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| Diamond View trail |
The trail system in Five Canyons Open Space can be accessed from Five Canyons Park (located at Five Canyons Pkwy) or several other spots along the trail system including Five Canyons Pkwy, Boulder Canyon Rd in Castro Valley. A good portion of the trails is in the neighborhood of a residential area. I had parked in the Five Canyons Park where plenty of parking is available.
Apollo and I started our hike from Diamond View trail. The trail descends by the hills as it runs parallel to a storm drain system. Turning left at the first major junction, we followed the trail down to the valley floor. At the next junction with Sandstone trail, stay right. I had taken the trail to the left which happens to dead end at Blackstone Ct.
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| Deer Canyon trail |
Retracing our steps, we went forward in Sandstone trail, which in a short while led us to the junction with Deer Canyon trail. As with Diamond View and Sandstone, Deer Canyon trail is also a dirt trail with residential neighborhood on one side and thick woods on the other.
Deer Canyon trail crosses Recreation Center Rd before coming upon Shady Canyon trail junction. We turned left and headed north. Turning right would result in a shorter loop. Shady Canyon trail also crosses couple of roads, Canyon Terrace Dr. and Boulder Canyon Dr. as it continues north.
The trail goes through another neighborhood park, Ridge Trail park before reaching Five Canyons Pkwy. Turning right and crossing the parkway, we joined the Chabot-Garin Regional Trail that is part of the Bay Ridge Trail system. Over the next mile, the trail climbs steeply and gains about 600+ ft. while passing two water towers along the way.
While the climb was intense, the reward at the end of it is great views of the valley, homes in Hayward, Castro Valley, Oakland and other east bay cities. The trail also levels off atop the ridge and starts descending from here. This section of the trail is open with sweeping 360 degree views.
We turned into Shady Canyon trail while Chabot-Garin trail continues towards Garin Regional Park. Passing through couple of gates, Shady Canyon trail gives up all the elevation by the time it reaches the valley floor at the other end of Deer Canyon trail junction.
Deer Canyon trail climbs up from the valley over the next 1/2 mile or so as it crosses Five Canyons Pkwy. To wrap up our hike, we turned left and walked to the park where I had parked the car making this a 5.75 mile hike with some 1000 ft. climbing.
More pictures from our hike.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #FiveCanyonsOpenSpace #EBRPD
Quarry Park in El Granada is a small 40 acre neighborhood park. Surrounded by a 482 acre open space simply referred to as Wicklow, this park offers an outstanding hike in a scenic location. The small parking lot can be reached by taking Coronado St exit from Hwy 1 in El Granada and following the directions to the park (located at Santa Maria Ave & Columbus St).
Wicklow was donated by a private donor to Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) in 2003 which in turn donated the land to San Mateo County in 2014. Once the trail systems in the expanded Quarry Park and Rancho Corral De Tierra are fully developed, this area will provide miles of hiking trails in the Santa Cruz mountains by the beautiful Pacific coast.
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| Vista Point trail |
The trail system in Quarry park itself is somewhat limited with the Vista Point trail providing the primary attraction. Apollo and I started our hike in that trail. The trail goes through a dense eucalyptus forest. At the first fork, we headed towards the quarry floor, subsequently following the trail until it hits Dolphine Fire Rd.
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| Dolphine Fire Rd |
Other than a small section in the Quarry park, trails identified in the map are not marked. I would recommend printing the map before heading to this place with your GPS and a spirit of adventure. Dolphine Fire Rd. is also a dirt trail, somewhat wide and surrounded by eucalyptus trees. The trail is also filled with foliage from the trees.
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| South Ridge trail |
We turned left onto Dolphine Fire Rd and did the 2 mile out & back by this road which goes all the way to a gate at El Granada Blvd. From the trail head, by the time we reached the gate at El Granada Blvd, we had climbed some 700 ft. We gave up some of the elevation on our way back. Instead of going back to the entrance, we continued straight on Dolphine Fire Rd until the South Ridge trail junction.
We turned left on South Ridge trail and headed up hill once again. About 1/2 a mile of climbing will reward you with fantastic views of the mountain range. South Ridge trail is dotted by eucalyptus as well as pine trees providing a nice change of scenery. This trail also ends without further access ahead, so we retraced our steps, making this stretch a one mile out & back hike.
At the four way junction between South Ridge trail, Dolphine Fire Rd and Vista Point trail, we turned right on to Vista Point trail. A short walk will take you out of Wicklow and back into Quarry park. We made our way to the to the harbor view point, a vista point that should absolutely not be missed.
You will be rewarded with panoramic views of the Pillar Point Harbor, HMB airport and more from this spot. We had hiked this area when we were out on Pillar Point Bluff back in August. After a short break, Apollo and I headed back to the main entrance following the Vista Point trail.
If a walk by eucalyptus forest is what the doctor ordered, then Quarry park and Wicklow is the place to go to. Our 5+ mile hike today involved a climb of almost 1000 ft. through dense eucalyptus forests and couple of panoramic vista points.
More pictures from our hike.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #QuarryPark #Wicklow #WicklowOpenSpace #POST #EucalyptusForestHike
With more than 20 miles of hiking trails that goes around the Chabot lake and long history, Lake Chabot Regional Park is an excellent destination spot for hiking with your dog. A $2 dog fee is required to use the park, paid parking is available inside the main entrance (17600 Lake Chabot Rd, Castro Valley), you may also find free road side parking by the entrance. This east bay park also connects seamlessly with Anthony Chabot regional park that is much larger.
The ranger advised me to keep Apollo off the lake which, unfortunately, has a high toxic level of green-blue algae right now. I decided not to get close to the waters at all even though several beaches were accessible along our 9+ mile walk around the lake.
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| West Shore trail |
We started our clockwise look by the West Shore trail. The nearly 2 mile long trail is a paved, blacktop trail that is open to bikers and hikers. This trail takes you to the historic dam that was built in the mid-1800s. Other than few occasional gentle grades, this is essentially a flat, easy and busy trail that offers great views of the lake and Live Oak island on the right.
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| Bass Cove trail |
Crossing the dam, we continued by Bass Cove trail. This starts off as a wide service road and stays that way for more than a mile. The last 1/2 mile after the Goldenrod trail junction is a narrower dirt track right by the lake and Bass Cove.
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| Columbine trail |
The next 2+ miles is by Columbine trail. A single track dirt trail, this segment involves climbing gradually about 400 ft. through heavily wooded forest that only offers an occasional glimpse of the lake. Columbine trail provides a nice change of scene and lots of shade through the forest before it connects to Honker Bay trail.
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| Honker Bay trail |
We turned right on Honker Bay trail, a wide fire road dirt trail. More open, this trail takes you to the lake level pretty rapidly as you give up all the gains from Columbine trail. Much as Apollo would have liked to have a go at the water, I had to keep him off due to the toxic algae warning.
A short 1/4 mile segment in Cameron Loop trail connected us to the East Shore trail. But not before a walk by a narrow and interesting hanging bridge.
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| East Shore trail |
The home stretch by East Shore trail is more than 1.5 miles long and offers a similar experience as the W Shore trail in the beginning. This is also a paved black top trail that hikers share with bikers.
At 9.7 miles, this is one of the longest walk I've done with Apollo. The loop that we did, West Shore trail -> Bass Cove trail -> Columbine trail -> Honker Bay trail -> Cameron Loop trail -> East Shore trail, has mile markers along the way.
If you want to do a shorter walk, I'd recommend an out & back by either East or West Shore trail to the extent you are comfortable with. The West takes you to a historic dam, the East to the interesting hanging bridge.
More pictures from our hike.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #LakeChabot #LakeChabotRegionalPark #EBRPD
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| A twisted redwood tree |
DeLaveaga park in Santa Cruz offers miles of trails amidst redwood groves, oak woodlands as well as picnic areas and other outdoor amenities for visitors. The main entrance to the park is at 850 Branciforte Dr, Santa Cruz with plenty of parking available. It wouldn't be a bad idea to print a map of the trails before your first visit to the park.
The main parking area is by a large open grass field with several picnic spots surrounding it. A short walk from here led Apollo and me to the trail heads. There are several short trails in the park and the map has a good description of each of them. We started out in the direction marked La Corona, but quickly joined the Sand Pit trail (aka Enchanted trail in the map) heading south.
Doubling as an unpaved service road, Sand Pit trail is a multi-use trail popular with bikers and dog walkers. The trail weaves through tall and majestic redwoods as it makes it way to the southwest corner of the park.
At the end of the trail is a sand pit where dogs are allowed to be off leash. As always, Apollo was quick to befriend a dog and play chase before spending some quiet time inspecting the sand pit.
From here, we headed back up north, taking the upper arm of the Redwood Lower Loop trail. This is a single track trail that weaves through predominantly redwood trees. This trail joins the Sand Pit trail making it a nice loop in the south side of the park.
We continued up north by La Corona trail. This trail is a double track dirt trail, sometimes going through interesting rock formations. After the junction with Branciforte Creek trail, the climb by La Corona trail is slightly more steep. A ravine by the trail had couple of cars lying in the depths! I wonder how the vehicles got there in the first place!
La Corona trail heads up to "Top of the world" - a vista point, part of the Disc Golf club. There were few folks flexing their arms throwing frisbee by hole 27. It may be called top of the world, but it is only a modest 450 ft. tall hill.
Heading back, we took the Branciforte Creek trail. This trail quickly climbs down to the creek level. This is an especially nice and scenic location by the creek, with gorgeous redwood groves and trees with very interesting growth patterns.
The trail pretty much parallels Branciforte creek the entire distance before coming up on the athletic playgrounds making this the second loop in our hike today.
Our 5.2 mile hike over about 700-800 feet climb today ended up being very leisurely due to the achilles injury I was nursing. While the official off-leash section was only near the sand pit area, I observed several people were walking their dogs off-leash in most trails.
More pictures from our hike today.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #DeLaveagaPark #DeLaveaga #RedwoodHikes
Part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), Fort Funston is located on the south western side of San Francisco. Plenty of parking is available from the main entrance on Skyline Blvd. I had parked at the John Muir entrance (at the intersection of Skyline Blvd & John Muir Blvd) where about 8 cars can be parked off road on Skyline Blvd.
An off leash dog park with trails by the ocean and atop 200 feet bluffs, this is as good as it comes from a dogs perspective. From John Muir entrance, we turned right on to Coastal trail and made our way to the beach on the north side of the park. Fort Funston is a popular spot with dog lovers, expect to find several dogs moving around off leash wherever you choose to go.
The north beach access is through two bluffs offering some fine views. The sand on the north beach was black and very quickly, Apollo got dirty from wading in the ocean. It is possible to walk along the beach in either direction. We, however, turned around and went on top of one of the cliffs leading to the beach.
The cliffs are sandy and dogs can fall off them. Do exercise caution - I had Apollo on leash when we walked up here. We continued on coastal trail to the north and turned around onto Horse trail. Coastal trail continues further up north to Ocean beach.
Horse trail is located away from the beach and goes through some nice coastal trees. It was a warm day and the shade was welcome. Horse trail is well marked and goes all the way to the south side of the park, to the erstwhile Nike missile site. Along the way, you will have some great views of the city on your left.
Horse trail ends at the main parking lot by the missile site building. The second access to the beach is through the Stairs trail from this location. This is a steep climb down, nearly 200 feet down from the top of the cliffs.
The beach sand in this location is not as black as the previous spot. However, from Apollo's perspective, it really didn't matter. He was completely wet and dirty, from playing in the ocean as well as with other dogs along the way.
We climbed back with Apollo clearly leading the way to the hang gliding spot. The observation deck on top offered great views of the Pacific. In addition, there were some more cold war artifacts in the observation deck.
We crossed over the parking lot, walked by Chip trail and took the stairs down John Muir trail to the trail head. While I did mention the various trail names, this is an open park with plenty of opportunities to walk free form. Most trails are also in beach sands; with fantastic views, beach sand slowing you down and your dog off leash, this is more a leisurely walk than a brisk hike.
That said, our stroll added up to more than 3.5 miles for me. And I have to guess with all the running he did today, Apollo must have covered more than 5 miles by himself!
More pictures from our walk today.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #FortFunston #GGNRA #CoastalTrail
One of the first few hikes we'd done in February was at Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve. After a long break, we were back at this beautiful preserve to try few other trails in the Kennedy-Limekiln area. The trails in the section we hiked today actually commence from Alma Bridge Rd in the Lexington Reservoir County Park. Parking for a handful of vehicles is available off street on Alma Bridge Rd (trail head is about 1.6 miles from Hwy 17 N exit). If you are coming down Hwy 17 S, take Bear Creek Rd exit and follow the directions to Alma Bridge Rd.
The road side parking offers great views of the Lexington reservoir and the Santa Cruz mountains. We started our hike from Priest Rock trail. The wide fire road dirt trail climbs gradually from Alma Bridge Rd. In the first 1/4 mile or so, the trail goes by some tall and mature madrone trees and oaks before opening up.
Until you cross over into the Sierra Azul property, Priest Rock trail climbs up gradually. Right after you cross the border, the trail starts ascending somewhat steeply. I'd say most hikers will notice this unless they are exceptionally fit. Over the next 1/2 - 3/4 mile, the climb is relentless. As always, Apollo negotiated the climb better than me!
Don't let that intense climb come in the way of looking behind you or around you to enjoy the views of the reservoir and the mountains as you steadily gain altitude. The heavily wooded mountain side all around is a stark contrast from most hikes that sport a lush green in spring and a brown face in summer and fall.
Our turnaround point was the intersection of Priest Rock and Limekiln trails. The junction is on a plateau with sweeping views all around. Both Priest Rock and Limekiln trails start at Alma Bridge Rd, cross over at this junction and go further into the preserve. We turned left on Limekiln trail hiking back towards Alma Bridge Rd.
Limekiln trail is also a wide dirt trail. However, it is definitely more rugged than the other. In addition, we were walking in a westerly direction with the sun behind us. Limekiln trail is also very well shaded winding through the forests of Sierra Azul. The lighting was perfect, mountains majestic, the trail rugged and nicely shaded by the woods making the next 2+ miles one of the best hikes we've done recently.
The beauty and serenity was only disturbed for a brief while by the heavy machinery and trucks when we hiked close to the Lexington quarry. The descend was gradual all the way as Limekiln trail took us out of Sierra Azul and into Lexington Reservoir park once again. The trail runs parallel to Alma Bridge Rd for a while before going up the mountains for one short stint.
We had to walk a brief while (between 1/4 - 1/2 mile) on Alma Bridge Rd to reach where I'd parked the car by Priest Rock trail. The low water levels in the reservoir was quite obvious as we completed our 5+ mile loop that involved about 1100 feet ascend.
More pictures from our hike today.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #SierraAzulOpenSpacePreserve #MROSD #SierraAzul #LimeKilnTrail #PriestRockTrail
