Sunol 9-25-15

I was feeling rather aimless as I set out for a hike with Darby. We drove to Sunol without any plan and when we got there I looked at the map and noticed a trail that I don't remember seeing there before, the Flag Hill Loop Trail. We started off in that direction, but the day was pretty warm and my energy level was rather low, and wasn't too sure I felt like climbing all the way up Flag Hill. So when the trail began heading uphill away from the creek, I noticed that a well worn path continued along the creek. I thought we would follow it a short ways to see where it went. I was surprised to find that it just kept going. After a mile or so, I figured that it probably went all the way to Welch Creek Road, but then an old overgrown ranch road branched up the hill to the right, so I decided to check that out instead. It curved back along a bench a couple hundred feet above the creek, so we kept following it. The west face of Flag Hill was above us with some quite impressive cliffs at the top, cliffs that aren't visible from the main part of the park. The road finally dwindled away to nothing, but we soon found a gate that led to the Flag Hill Trail which we followed down to our starting point.

It was enough of a hike for a low-energy hot day, and it was interesting to see an unfamiliar corner of the park. The trail along the creek appeared to be quite well traveled, especially by horses, and I don't know why the park district doesn't show it on their maps. Maybe they don't want people disturbing the cattle, although much of the rest of the park is used for grazing as well. While hiking, I thought that we may have gone beyond the park boundaries, but the map shows that it is all park land. The Flag Hill Loop Trail will have to wait for another time, and I also noticed another unfamiliar trail on the map, the Welch-Flag Hill Trail. Perhaps I can combine them both in a future hike.

2.9 miles, 550 ft. climb