There were a dozen hikers with two dogs today at Fernandez Ranch. It was a mild, gray day, perfect for walking. The clouds gave the light a special quality which intensified the green of the hills and the many colors in the flowers. We went CCW up Windmill Tr to the top of the steep hill, then SE along Woodrat to Whipsnake, east to Black Phebe and then NW back to the start. 3.5 miles
Eight of us had a good walk among the
flowers of the Ring Mt Preserve. We started from the Westward Dr
trailhead, went up the Phyllis Ellman Trail, made the loop around
petroglyph rock, went up the steep trail to Turtle Rock, then up the
fire road, past the water tank, to the area where we sometimes see the
red silene (too early this time). The return went down the fire road,
along a bit of the Ellman trail and then off across the meadow and down
along the trees to the small creek crossing. We not only saw flowers,
there was wildlife, too: deer, a coyote and a very long garter snake!
Under 3 miles.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/8Bnz1h3770
There were 11 of us walking the Skyline Gardens trail today. With the trail from Fish Ranch to the Sibley parking area at the end of Old Tunnel Rd still closed, we made it an out and back from the Steam Trains parking area to the picnic table near the EBMUD water tank. That short 2 miles took us nearly 3 hours there was so much to see.
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There were a baker's dozen of us on a beautiful spring day on Mt Diablo. We started from the end of Mountaire Pkwy and walked a CCW loop: the single track up the hill to the right after the entrance gate, then Back Creek Tr up the canyon to Tickwood Trail, we stopped for a snack at the junction with Donner Canyon Rd. Then the group split with Lee, Susan, Geoff, Polly and Becki taking the Heatherington Trail down and the rest of us going directly down Donner Canyon Rd. Distances ranged from just under 3 miles to almost 3 1/2 miles.
