Rolling hills
By Austin Explorer on 5/29/2022
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Distance: 6.23 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 57 minutes
I had neglected to log this hike for some time, so some recollections may be a bit hazy at this point.
Though this park is quite large and long, there is only one trailhead at its north end. There is ample parking and a restroom at the Crockett Ranch Staging Area.
We started off on the Edwards Creek Trail and almost immediately encountered a small group of cyclists coming downhill at a breakneck pace. We did not come close to being hit, but this was quite possibly the greatest speed difference encounter we've come across while hiking. And this was after the guys on bikes just completed an uphill section, so they must have been on electric assist or straight electric bikes. I don't see how they could have been going that fast uphill otherwise. Thankfully, this first encounter with "cyclists" was the only bad one of the day.
The Edwards Loop Trail leads uphill to the tunnel that runs underneath Cumming Skyway and opens up the real expanse of the park. We elected to veer right and take the longer and winding Soaring Eagle Trail. There are two benefits with this trail. First, we saw no cyclists on the almost 2 mile long trail. Second, the views along this trail are spectacular. San Pablo Bay with Mount Tam in the distance are near constant companions. You can also look upon the Carquinez Bridge.
The hills here undulate and fold in among themselves so the trail roughly follows a curvy contour line around their edges. You know the route has to be pretty good since this has been designated as part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, which passes through much of the park.
The trail ends as it joins the main artery of Sky Trail. We continue a bit further south and complete a small loop consisting of Two Peaks Trail and Big Valley Trail. And this point we decide to call it a day and return via the more direct route of Sky Trail back to the tunnel. Though there's more bike traffic on Sky Trail in general, the path there is more than wide enough.
Once through the tunnel we take the more direct, and steep, Crockett Ranch Trail down to our starting point. In the end we only managed to get about halfway down the length of the park. Getting the back of the park at some point in the future will require a more complete day effort.