rode the horses, and then in the afternoon, we packed up and left. We drove through Boulder and into Denver, where we wanted to see the Denver Art Museum. We found a parking garage and walked a few blocks to the museum, passing the capitol building. We saw a lot of interesting stuff there, but museums are tiring after a couple of hours. Now it was rush hour and we had to get out of downtown. After wandering around a while trying to avoid the gridlock, we made it to the freeway and to a hotel near the airport. We were a bit concerned about how to manage the logistics of returning our car and finding a restaurant because the airport is way out of town and everything is too far apart to walk. But we found that there are shuttles that make it possible.

We got up early Wednesday morning for an 8:30 am flight, and soon we were on our way home. This time I got a window seat, and got some great views of the Rockies. Clouds covered much of Utah and Nevada, but they cleared over the Sierra and let us see Yosemite, and it was fun to see some familiar places from the air.