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