Bishop Ranch

Grey Fox Trail

I'm finally recovered enough from my heart surgery to start doing some hiking again. Actually I've already been doing some 2-3 mile walks for the past several weeks, but on trails that I've already written about here on this blog. Everyone seems surprised that I am doing so well, but it feels to me that after 2-1/2 months, it's about time that I'm back to my old self. I still have to go slow on the hills, but there's no need to hurry and I get there eventually.

Today seemed like a good day for a hike, and at first I thought of going someplace without Darby, maybe Mt. Diablo or Round Valley. But then I started feeling sorry for him being left at home, So I decided to check out Bishop Ranch Regional Open Space, which I hadn't visited in a very long time. On the map it looks like a pretty small park, but on the ground, there seems to be plenty of space for a pretty good workout.

It was a perfect day for hiking. The morning fog had just burned off as we started out a little before noon, making it cool and sunny. We started up the Grey Fox Trail, climbing steeply. In fact it is so steep that someone has carved steps into the dirt of the hillside to make it a little easier. It eases up a bit after the first hill, but continues climbing all the way to the top of a ridge. It was a beautiful walk with green grass everywhere and lots of buttercups and other wildflowers. From the top there are nice views of the higher hills to the south and of the San Ramon valley to the northeast. We turned right on the Red Tail Hawk Trail heading northwest along the top of the ridge.


My plan was to make a loop by going down the Stream View Trail, so I kept looking for a trail sign or a trail heading off to the right. We soon came to an unmarked fire road heading right. It appeared to cut across the hillside to a water tank. It didn't quite match up to what I expected from the map, but we tried it anyway. As we neared the water tank, there was a sign saying "Red Tail Trail", and at the tank, there didn't seem to be any trail heading down towards the creek, so I figured that we had gone too far and missed our turn-off. I didn't mind too much because it was a pretty trail and a gentle slope back up to the ridge.

Stream View Trail

We found the correct turn-off, unmarked and barely visible because it was overgrown with new grass, and we headed steeply down to the creek again, and then along the hillside just above it. After a while, it climbs a bit and then a footpath branches left and heads down nearer the creek and leads back to the starting point. As usual, Darby was thirsty by now and quickly found a little running water to drink. I would guess that in a few weeks more it will be all dry. So it turned out to be a very enjoyable couple of hours, and a place that I will probably come back to again soon.

3.6 miles, 700 ft. climb