weekend hike

Last weekend we decided to visit one of our favorite hiking spots in the Bay Area - Redwood Regional Park. Redwood is part of the expansive East Bay Regional Parks system covering most of the hills in the East Bay and many more really cool places to hang out on a weekend. We still have a lot of exploring to do in this 1,836 acre park, but what we've seen has kept us coming back.

Redwood was once home to an original Redwood forest until all of the crazy humans came and used them to build houses. (The sawdust in our walls is red - what have we DONE?) The Coast Redwoods have regrown and while it isn't as impressive as Muir Woods, the parking is a hell of a lot easier. Redwood Creek runs through the park and was where Rainbow Trout was "discovered". I bet that was an exciting day.

Be careful driving on Skyline Drive on the weekends - bikes rule the road and jump out of nowhere. We typically park at the Skyline gate for hiking. As you'll soon find out, we're pretty casual hikers and start to get grumpy after a couple miles. From the Skyline gate, there are plenty of hiking choices that don't take you too far into the canyon.

Take the Stream trail for a nice cool hike in the shade, or the West Ridge Trail for a sunnier trip. Either way makes for an easy hike. You can also take French Trail and loop around for a little extra exercise and a nice tour of redwoods.

If you drive to the other end of the park, the Redwood Gate charges for parking, but there is a huge picnic area and fields for playing. The hiking on this end of the park tends to be either flat or really steep, but you start in the canyon instead of having to hike down at the other side of the park.

For more info and directions:
http://www.ebparks.org
http://www.bahiker.com/eastbayhikes/redwood.html