Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve

We found some time between rain storms to hike in Leona Canyon. It's been a couple of years since we've been there and I wanted to go back. It's a beautiful hike up the canyon next to Rifle Range Creek. We started at the bottom off Keller Ave and hiked up to Merritt College. There so much water this year! Everything is green and wildflowers are blooming.

There's a guide to the plants in the preserve which is totally worth following. The stops are all in the half of the trail nearest to Merritt College. Each stop highlights one of the plants and explains how the Native Americans used them. What a great resource!

The first time we did this hike I had to stop and catch my breath several times. The hike isn't difficult but it's a steady climb up the hill. This time I only stopped once - hooray for me!

You can find the park information here.

Complete photo set here.

Carquinez Regional Shoreline

This was my first visit to this amazing park and I can't believe it took me this long to get here! The recent rains made everything green and there are incredible views in every direction. We started at the Bull Valley staging area and headed east on the Overlook trail. This trail is essentially level and there are views of the water everywhere you look. We ended at the overlook area and headed back on the Loop trail. Next time I want to check out the eastern section of the park and the new George Miller trail.

Park information here.

Complete photo set here.

Redwood Park - mushrooms and mud!

With the holidays and the much-needed rain we haven't done much hiking that wasn't a repeat on paved trails. Point Isabel 4 times in one week was fun and still beautiful but not too exciting. This weekend, however, we headed out to Redwood Park. Because we've had lots of rain there was lots of mud and we stayed on the Stream Trail. We went to the end at the junction with Mill Trail, where the trail is closed. Out and back was 3.4 miles and, amazingly, no problem!

All the rain has made this really fun! The creek has water and it's so nice to hear it rushing by as you hike. The grass has come up and everything is green. And FUNGI! So many different ones and so beautiful! We saw lots of kids (and some grownups) enjoying slogging through the mud puddles on the trail.

Complete photo set here.

Berkeley Aquatic Park

Yesterday we decided to OptOutside for Black Friday (thank you REI!) and headed down to the Berkeley Aquatic Park. Having lived in the area all my life, I'd somehow never been here. It's a pretty funky park - a skinny strip of land tucked between the railroad tracks and the freeway with a strip of grass running along a lagoon. There's a paved path that runs the whole length of the park that's very popular with walkers and runners and bikers. It was a beautiful sunny day and there were lots of people! It's completely level. We parked at the north end at the foot of Addison St. and walked all the way to the south end, almost to Emeryville. The round trip was almost exactly 3 miles.

The reason we chose to spend the afternoon at this funky little park? Butterflies! For the first time anyone knows about, there are Monarch butterflies clustering in the ash trees near the 14th hole of the disk golf course. They are amazing! There were huge clusters of butterflies that looked like some growth on the tree and lots of them flittering around.

There's a playground with some pretty awesome structures. There's a disc golf course running the length of the park. It's actually pretty, if you avoid thinking about the freeway that's always in your view. It's also not a park you want to visit when it's getting dark since it's got quite a reputation for being a hang out for some pretty shady characters.

 Park information here.

Complete image set here.

Pt. Pinole Salt Marsh

Because it was supposed to rain this weekend (yay!) we decided to take the dog on a long-ish hike on Saturday. We headed to Pt. Pinole and ended up in an area that was new to us. When we went into the park toward the play structures, we headed right toward Cook's Point. Just before the point at the trail intersection, we headed left on Marsh Trail. This trail runs along the bay toward the fishing pier. The marsh is beautiful in its own unique way. There's a great display that explains how the marsh was formed and illustrates all the plants. Thanks EBRPD naturalists! After we spent some time educating ourselves and watching the birds, we headed back on Owl Alley. We went about 3 miles.

We love Pt. Pinole! It's less than half an hour from our house so we can go there without any advanced planning. Huge amounts of the park are off-leash, which the dog loves. It's flat, which my knee loves, and there are so many trails you almost never repeat a hike. And its' beautiful!

Trail information here:


Complete photo set here.

Fall at Pt. Pinole

We spent Veteran's Day afternoon hiking in Pt. Pinole. The sun was out and it was crisp and perfect for a hike. We always start along the Bay View trail since we love looking at the water. At the end, about a mile in, the trail is closed due to a fallen tree. We turn up away from the Bay and seem to take a different route every time. We've had two rain storms recently and you can see the start of little blades of green poking up. Yay! We were hoping to see butterflies since it's almost that time of year but had no luck. We'll be back in a couple of weeks to check again!

Park information here.

Complete photo set here.

Fall on the Gorge Trail

Due to a combination of a heat wave (I'm a wimp when it's hot!), a family illness, and school starting my hiking has been minimal for a few weeks. I realized yesterday, however, that the Wildcat Gorge Trail is now one of our fallbacks for those "we need to take the dog somewhere" moments. This trail used to scare me. For a long time I couldn't make it all the way to the top. Now, I don't think twice. I wouldn't say it's really easy, but it's definitely not hard and I never hesitate to tag along with my husband and the dog. It's beautiful right now! There's no water until you get really close to Lake Anza but the creek is still pretty. There are scattered trees changing color, including much of the poison oak, and there are beautiful yellow and red leaves on the ground. I can hardly wait to see it when (if...) it starts raining again!