December 2020 Day Hikes (and bike rides)

First weekend of the last month in the hell that will forever be remembered as ‘2020’.

I started the month with a short 6.5 mile hike in Briones Regional Park. Up Briones Crest Trail and down Black Oak Trail. Nothing big, but a nice hike.

The next weekend was rainy, so didn’t get out at all. But that was mostly since I was moving and had to start packing. If not for that, I might have gotten out for a little bike ride and hike somewhere between showers.

So after moving, I mostly was unpacking and reassembling my AV and computer gear.

But I did take a break from all that and took a bike ride around my new neighborhood in Moraga, CA. Only 4 miles, but it was a nice introduction to the area. As suspected, Moraga is a little hillier than Concord and Walnut Creek (at least where I usually rode my bike). Should be a nice challenge to do more ascending and descending on my morning bike rides.

The next day I took a short two and a half mile hike around my new neighborhood. I started at Hacienda de las Flores Park. It’s kind of a creek/gully with fancy pavilions that they rent out for weddings and the like. The first time I started hiking the trail in the area, I thought I walked into someone’s private garden. But after doing a little research, it’s just the start of some nice trails that go up to Mulholland Open Space Preserve. That’s nice to know since it’s probably going to be a place I frequently go to since it’s so close to my new home.

After the park, I climbed Donald Drive (not the duck) and got a nice view of the Town of Moraga. Going out to a hill inside a little gazing area, I got a spectacular view of my new town. Very nice and I confirmed that I can see Mt Diablo from there. Since I could see if from my old neighborhood, it was nice to know I can still see it when I want to without going far.

Then it was down Lost Laird Trail and I looped back to my new home along Donald Drive.

I could have done more hiking, but more unpacking still had to be done. But it was a nice intro to the area. I hope to do the full Lamorinda Loop trial on my bike somewhat soon, partially since half of it it will be my commute to BART via bike when I start using the train to get to work (spring/summer probably).

I got a chance to preview my Moraga to Orinda BART commute bike ride and managed to do it in both directions. Definitely a challenging climb to do every morning and then every evening, but at least I get to coast down half of the distance. 🙂

I was still unpacking and arranging my new apartment as Christmas came around, but I always did some kind of special hike on Christmas for the past 6-7 years.

Unfortunately, the Bay Area was expecting rain showers in the afternoon so a bigger hike might not be a good idea, so I decided to check out more of the Mulholland Open Space Preserve that is very near my new apartment.

I went along the ridge line and then took a side trail that goes down to a water tank. Along the way, I was treated to some great 360 degree views of Moraga. I’m going to have to make a point to get up early to come up for Sunrise sometime soon and also go up for Sunset. It seems that both may be great from this area.

I returned via the Ascot Trial (which then turned into Ascot Road) to make a nice loop of the area. I thought about going all the way to the end of the open space and to Orinda Oaks Park, but the length of the return hike along the town streets would be significant and wasn’t something I felt like doing. Someday, probably someday soon.

Last weekend on 2020… what a year.

I try to do something special at the end of a year, so I decided to climb Mt Diablo. Yeah, I’ve spent a lot of time there this year, so why not cap the year off with one last trip to the summit?

I decided on a straight forward climb via the Summit Trail. While I had been to the summit seven times already this year, this would only be the second time via the Summit Trail. Nothing particularly hard, just a long climb.

The small storm that swept through on Christmas had mostly finished by dawn, so I headed to Mt Diablo expecting the be under or inside a solid bank of clouds/fog.

I was pleasantly surprised when the clouds seemed to have dispersed around the lower mountain and I had some clear skies as I started.

But as I neared the half way point (3 miles), I saw the upper mountain was completely covered with a dense cloud bank. Ah well… I’ve seen the view dozens of times.

It was usually the other way around: I’d start in the fog/low clouds and it’d get clearer as the day went one.

I celebrated my last summit of 2020 and started down, only to be rewarded by the skies starting to clear up as I descended. Better late than never.

So, a nice way to end the year. Might do a nice bike ride the next day if I feel like it, but a long hike is probably not going to happen until next year.