After last week’s puny hike I figured I’d better put in a respectable one this week so I can show my face on the trails around here (not that anybody knows my face, but still). This time I set out…
Contra Costa County parks
Preview: Another Briones Regional Park hike
by tom • April 12, 2009 • 0 Comments
Did 7.6 miles today from the Bear Creek trail head. I’ll do the write-up tomorrow, but here’s a quickie preview at EveryTrail.com
Quickie wildflower walk at Briones Regional Park
by tom • April 6, 2009 • 5 Comments
Spent about as much time driving to Briones as I did hiking yesterday; didn’t get out of the house till after lunchtime so I figured I’d go to the most accessible trailhead and see what turned up. Conclusion: The trailhead…
One for my to-do list: Briones Regional Park
by tom • April 1, 2009 • 5 Comments
Lots of open hills and sunshine makes Briones Regional Park worth checking out in the springtime. I’ve heard tell of massive California poppy blooms here in years past. I’ve driven around Briones once but haven’t gotten around to hiking it…
Muddy, damp day hike at Las Trampas Regional Wilderness
by tom • February 9, 2009 • 6 Comments
You’ve no doubt heard of the term “muscle memory.” I think it means, “what happens when your legs have forgotten how to go downhill.” I tested the concept Sunday at Las Trampas Regional Wilderness in Contra Costa County in the…
Expanded Black Diamond Mines tours
by tom • March 14, 2008 • 0 Comments
East Bay Regional Parks is having an open house April 5-6 for the silica/sand mine tours at Black Diamond Mines Regional Park, where you’ll be able to go 810 feet into the mine rather than a mere 400, which was…
Latest hike: Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve
by tom • January 22, 2008 • 5 Comments
One of my rules is: always visit the graveyard. There used to be as many as seven coal mines in these hills near Antioch in northeastern Contra Costa County. The towns that sprouted up around these mines are long gone…
Tramping through Las Trampas
by tmangan • March 4, 2007 • 3 Comments
The daring adventurers of California’s past — who energetically cut down most of the trees, polluted most of the streams and killed off all the grizzly bears — did do something beneficial for ensuing generations: they spent lifetimes buying up…