The Preserve Trail

Now and then I look around online to see what other hikers are doing. One of my favorite sites for that is that of Bob Burd (www.snwburd.com). I've always liked being on top of a hill, but Bob carries this to a very obsessive extreme. He is the ultimate peak-bagger, spending as much time as possible climbing anything he can find. On his site, he writes interesting reports of every climb with lots of good photos. It probably contains way more information about hiking anywhere in California and the west than is available anywhere else, but to use it as an information resource may take a lot of digging. I'm always curious about blank areas on the map and his reports often satisfy that curiosity and provide a little armchair adventure.

One of his recent reports was a climb of the high point of Main Ridge, in Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park. I've been interested in this northern part of the park which I've never visited because it much too long a hike for me from the park entrance on Foothill Road. Bob chose to try a shorter approach from the northeast, which would probably mean crossing either private land or EBRPD land bank closed to the public. He didn't know which it would be but breaking rules doesn't seem to bother him much. In looking for a good starting point he happened on a staging area and small trail system near Stoneridge Mall that neither he nor I were aware of. The Preserve Staging Area is run by the city of Pleasanton, and provides a nice place to get a little exercise out in the hills.



 On a nice Thursday, I took Darby along for a drive to Pleasanton to pick up a prescription at Kaiser. When that was taken care of, I realized that the staging area was only about a block away, so why not go check it out. I hadn't really planned on doing any hiking, but there was the trail, so why not see where it led? We did a gradual climb along a grassy hillside with nice views all around. We could hear some kids playing in the creek below. Then a steeper climb and a loop around below several houses, and heading down again. Some ups and downs across a couple of ravines, and finally across the main creek at the bottom. As we did the short climb back to the staging area, we passed a couple of teenage girls leading a group of small kids. I was pleased to hear the girls explaining to the kids why they shouldn't be cutting switchbacks.

I hadn't been expecting much since the area looks pretty small on the map and it is so close to lots of development, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a very nice little hike and I'll probably be back again sometime when I have an extra hour or so for a walk.

1.4 miles, 275 ft. climb