Continued...
On my way back from the Sierra foothills,
I was camped off Interstate 80 in Solano County with plans to do a handful of
easy summits before the day warmed too much. I was up by sunrise and ready to
head out to the first summit by 6:30a.
Peak 675ft
This summit is easily seen from I-80, on the west end of Lagoon Valley. To the
northeast of the summit, near where I camped, is a new housing development
billed as "The Bay Area's first conservation community." If it's anything like
it sounds, it seems like, in the words of Patrick, complete bullshit . So they
bulldoze hundreds acres, build homes, a golf course shops and more, then put a
fence around it all. What exactly are we conserving? I looked at the
development plans online and it pretty much consumes the entire valley south of
I-80. Sadness.
I from paved Neslon Rd, going over a fence signed for No Entry,
part of the Lagoon Valley OSP not open to the public. was very
green, very tall, and somewhat wet with early morning dew. It was also a bit
swampy crossing the first hundred yards until I started climbing the north
slopes under some shady oaks to the summit. It would take about 15min to reach
the summit where a single dead oak stands the landscape.
in all directions, and green everywhere one looks. Very
pretty. the same way.
Cement Hill
This minor summit lies at the south end of Lagoon Valley. The summit was once
Nike Missle site T-86, charged with defending Travis AFB from russian bomber
attacks.
There is a service road going to the summit from the south, but my route would
be from the east, at the end of Clyde Jean Pl in a suburban
neighborhood. There is a use trail that starts at the end of the cul-de-sac
and to Pt. 381ft to the north. cuts nicely
through the very tall grass where cattle aren't allowed to graze. One then
to a fenceline where the trail ends.
The grass isn't so tall on the other side where
cattle are allowed to munch.
After going over the fence, I followed the ridge west to .
There is an old, but still formidable fence surrounding the summit property,
left over from the military days. I found and the guard
station unmanned, probably 50yrs since someone had the job of sitting in that
small cramped booth to vet visitors to the site which was decommissioned in
1971. are intact but gutted, and are now owned by
American Tower and adorned with and other telecom
equipment. I found the highpoint to be just above and east of the entrance, not
at the spot elevation point to the south. Some suggest a
tower once stood at the highpoint. About an hour for this one.
Peak 350ft
This is a small hill east of the I-80/680 interchange, sandwiched between
suburban development on the west and farmlands to the east. It is the site
of an old quarry that does not appear to be active any longer.
Access is easy from the neighborhood on the west side, utilizing a trail
starting at . Snobbishly
for OHA residents only, the trail follows north along the east bank of Dawson
Creek. Shortly past a basketball court, a use trail ,
following old roads with and downed
trees, eventually reaching to the summit ridge where driveable roads are
encountered. It appears one could probably drive nearly to the summit using
the old quarry road from the south, off Cordelia Rd. The highpoint as depicted
on the topo has been quarried away long ago. A point just to the west is the
highest in the area, though it appears Pt. 324ft
may in fact be
the highest point remaining. There is much poison oak along the route, though
not hard to avoid. Just under 40min for the roundtrip effort.
Rockville Hills
This is the highpoint of a small collection of hills on the north side of the
I-80/680 junction, part of the Rockville Hills Regional Park. The main
entrance is on the northeast side of the hills, while the southern portion has
been overrun with . I used David Sanger's PB track,
starting from the
southwest side in the residential area. The Bay Area Ridge Trail goes through
this development, up a slice of land . There
is a concrete that takes you up to the regional
park in about a third of a mile, marked by . There
is a solar-powered at the boundary between the two, asking
for $3/person to enter the park. I on the Bay Area Ridge
Trail , forking off to the east when just west of
the highpoint. There were hiding in the shade of some oaks
nearby. is large and rounded, blocking
views below the hill. The transmission line runs right across the top.
I took a little over 45min for this last one. It was getting too warm by now,
so when I to the Jeep at 10:45a I decided to head for home...