Garin Regional Park 2015-07-21, 2015-08-03

This is my third hike in this beautiful East Bay park - we've done the Tolman Peak in June and High Ridge Loop in February. I parked by the Ziele Creek Dr entrance which can be reached by taking Carlos Bee Blvd from Mission Blvd, going around CSU, and continuing on Civic Ave and Dobbel Ave.

Today was one of those days when the choices I made took me away from my intended path. I started the hike turning right onto Ziele Creek Trail, a narrow, single-track dirt trail. The scenic trail winds through a heavily wooded forest before coming up on a fork.  I turned right at this fork and followed the trail all the way to a fire road. This was my first mistake today. If you pass a very narrow wooden bridge and happen to see an overturned and abandoned car by the trail, you are making the same error. 

To the left, the road dead ends in a quarter-mile or less at a graffiti-ridden gathering spot, possibly for CSU students. To the right, the road turns into a dirt trail and goes over a couple of hills before reaching the CSU campus entrance on Harder Rd. This mistake cost me more than 2 miles of unplanned adventure. I retraced my steps to reach the spot where I took the wrong turn, but not before enjoying some great views from the hilltops by the CSU campus.

Going left here, the trail crosses Ziele Creek, which had some water trickling through it. I decided to skip the Vista Peak Loop and instead took the Upper Garin Woods Trail. This is also a nicely shaded, single-track dirt trail. About half a mile into this segment, I made my second mistake of the day and took a right turn. It led me to a meadow and a pond. I followed what looked like a trail but was more likely the path used by cattle when they graze here. This excursion led me to the three-way junction on Vista Loop Trail.

With more than 4 miles done and the temperature warming up, I decided to head back to the Ziele Creek Dr entrance by taking the Lower Garin Woods Trail instead of the longer and more exposed Vista Loop. An extraordinary tree up the hill was one of the highlights of this hike.  

I didn't do what I'd intended to do today, but we still had an interesting hike at Garin Park. We covered 6 miles in a little over 2 hours and did most of the Ziele Creek and Garin Woods trails, some parts of Vista Loop, and had an an excursion to CSU campus.

I will likely repeat this hike from this entrance once more and do it "properly," if there is such a thing. From how engrossed he was even at the end, Apollo would argue this was a perfect hike!

More pictures from our hike today.
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Update 2015-08-03

After a week break from our hikes, Apollo and I were back at the Ziele Creek Dr entrance to do the hike I had intended to do few days ago. 

We started the hike by turning left on Ziele Creek Trail which runs right by the creek the first three-fourths of a mile or so. Initially quite shaded, the single-track dirt trail opens up to brown rolling hills, meadows, and bright light before it meets Vista Loop Peak trail.

Vista Loop Peak Trail goes around Garin Peak, standing at a not so imposing 950 ft tall that you can reach by ascending about 700 ft with some ups and downs. Vista Peak Trail is a fire road dirt trail. The 2.5 mile loop is fully exposed, running amidst beautiful rolling hills and views of the bay and San Mateo Bridge.  

Off-leash, Apollo had a field day leading the way, sniffing out the path correctly about 50% of the time. The rest of the time, I had to call him back to the right path! 

We took the Ziele Creek Trail back to the trail head to complete the loop, making this a 4.2 mile hike. We were glad to be back on the shaded Ziele Creek Trail; while it wasn't hot, it certainly was a warm summer day. If you include some portions of the hike from our previous visit, this can easily be a nice 7+ mile hike. 

More pictures from our hike today.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #GarinRegionalPark #GarinPeak #EBRPD #GarinDryCreekPioneerPark