#54 Stream Trail to West Ridge Trail, Redwoods Regional Park

We've had some rain lately in the Bay Area, but luckily it never seems to stay rainy for too long. This most recent Friday my sister and I decided we would hike, rain or shine, but thankfully it was all shine.

In order to coerce my sister into joining me I told her we would do a medium length hike near her in the East Bay. The Stream Trail / West Ridge Trail loop in Redwoods Regional Park is just east of Oakland up near Chabot Observatory.

The loop suggested basically consists of the high road and the low road. We started by descending down onto the Stream Trail, which, as you might have guessed, has a stream running along with it. Since we've had a bit of rain lately the stream was flowing nicely.

There were some giant formations of weird foam building up along some of the heavier flowing areas. I had fun throwing a few sticks into them, and they seemed to have little effect. Ew!

I'm so glad that my sister Heather is back in the area. She is my favorite hiking bud! We can talk, be silly, or just walk quietly in step, and it's like we're back playing around in the woods like when we were kids.

Heather and the Stream Trail.

The Stream Trail runs through some amazing redwoods. Unfortunately, all of the trees here were cut down in the mid-1800s, and the trees present now are all second-growth clones growing out of the stumps of the originals. They are still huge. I wonder how large they will grow in my lifetime, I'd love to see them in 50 years. The following picture gives you a slight sense of the scale of these 150-year-old trees, although I don't come close to capturing them in one frame with my iPhone camera.

A nice place to have a sit.

The original trees in this grove were so tall they were used by ships coming into the bay as guides! From 16 miles away! But what a terrible waste the logging was, as I imagine that many of the homes the trees were used to build were destroyed when much of San Francisco burned to the ground in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake.

Heather and I were really enjoying the slow descent through the forest, and we missed our turn for the Fern trail which would have connected our loop onto the returning West Ridge Trail. We went an additional mile or so before we decided to take the Orchard Trail up to the high road.

I have to say, it was a little grueling to walk straight up for more than half a mile, but I definitely feel accomplished for having done it. Once we made it to the West Ridge trail it was pretty easy-going, with some expansive views of the hills and bay at times. I think the views are disappearing as the trees grow, however. It was a pretty trail, with lots of light.

This hike was about seven miles with a pretty steep climb, so I don't know if I would describe it as easy, as the author of the hiking book did. We did add a couple of miles on and possibly some additional elevation.

I'd come back to this area, perhaps for a picnic. And I'd definitely like to check out Chabot itself sometime soon.