Continued...
This was the second day of my short quest to finish up the Nifty Ninety, a
Bay Area peak list that had been recently released by the SF Sierra Club. My
companions on the first day decided they'd
had enough of my foolishness (claiming
they had more pressing things to do, can you imagine that?), leaving me to do
the last three on my own. My wife still wasn't happy with me for the
miscommunication of the previous evening, but we had a nice walk to get coffee
in the morning and I did my best to be the attentive husband before running off
again for the rest of the day. I didn't leave San Jose until nearly 9a and
would have to hustle if I was going to get back in time for dinner.
Schlieper Rock
This is a minor rock outcrop along the Ohlone Trail in the Diablo Range between
Lake Del Valle and Calaveras Reservoir. I had been up this trail half a dozen
times for various peaks in the area, including the competing points for the
Alameda County HP, but had never even noticed this feature. Starting from Lake
Del Valle, I hiked the first 4.5mi of the and
over Rocky Ridge (stopping at there for a bonus peak)
before to and a final climb up to
. There is a located on the
north side of the rock, visible from the trail if you happen to glance up. The
rock is class 2, with about 20ft of prominence and nice views overlooking the
range to the and . The plaque commemorates
Fred Schlieper, 1890-1953, a silversmith in the area during the 1940s. By
jogging most of the downhill sections, I managed the roundtrip effort in just
under 3hrs.
Sulphur Springs Mountain
An hour and a half of driving through moderately heavy traffic got me to Solano
County, Interstate 80, and eventually the .
Sulphur Springs Mtn is the highpoint of this grassy collection of low hills
northeast of Vallejo. I used the Ridge Trail, starting from the corner of
Hiddenbrooke Pkwy and Bennington Dr, to access the open space area. There is no
parking at the , but there is some available at a
nearby retail space. The trail switchbacks in a delightfully relaxed (or
painfully slow, depending on your mood) fashion, up the grassy slopes where
cattle graze in an uncaring manner. After the first turn, I simply headed
straight uphill, cutting the distance in half though of course the elevation
gain (600ft) remained the same. There are some old
at the summit, the highpoint somewhere along the short ridgetop, half-covered in
trees. leads into the trees where a pair of
and a small table can be found, perhaps a teenage
drinking spot? I took some pictures looking , and
before beating a retreat back down.
Garin Peak
Another hour driving south on the Interstate highway system got me to Hayward
and Garin Regional Park in the East Bay foothills. Arriving around 4p, I was
happy to find the park is open until 6p so I wouldn't have to rush this last
one. A series of ranch roads and cross-country led up through more
to the open, rounded summit where the
can be found in a small square of concrete.
was quite low in the sky as it got ready to
set over the Bay. I thought at this late hour I might be the last one in the
park, but on my way down I came across another hiker, a biker and
at different points, all on their way up. Perhaps to
view the sunset from the top? It was almost 5p by the time I
and easily made it back home by 6p. A full day, but made
it in time for dinner...