It was another Tuesday when Maureen was going for her riding lesson and I wanted to go along so I could join her, her teacher, Jessica and her friend, Maureen, for lunch. I figured that I could go hiking during the two hours that the two Maureens were having their lessons. It was only a few miles to Sobrante Ridge Regional Preserve, a place I had been interested in seeing because I hadn't been there before and it includes part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail.
I followed Castro Ranch Road to Conestoga Way and parked on the street near the bottom of the hill. There is a parking area at the end of Coach Drive, but I wanted to get most of the climbing done at the start rather than the end of the hike. So I walked up the street through a fairly new residential area, to the beginning of the trail at the end of Coach Drive. A little more climbing brought me to the top of a ridge, and a little further on was a nice view of Richmond and the bay to the west. When I came to a several side trails I didn't bother to check them out because I thought that this would be a longer hike than it was. One of them led to a a grove of Alameda manzanita, which would have been interesting. I soon came to the end of the fire road and followed a single-track trail down off the ridge, quite steeply in some places.
It was a leisurely hour and fifteen minute walk, and I got back to the ranch in time to watch the last half of one of the lessons. There was not much that was very remarkable about the place, just a small stretch of typical east bay hills, but if I lived nearby, I would probably make frequent use of it.
2.6 miles, 600 ft. climb
