The shade was welcome as 8 of us made
the clockwise loop at Huckleberry Preserve starting from the
Skyline entrance. It was 94 when I got home just before 1. The
hike is under 2 miles, but certainly seemed longer. Jennifer
brought grapes from her garden and we enjoyed them as a treat at
the end of the walk.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/349we625xE
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/4918WJ22bH for pictures.
A bit of history: The reservoir is impounded by Briones Dam, an earthen dam completed in 1964 (60 years ago). The reservoir is the largest of EBMUD's five East Bay terminal reservoirs, with a total capacity of 60,510 acre⋅ft, and it has a total watershed of 8.59 square miles.
Flexibility is important when
the weather doesn't match the forecast. It was already over 80 by
the time 10 of us met at the Old Tunnel Rd parking area. The long
up hill in the open grasslands really held no appeal. So we
decided to make this an up and back along the shady Round Top
Creek trail. That was a good choice! We met at the picnic tables
by the main parking lot for snacks and group chatter and then
headed back down. We were back to the cars shortly after 11:30. My
car thermometer reached 90 on the drive home. 3.5 miles
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/1z5Cm5e6JX
07/31 - Marina Bay
I did not hike...Susan sent this report.
Ten Wednesday Walkers had a foggy, cool and breezy walk along the San Francisco Bay Trail this morning and a wonderful visit to Rosie The Riveter National Park. The docents shared information about the Home Front war effort, the shipyards, the Ford Assembly Plant for jeeps and tanks and we saw a terrific movie about the Rosies' contributions to the winning effort during WW II. Hearing their stories is quite moving. A quote from one of the welder Rosies, "I live in pants and ugly shoes, leather jacket, big mittens, goggles and a monster hood, fire coming out of my hands. I did it!". We encourage you all to make a visit to the museum.
The walk was about 4 miles, everyone in our car had a slightly different distance and number of steps on our phones, and I'm not as adept as Karen at measuring distances on the computer. Phred and Lisa will be putting photos up when they can.
We headed Bay side with hope
of cool breezes. Meeting at the Bull Valley staging area on
Carquinez Scenic Dr west of Port Costa we walked a CW loop to the
town and back. It has been almost exactly 5 years (7/31/19) since
we walked this loop, altho we tried last September but the area
was closed then. There was a fire (6-23-22) which burned over 120
acres including a large portion of the eucalyptus on the water
side of the hills. They were clearing those burned trees last September. It was a good, if short, walk of under 2.5 miles
and the weather was about perfect!
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/xefWaA8963
After a week of hot weather, the fog was back this morning and hikers were digging for extra layers. Nine of us walked an out and back route of about 4.5 miles starting from the Valle Vista staging area and heading south along the Kings Canyon Tr. The water level is still high in the reservoir and things are surprisingly green in spite of the heat wave.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/G4175Vr2v2
After no walk last week because of temperatures in the upper 90's, 8 of us took advantage of cooler weather and walked from the
Alhambra Valley Rd entrance up Toyon Canyon and back. It included
more up than we remembered. At least there was shade and an occasional
breeze. Things are drying fast, tho there was still a bit of water
in the creek. Returning to the cars we found that the bridge over
the creek has finally (I found pictures from 2019 with a "closed" sign) been repaired. Under 2.5 miles.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/jPBL5KngGB
06/05 - No hike, temperatures in the high 90's
05/29 - Redwood RP
It was a large group (15) today. We started together from the Fish Ladder but soon separated into smaller groups, botonizers, bird watchers and just plain walkers. We walked west on Bridle Tr and joined Stream Tr at Chown, going further up the canyon to the picnic tables by the Fern Tr junction for snacks and more birthday time for Ulla. Return was via Stream Tr. Just under 3 miles (but see below).
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/wmfc8B4hks
That only tells part of the story. Splitting into smaller groups is fine as long as everyone knows where we are going and people rejoin the group at trail junctions. Unfortunately, we learned that lesson the hard way today as one hiker turned left when the correct turn was to the right. Each of the other groups thought she was with another group, so it wasn't until we returned to the cars that the truth of the situation sank in. All's well that ends well, the lost one returned on her own and the ones who set out to hunt for her eventually did as well. The whole situation was made worse by a total lack of cell coverage. Mileage for the lost and the seekers was double (or more) that of the main group.
