Hike Info:
Type: Backpacking
Trail:Ohlone Wilderness Trail, McCorkle Trail, some cow trail, View Trail, Cerro Este Road, Camp Ohlone Road, Eagle Trail
Destination:Mission Peak Parking Lot
Distance: 12.46 miles
1 2
Start Time: 9:21
End Time: 6:04
Travel Time: 8:42 (1.43 mph)
Moving Time: 7:28 (1.67 mph)
Elevation Rise: 3,051'
Descent: 3,763'
Maximum Elevation: 2,101'
GPS Tracks
1Lost data for about five minutes while we went cross-country
2Gary stopped at Sunol Nature Center. His data included:
Distance: 4.80 miles
Start Time: 9:21
End Time: 1:10
Travel Time: 3:48 (1.26 mph)
Moving Time: 3:10 (1.52 mph)
Elevation Rise: 1,098'
Descent: 1,740'
Maximum Elevation: 1,480'
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| Our tent and morning view |
Description:
It rained a lot last night;
and the wind blew At least it seemed that way. The official records
for Livermore says it rained a little more than an eighth of an inch.
Maybe where we were it did more, I do not know. . There were times I
was wondering how the tent would hold up. But it did. We kept mostly
dry inside. But where the bag touched the sides, there was some
moisture. But I did not sleep very well-my air mattress deflated. At
this point, I do not know why, but suspecting the valve may be
letting the air out.
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| Drying Out |
I am the first one up at 6:40.
There is clear skies and the smell of clean invading my nostrils. The
sun is starting to touch mountains to the west of us around the time
Andrea gets up. Her tent did not hold up as well as ours.The inside
of her tent got wet. Then to add insult to injury, her mattress
deflated again. But it sounds like her sleeping bag kept her warm.
We get Andrea’s stuff hung
out and then Sherri gets up around 8. So I work on getting our tent
aired out as well. By the time we leave camp, it is 9:20.
 |
| Sherri leaving the Hawk's Nest |
First, we head down to get
water where Andrea fills up. And then on to the bathroom by the Hawks
Nest camp spot. I should have gotten this spot instead of Stars Rest.
Closer to the necessities of life. Oh well, next time we camp at
Sunol,
will keep that in mind.
Sherri takes off, then I
leave, leaving Andrea to catch up to us-this is not a problem. It si
a steep down hill which ends at a creek, maybe something called Rock
Scramble, but I think this may be more of a name on a map than the
name of the creek. By now, that steep downhill is more of the normal,
but this one seems a bit more-glad I am not going up it. The trail is
a single track through here. When we reach a gate, some of the family
camped above us in Eagle View came by. But none of the backpacks
carrying tents, food or stuff. So we wonder where the beast of burden
are-that would be the men in this case. As a note, in our group,
Andrea is carrying more of the weight than I am.
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| Cerro Road Junction |
The trail goes down to a
little creek and then starts climbing. Another night’s sleep does
not cure my shortness of breath. Even Sherri inhaler does not help
me tackle these rises better. Sigh.
But the story of today is we
are going down to Sunol Nature Center where we will regroup and make
a decision. The OWT has acquired a new name : McConnell Trail. When
we hit the Cerro Road, it is back to being a dirt road for a third of
a mile. There is a stone sign which mentions Little Yosemite. After
the third of a mile, we turn off again and follow a creek downhill;
it is steeply, of course.
And then, there was an
unmarked trail branching off. Which one is branching off and which
one is the OWT? The map does not give help us make a decision. Since
both look well used, we take the one going down. Turns out thus is
the one less traveled. After maybe ¾ of a mile and some descent,
our trail looks less trodden by humans and more by our friendly cows.
A few times we have to scramble under branches or slosh through mud,
but a track still is available to us. So we continue on.
We come across a fence, a
pond and cows, so we know where we are, and we are not on the OWT,
which we already guessed at. By following the fence, we avoid most of
the cows, except for one which seems intent on blocking our way. So
we walk around it-definitely not close and get to his other side. In
a short while, we hit the View Trail which connects into the Cerro
Estes Road. That is the same road we came across the Little
Yosemite
sign. So I guess we are destined to make ti to Yosemite on this trip.
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| Little Yosemite |
While this is not the OWT, it
leads us to a road which will lead is down to the Sunol Nature
Visitor Center. But in the meantime we get to visit a place with
Sherri had expressed a wish earlier to go to. That is Little
Yosemite. Now I know what you are going to say-that is 150 miles east
of where we are. And that is what we thought as well. But that is
what the trail signs say and the map collaborates it as well.
We have a snack break at a
picnic table in Little Yosemite. Also there is an outhouse.There is a
pretty big difference between the one in Yosemite and the one here.
First, there are roads here while only trails in Yosemite. Next, the
trees are broadleaves while in Yosemite, it is mostly pines. In
Yosemite, the outhouse is a two story four bathroom outhouse-here it
is a single pit. But here, there is a river which cascades over
boulders giving the impression of a Sierra stream. Just an amazing
sight and not too far from the populated areas. As Andrea said, she
has been living in the East Bay for ten years and did not know about
it. (I was born across the Bay and did not know this was here
either.)
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| Bobcat |
But we can't stay there
forever, we have a car to pick up. So we continue on down the road,
which is about a mile and a half long. Along the road, we see a
bobcat sauntering ahead of us. It goes for about a hundred yards and
disappears over a rise in the road. Shortly afterwards, a lady comes
over the top and asks if we saw the bobcat?
The road follows the creek
and until I get to the Sunol Regional Park proper.. Here we hit a
paved road and after a few minutes we get to the to were the Nature
Center. There we have a lunch and decide what to do.
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| Sherri and Andrea as they leave |
Here is a moment of decision.
I know that how I have been laboring, particular on the uphills. The
estimate I gave to complete the hike for myself would be between 7
and 9 hours to get from here back to the car. This is to cover 7.5
miles but about a 1800 foot rise. I am willing to be left behind and
wait with the packs. Andrea and Sherri think that they can make it
over there a lot quicker and I agree with them. So after we have a
quick lunch, they take the stuff they will need to make the
trip-food, water, map and a few other things. . Then they are off
about 1:30.
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| Sunol Regional Park |
So I spend time reading
playing around writing my blog and just enjoying the sunshine and the
clouds and the present surrounding. I've got probably about a 5 to 6
hour wait,if I'm lucky and they are moving fast. But right now, I can
deal with that. I do take a nap and just enjoying the sun until they
come. I will admit that around 5:30pm, I started looking for them.
The air got colder when the sun went behind some clouds and a ridge.
I have moved all of our packs and stuff over to the parking area and
am ready to go once they arrive. They get in around 6:3, and we pack
our car pretty quickly and are off.
Sherri
added her thoughts about the hike she and Andrea walked without me:
Andrea
and I left Gary and headed up towards Mission
Peak.
There was some turkeys on the hillside as we continued our upward
trek. The variations of feather pattern on their back was so
interesting. Every time we headed up a switch back they reappeared
and would run off only to reappear on the next switchback. Hiking the
cattle range continues but the bovine seem very content in this part
of the trail. On the first part of the trail there seems to be a bit
more of a bovine attitude of I own the trail and needed a little more
encouragement to move off the trail so we could scoot by.
It
was great being able to have some mother-daughter time and being able
to chat as we went along. As the advertisement says: Priceless. I did
slow my daughter down a bit, as the trail was a little hard-our goal
was to make sure we got her car at the end of the day. This part of
the trail had area of hill with no tree but green grass and section
of creeks, little waterfalls and trees. We could even see some farm
houses in the distances. Of course I got my lesson in reading signs
as my sense of direction sometimes in not the best. But sometimes you
learn that the trail and the road do go to the same destination.
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| Andrea with Mission Peak behind here. |
As
we got to the junction for the Mission Peak we got to see Dumbarton
Bridge. So interesting to see how the South Bay and East Bay are
connected. We choose not to do Mission Peak as we do not have the
time as we need to get to Andrea’s car and we would really like to
do it with Gary. So as my usual pattern, you can’t see everything
so you need to come back on another trip. I pick up my speed as we
rush down the hill. I do not think Andrea thought it was a rush. It
was an end to another enjoyable if not challenging trip. Would I do
it again? Yes but with more training for the ups and downs and a
different first campsite.
After picking up Andrea’s
car at Del
Valle,
we are off to find a place to eat. Habit Burger looked appetizing and
we go off there. Satisfying. We say our goodbyes. It has been a real
good thing to walk with Andrea these past three days. She is going
back to the Bay Area and we head off to Fresno. We drive straight
through and get in a little after 11pm, tired and content. No
unpacking tonight, just a shower.
Evidently, I did not get
everything over to the packs at Sunol. Sherri is missing her Nook
Glowlight.
One thing more-the day
afterwards, I found a tick on my side. Sherri operated on it and got
most of it out. I went to see a doctor because of the concern with
Lyme’s disease. Looks like Sherri’s surgery worked. The doctor
did not see any remains of the tick. Also he said that there was not
any Lyme’s disease reported in the area where we hiked. Yeah!
Trail Lesson:
Sometimes it is better to acknowledge ones weakness so that others can succeed.
Not
that Little
Yosemite!
Last year we discovered another Little Yosemite. This one is in the
Sunol
Wilderness.
While it is not as spectacular as the Yosemite, it is a pleasant
find.
