BAY AREA HIKING: Gambolin' Man's Top Destinations & Favorite Outings of 2007



Over the years, I've come to love and appreciate more and more the pristine natural qualities that make the Bay Area such a special place in which to reside. Tom Mangan of Two-Heel Drive purports to call our home "the hiking capital of the universe"!

With thousands of miles of trails, it's hard to argue. The Bay Area's all-encompassing natural beauty and bounty continues to inspire, amaze, and keep me sane and fit amid my urban surroundings. Here's a look at some of my favorites, while also admitting many more favorite haunts have been omitted due to – laziness!
Once a land 'o plenty teeming with salmon, shellfish, grizzly bear, elk, bald eagle, and mountain lion, once home to Ohlone hunter gatherers for tens of thousands of years – in other words, Paradise on Earth.
Today, this open space, set on the ecotone of the urban and the wild, where East Bay metropolitan sprawl meets Mother Nature's organic green blanket, covers more than 4500 acres of pretty valleys, modest peaks and ridges, attractive meadows and healthy woodlands, tropical-like riparian corridors, chaparral sage-scented hillsides, and a rich aquatic biota composed of ponds, marshes, lakes and creeks. In other words, it's still Paradise on Earth.


Living as we do, so close to the Berkeley Hills, has the psychological drawback of tending to take the beauty and ecological integrity of our local Tilden and Wildcat parks for granted. But the secret is, Tilden and Wildcat is wilderness right in our back yard!



I've witnessed surreal sunsets atop the seemingly insignificant 1250 ft. Wildcat Peak, a modest but stand-out eminence offering up nonpareil 360 degree views. I've hiked my butt off from Richmond to Orinda and still haven't covered all the trails.




Mount Diablo State Park


My favorite forays are after series of cloudbursts have replenished bone-dry wellsprings in upper slopes, when gullies and ravines burst to life with torrents of cascading water. In these mid-range elevations – 1500 ft. to 2500 ft. – tucked in deep, lush canyons, Mount Diablo is reminiscent of Hawaii (were it not for the colder temperatures and presence of the Western Juniper.)
On a rainy day, try hiking super-lush and intriguing Curry Canyon, luring you ever downward into its moist, green depths . . . or on a clear February day, pace yourself up Donner Canyon trail for four miles and a thousand feet of gain, encountering water splashing down hillsides, water rushing across the trail, water spilling down rock faces in sweet bursts of rainbow spray.
Why, no place within two hours' drive is prettier or more rugged until you hit the higher elevations in the Sierra foothills. There's so much going on at Mount Diablo State Park – everything from hiking, running, biking, horseback riding, paragliding, bird watching, wild flower appreciation – that you could plot an outing, plan an adventure, every day for a month, and still not see and do it all. Mount Diablo – no doubt still the Center of the (Hiking) Universe.



Briones Reservoir / Regional Park





Sunol Regional Wilderness


It's a big place, affording blister-inducing hikes, lung-busting climbs, pay-off views. The many faces of Sunol throughout the changing seasons enchant and tantalize from flaming orange poppy fields dotting rocky hillside meadows in springtime, evoking images of the Scottish highlands, to rugged ravines flush with water from winter rains, bringing Alameda Creek and the cascades at Little Yosemite to thunderous and symphonic roar.


Grueling hikes up to vantage points with names like Eagle's Nest, affording spectacular views atop rocky promontories of the Calaveras Reservoir, Mission and Monument Peaks, Mount Hamilton, Mount Diablo, the McGuire (Maguire) Peaks, and the fabulous Ohlone Regional Wilderness range.
Alameda Creek churns in the canyon one hundred and fifty feet below – on this rainy, eerie day it all feels so very much unlike the rest of Alameda County. Stopping in your tracks amid chaparral and scrub trees to listen and spot gorgeous little finches with yellow breasts and sweet songs.
And, trying not to step in the cow shit. But the cattle grazing doesn't bother you. Scrambling up the W Tree Rock creek, with its unique Diablo Range geology of richly textured green and blue andesite boulders, and reveling in the endless miniature glory of its flowing cascades, falls and chutes.
Sunol rocks, Sunol rolls. Sunol: where I go to get a New Soul. If you haven't been to Sunol, get a move on and see what you've been missing, for no place is closer to paradise on earth, on a beautiful spring day, after winter rains, than the lush, green, rolling hills of our beloved Sunol Regional Wilderness. (Wait, didn't I say that about Mount Diablo? . . . well, it's all one and the same, after all.)




Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve




Redwood Regional Park


From the early eighties on I've probably made over 500 visits and hiked / ran / biked hundreds of miles . . . and each time I'm no less in awe and wonder, never let down, always uplifted and inspired anew by the beauty and wild that has remained in this tract of land that once supported – in primeval days, before the evil saw mills – the biggest Sequoia sempervirens on Earth.
Right here in "downtown Oakland" (as I always joked), the Redwood giants reigned. What's left of the original groves? Fairy rings, circles of second and third generations of cloned offspring; within the empty space circumference of the fairy rings, you can imagine the original Mother Tree filling the area with millions of cubic feet of hairy woody tissue.
These fire-scarred arboreal behemoths would likely be 2000+ years old, and 360+ ft. high had they not been zealously chopped down by ruthless profiteers caught up in the San Jose / San Francisco building boom of the mid-1800s. By 1863, the once Jurassic like park had been reduced to a "sea of stumps." 



What you see and experience today, however, is nothing to scoff at. Stands of stately 175 ft. tall Redwoods adorn the banks of burbling Redwood Creek, and deserve respect and admiration in their own right, these noble descendants of the ancient giants, who are our constant reminders of what is still to come far beyond our puny lifescale.
Sibley's an amazing place, really. Site of a ten-million year old exploded volcano, where long-necked camels once grazed alongside saber-toothed tigers and other mega-fauna, today Sibley is a favorite and easy get-away for nature-lovers located just on the fringes of Oakland and Berkeley.

Covering a mere 700 or so acres, Sibley's not really a place for any major hiking, per se, although you can get anywhere you want by hooking up to the Bay Area Ridge Trail and East Bay Skyline National Recreational Trail.

Recently a long-off-limits patch was opened giving the park a bit more breathing room – but rather, and mostly, Sibley is a place to take it all in, let your mind slowly drift and your imagination wander as you check out each sign post noting some outstanding geological feature or event; appreciate the darting rabbits, the soaring hawks and vultures; take in leisurely views, exploring newt ponds, meditatively walking the hidden labyrinth to give thanks and praise and wonder evermore.

While hiking around a back canyon on the veritable edge of California's eighth largest city, moments after watching thirty ravens swirl around in the sky for minutes on end, I spot a pair of White-tailed Kites hunting, eating, roosting, preening, and surveying their relatively vast domain from twin snags of an old tree.

In all my gambolin' days, I've never seen a White-tailed Kite, yet today, like omens of wisdom and self-sufficiency, they appear and put on their show for an uninterrupted half hour. Luckily, I have my binoculars handy, for the stately birds are a good 75 ft. away from my own perch on a rise of ground above the hidden labyrinth.



Meanwhile, the partner goes off searching for something because there's no sharing here. I watch her hunting in the canyon's low open country, hovering as sun rays glint off spreading wings and long fan-shaped tail. The Kite then swoops down, disappearing for several moments before finally swooping back up and heading to the tree snag in amazingly short time to join the other bird still licking his chops and ruling the snaggy roost.

Watching the just-perched Kite, wondering where his meal is, since there is nothing warm, furry and dead in his clutches, I'm suddenly amazed to see him stretch up and open his plumy breast with flapping histrionics to reveal, like a magician, his tasty provender secured below on a hillside meadow.


Las Trampas Regional Wilderness
Another perennial favorite, Las Trampas is a place to snap your fingers and escape the surrounding sea of urban madness – especially if you live in the Walnut Creek / Alamo / Danville / Blackhawk / San Ramon corridor of metropolitan / suburban sprawl.
Come, leave it all behind and festering below – hike with me, along trails zig-zagging up and down Brontosaurian roller-coaster ridges, islands in the sky, along a rocky limestone spine rising over 2000 ft. to provide "pay-off" views of Mount Diablo, looming like a monster on the hazy horizon, and the more distant Ohlone range beyond Livermore, and west toward the East Bay ridges of Grizzly and Volvon Peaks.


While hiking the spine, you might hear the buzz and hum of freeway traffic below on the superhighway 680, but as you duck in and out, up and down, through forested stretches and exposed rock outcroppings, you hardly notice it.





Ohlone Regional Wilderness

Ohlone Regional Wilderness might as well be called Ohlone Universe, because it is a wild, rugged, remote and sacred place existing unto itself. Apart from Henry Coe State Park to the south, it is the Bay Area's premier backcountry hiking destination.
It is a sprawling, rugged land where you can really lose yourself – mentally and spiritually – while also restoring your senses and reclaiming your soul among the giant oaks and painted rocks dotting the rolling hills.


The Ohlone Wilderness Trail connects Sunol Regional Wilderness to Del Valle Regional Park, over a distance of 28 miles with a total of 7600 ft. of elevation gain. Nothing to sneeze at, in other words. The traverse winds up and over and around gigantic looming mini-mountains, green in the springtime, then fading to deep hues of auburn emblematic of the Golden State.
About halfway through the hike, the trail turns sharply to head north, through high open country with several dipsy doos down into shady forested riparian zones, with 4,000+ ft. peaks kissing the sky along the Diablo Range crest as far as the eye can see.


If you're not able to spend several days enjoying the length of the back country splendor, make a day of it on a out 'n back adventure that can be as easy or as difficult as you wish. A visit to Ohlone country is never a disappointment, and always a delight.
And certain to guarantee a solitary and serene experience, with the only sounds, apart from an occasional mechanical fly-over, being the wind rustling treetops and wavy grass, the syncopated chirps of insects, calls of birds and the lonesome howls of coyotes at night. No matter where you find yourself in the Ohlone, you will feel far removed from the hustle bustle of the Bay Area.


Morgan Territory Regional Preserve




In a grove of Oak trees and Manzanita brush, you might be lucky enough to come upon the Mother of all Manzanita Trees, there off the trail beyond the grinding stone slabs, existing in kingly glory, there she is, the most impressive Mama Manzanita ever, anywhere.

A sentinel specimen residing in this sanctuary like a guardian of the ages for the past 300 years. Who knows. Nearby Manzanitas deign to compete in girth, height, textural richness and sculptural complexity, but fall short of measuring up to this absolutely epic arboreal wonder with reddish-chocolate bark, thick bodied, gnarled-branched, and powerful to behold.

You can’t take your eyes off of it, circling it repeatedly, touching and stroking it, lost in rapt admiration, more even than you would for a prized sculptural masterpiece in the Louvre. Drop. Dead. Gorgeous. Amazing. Such are the miracle encountered – along with Drop. Dead. Gorgeous. Amazing. rocks and creeks and waterfalls – in Morgan Territory Regional Preserve.

EAST BAY SHOUT-OUTS
San Pablo Reservoir (EBMUD Land)


Brushy Peak Regional Preserve


Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park


Del Valle Regional Park


Diablo Foothills Regional Park

MARIN COUNTY
Point Reyes National Seashore





Tennessee Valley

A favorite spot for me and about a million other nature lovers who crave the quick fix get away with the superlative mix of scenery, adventure, eco-activities, and lazy beach combing fun. See recent posting on the gem of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. (Just yesterday espied a beautiful bobcat slinking away into the brush.)

Matt Davis / Steep Ravine Loop
I love this loop, either way, beginning at Pantoll Ranger Station high up on the slopes of the big mountain in Mount Tamalpais State Park. Ok, so you have to shell out a few bucks to park (unless you're one of the early ones to snatch up a free parking spot across the road in the little lot that holds about six cars), but every penny's worth it. 

But even in the depths of summer, shady canopy offers shelter and surviving trickles of water and pools, perhaps nurturing the next generation of steelhead trout, and luring you from one nook and bend to the next.
The loop is about eight or nine miles round-trip, done either way, losing and gaining probably more than 2000 ft. of elevation on twisty switch-backing trails across broad swathes of high grassy hillsides and deep forest, alternating tremendous ocean views of the mighty Pacific lapping up against world-famous Stinson Beach and Bolinas town and lagoon, with intimate immersions into lush, sylvan wonderlands.


Carson Falls Loop


The loop, which can set you back, or advance you, eight hard miles or more, winds through thick oak, bay, madrone, alder and redwood forests, snakes along riparian corridors whose water flows are often set back from the trail, so to appreciate the best of them, you'll have to walk through tall, tick-infested grass.
Whilst being wary of tripping over downed logs and unseen jagged rocks to lay your eyes on some of the most amazing scenes you've ever seen of water chuting down bedrock channels and plunging over rocky shelves into clear, swirling pools, through magical, lush forests alive with birdsong and the sweet smells of earthy residue.
Carson Falls itself is truly a gem, especially in the rainy season – say, on a bright, blue, windless, warm mid-February day after plentiful downpour has brought this magnificent ravine cleft to life with run-off galore.
In summers, it's barely a trickle, nothing to get excited about . . . unless, like Gambolin' Man, any presence or manifestation of water flowing in natural conditions is precious, magical and inordinately charming.
Certainly, if you're a frog, to wit, viz., the endangered Foothill yellow-legged frog, whose existence depends on this late-summer water flow to protect and nurture its eggs, you'll be happy as hell to know you're considered a species of "special concern" fully protected by the State of California and the feds. (You're welcome to come and admire, but thank you for keeping dogs out and treading carefully!)





MARIN COUNTY SHOUT-OUTS
Devil's Gulch


Alpine Lake Loop


Marin County Open Space Areas

Marin County has preserved some magical open space, I tell you! Places like Indian Valley, Cascade Canyon, Pacheco del Valle and Arroyo de San Jose jump out as outstanding places to spend a day hiking, waterfall chasing or just lounging by your favorite rock under your favorite tree on your favorite burbling creek. You can't go wrong – only right!

NORTH BAY
Robert Louis Stevenson State Park




Sugarloaf Ridge State Park


NORTH BAY SHOUT-OUTS
Lake Berryessa


Stebbins Reserve / Cold Canyon


SOUTH BAY SHOUT-OUTS
Monte Bello Open Space
Henry Coe State Park
Big Basin State Park



BIG BASIN REDWOODS

FOG ROLLING IN AT HENRY COE STATE PARK
Enjoy more posts from Gambolin' Man about the geological, geographical, topographical, and bio-diverse landscapes, open spaces and wild places found in the 9-county aggregate known as the BAY AREA:
Read more from Gambolin' Man about the simple wonders and charming splendors of Wildcat Creek (and watershed) in the Berkeley Hills: