Lake Herman Recreation Area

Coppertone and I started this hike at the Benicia Community Park since we did not know where the trail we were going to hike would end up.  There's ample parking here, though it can be very crowded if there are a lot of baseball games going on.  There were not many free spaces when we started, but there were plenty when we finished our hike.

We started off looping around the baseball and softball fields to get to the back of the park where the entrances to the trails are located.  We had used this point a week ago to hike the Rolly Wiskerson Trail.  This time we turned right and hiked what we'll call the Lake Herman Trail.

As the name implies, the trail wraps around part of Lake Herman, a small man-made lake which serves as part of the community's water system.

We spotted a good number of California Poppies and Lupine along the trail.  Another purple flower, which we could not identify was also showing off its colors.

At the end of Lake Herman we found an old house and a few structures perhaps used by the park or utility folks.  There's also a smaller, but much more sedate, parking lot from which to start a hike.

As we doubled back we decided to check out some of the well worn side trails that parallel the Lake Herman Trail.  The first is a small side trail that ascends to the top of the small hill overlooking Lake Herman.

A longer parallel trail traverses the ridge overlooking the entire area.  Because we hiked the Summit Spur we ended up joining what we'll call the High Trail halfway through.  The ridge here overlooks the park to the northwest.  In the opposite direction you're right on top of the backyards of a housing subdivision. You can easily see Mount Diablo from here, but you'll also see lots of houses and a petrochemical plant.

The trail eventually descends into Benicia Community Park and joins up with the park's paved loop.  We walked around the park mapping out trail segments for this park before calling it a day after logging 4.27 miles.