In the late afternoon, I find my way to Stewart’s Camp as the sun makes its dusty-rose and striated-indigo exit. Even the lonely roar of the airplanes and the vacant stares of the cows hold bits of magic. Une randonnée difficile mais enrichissante est le meilleur moyen de voir l'arrière-pays d'East Bay Ohlone Wilderness Trail est une mauvaise marche: 28 miles en deux jours avec plus de 7600 pieds de dénivelé. While the elevation profile is a bit more daunting going east to west, there are a few perks to make up for it. Run 50km. Berkeley, CA 94710 Exceptions were parks directly impacted by the fire: Del Valle, Mission Peak, Morgan Territory, Ohlone Wilderness, Round Valley and Sunol. EBRPD states that trail bicycles and motor vehicles are not allowed. We split away from the Ohlone Wilderness Trail, turning right on a fire road towards Murietta Falls. For one, it is also the season of full-leaf poison oak and its constant encroachment on the trail, creating tunnels of the stuff between the Sunol Visitor Center and the Sunol Backpack Camp. I hadn’t realized how long I had waited to take this walk. Show Prices . The Ohlone wilderness regional trail extends about 28 miles from Mission Peak on the west, through Sunol regional park to Del Valle near Livermore at the eastern end. … Sign up today: Sponsored by East Bay Regional Park District, Discover the Rare Blooms of Huckleberry Preserve in the East Bay Hills, Sponsored by East Bay Regional Park Distrct, Soaring Views and Hawks Highlight New Jenner Headlands Preserve, Birding By Kayak at Big Break Regional Shoreline in the East Bay, The Discovery of the Oldest Redwood South of Mendocino Marks a New Era. Except for regional trails and shoreline areas, all East Bay parks have been closed since last Friday because of high fire danger, unhealthy air and limited staff to deal with other potential emergencies. The property was acquired by Willis Brinker in 1939. The benefit or risk of fire to an oak is influenced by many factors, including the oak’s species, size, and age, as well as the season, the fuel load, and the fire frequency in its habitat. Some of my first memories of nature were of drawing and giving names to individual trees that still stand today—names like “Two Butterflies” or “Mossy Face.” With black fingers spiraling out in an expressive, upward dance, growing as quickly as its deeply furrowed bark will allow, oaks seem to invest decades of artistic, arboreal intention into their own forms and only loosely hold to the morphological guidelines of their respective species. Sunol/Ohlone Regional Wilderness . The long, silver vein of water seems to me so small, so precious and even precarious, vulnerable in its hold here in the Bay Area. There is a cinematic quality to the pastureland country of rock and oak. The GPS routes DEL VALLE and LIVERMORE BYPASS contain waypoints to the northeastern end of the Ohlone Wilderness Trail. In the autumn, the days begin to shorten across the golden fields, but before the rains there is hardly a drop of water anywhere. Accompanied by Jeff and Howard. The Ohlone Wilderness is located in the East Bay, roughly between Fremont and Livermore. Lacing up my boots for the final stretch of the trail, I ponder how geologic time and human time meet for a moment as another plane passes overhead. If it becomes necessary to close regional parks again, the park district urges everyone to abide by the rules. This behavior assists with dispersal and even the passive restoration of oak woodlands. It is a point-to-point race traversing the entire Ohlone Wilderness Trail, a 31 miles run on trails and fire roads. While cattle grazing on annual grasses in winter and spring does benefit oak seedlings by reducing plant competition for scarce resources, summer browsing by deer and cattle can impact young oak growth. Somewhere around mile 5, we reached a junction in the midst of open grazing land. In the East Bay Regional Park District, the fire burned in the Ohlone Wilderness, a remote preserve in Alameda County only accessible by way of the Ohlone Wilderness Trail, as well as Morgan Territory and Round Valley, located in the Deer Zone of the fire in Contra Costa county. Camping is allowed at designated sites along the Ohlone Trail. While the elevation profile is a bit more daunting going east to west, there are a few perks to make up for it. Suggest an edit. Add to profile. Event details. It is late March through early May, the season of flowers, that is my favorite time, although this too presents challenges. It is located in southern Alameda County, near the cities of Fremont, CA and Sunol, CA. When to go to Discovery Peak. ohlone50k.com View Course Map. In addition to official hiking trails, most roads are shown and labeled. Most of the Ohlone area has not burned for decades. Event details. [2], Scene on Ohlone Wilderness Trail, Courtesy Andy Xiang, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ohlone_Wilderness&oldid=896042152, Alameda County, California geography stubs, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 8 May 2019, at 02:19. The wilderness is accessible only via the 29 miles 47.000 m long Ohlone Wilderness Trail, which connects Del Valle … You are allowed to camp at designated campsites. Undulating from 400 to 3,800 feet over its many miles, from the western terminus below Mission Peak across the range to Livermore’s Del Valle Regional Park and the edge of its reservoir, the trail connects the parklands of Mission Peak Regional Preserve, Sunol Regional Wilderness, Ohlone Regional Wilderness, and Del Valle Regional Park. Ohlone Wilderness 50K Trail Run. 50 KM. The water course traces down the cracked rock, as it has been doing for thousands of years, and only by the grace of wise humans will it continue to do so. Unofficial trails and dirt roads are shown and are greyed out to distinguish them from official hiking trails. Please help us keep this unique regional magazine thriving, and support the ecosystem we’ve built around it, by subscribing today. It is located in southern Alameda County, near the cities of Fremont, CA and Sunol, CA. The Ohlone Regional Wilderness Trail traces a meandering line across one of the largest and most secluded swaths of publicly owned oak woodland left in the East Bay. I call it a walk and not a trek, a hike, or a backpack because the East Bay Regional Park District’s 28-mile Ohlone Regional Wilderness Trail is such pure delight that to describe it we can leave behind words that imply strenuous work. In my time on the trail, I am able to identify six of the 13 native tree-forming species we have in California: valley oak (Quercus lobata), the biggest oaks in the Ohlone; black oak (Q. kelloggii), which grow near Rose Peak; blue oak (Q. douglasii), the most common oak on the trail; coast live oak (Q. agrifolia), “live” referring to its non-deciduous nature; interior live oak (Q. wislizeni), near Schlieper Rock; and canyon live oak (Q. chrysolepis), our state’s most widely distributed oak species. The benefit or risk of fire to an oak is influenced by many factors, including the oak’s species, size, and age, as well as the season, the fuel load, and the fire frequency in its habitat. Because of the recent rain, the hills were revealing their vernal portfolio of biodiversity and natural history in an almost prideful display, and I followed its trail of living color, a parade of wildflowers, through the sweet, perfumed wind full of the clean, city-free scents of spring in this remote section of the Diablo Range. You need a permit to hike on the Ohlone Wilderness Trail as well, and these can be purchased for 2 dollars at the park entrance. The landscape, draped in the contrasting blanket of purple lupines and bright orange California poppies, unfolds in its unique narrative. Rose Peak lies roughly halfway between Sunol headquarters and Del Valle. 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