Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch Trail
Jan. 28th, 2024 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
goobergunchThe Coyote Lake - Harvey Bear Ranch County Park section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail extends north-to-south across Coyote Ridge through the entirety of the park, 4.7 miles in all. I had traversed 2.1 miles of it previously the last time I visited the park, back in April 2020. However that was a COVID peakbagging excursion to Mummy Mountain and Peak 1380 without any real Bay Area Ridge Trail goals in mind, and therefore involved a loop route that ended up leaving isolated Ridge Trail gaps left between segments I had hiked in April.
After staring at the map and figuring out if there were any clever ways I could dip in and out while minimizing duplication of routes, I determined that this wasn't feasible (to the extent I wasn't hiking Ridge Trail segments I had hiked before, I'd be using other trails that I had) and just set up a route that involved a big loop from Coyote Dam and the Harvey Bear Trail connector, south along the Coyote Ridge Trail, and then north again via the Valley Oak and Calaveras Trails. Total: 8.2 miles.
I got a late start (due to sleeping in a bit from yesterday, and catching up on fanac before I left home) and hit the trail on this unseasonably warm day just before 11 a.m. The early sections were a bit muddy due primarily to cow traffic—there was a sign warning us that it was calving season—but that was outweighed by the near emptiness of the trail. Sure there was the occasional passer-by but it felt a lot more like a relaxing outdoors experience than the previous couple hikes. Helped that the trail wasn't paved and was back on an actual ridge again. For the most part, it was just me, the trail, nature, and the cows.
South of the first cattle gate, the mud mostly went away and the number of people began to pick up, although it never got to the point of being annoyingly busy. It probably helped that bicycles and horses were barred from the trails today due to the recent rain. (Which didn't stop the one pair of equestrians and solo cyclist I saw, but still.) Most of the people I saw were competing in an orienteering event, with a decent mix of parent/children teams and solo adults.
I got back to the Baby Bronco in about three hours. But there was still one little 0.2 mile stretch to complete, between the junction of the Ridge Trail with the Mendoza Trail and the Mendoza Ranch Entrance. I drove down to that parking area, took a quick stroll to the trail junction, and was back in no time. Section complete.
And with that section being complete, I'm done with the Diablo Range until I loop back around to the East Bay part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Next stop: Santa Cruz Mountains.
After staring at the map and figuring out if there were any clever ways I could dip in and out while minimizing duplication of routes, I determined that this wasn't feasible (to the extent I wasn't hiking Ridge Trail segments I had hiked before, I'd be using other trails that I had) and just set up a route that involved a big loop from Coyote Dam and the Harvey Bear Trail connector, south along the Coyote Ridge Trail, and then north again via the Valley Oak and Calaveras Trails. Total: 8.2 miles.
I got a late start (due to sleeping in a bit from yesterday, and catching up on fanac before I left home) and hit the trail on this unseasonably warm day just before 11 a.m. The early sections were a bit muddy due primarily to cow traffic—there was a sign warning us that it was calving season—but that was outweighed by the near emptiness of the trail. Sure there was the occasional passer-by but it felt a lot more like a relaxing outdoors experience than the previous couple hikes. Helped that the trail wasn't paved and was back on an actual ridge again. For the most part, it was just me, the trail, nature, and the cows.
South of the first cattle gate, the mud mostly went away and the number of people began to pick up, although it never got to the point of being annoyingly busy. It probably helped that bicycles and horses were barred from the trails today due to the recent rain. (Which didn't stop the one pair of equestrians and solo cyclist I saw, but still.) Most of the people I saw were competing in an orienteering event, with a decent mix of parent/children teams and solo adults.
I got back to the Baby Bronco in about three hours. But there was still one little 0.2 mile stretch to complete, between the junction of the Ridge Trail with the Mendoza Trail and the Mendoza Ranch Entrance. I drove down to that parking area, took a quick stroll to the trail junction, and was back in no time. Section complete.
And with that section being complete, I'm done with the Diablo Range until I loop back around to the East Bay part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Next stop: Santa Cruz Mountains.
