Getting Out: Reading about a hike close to home that includes an
area called Little Yosemite left me skeptical. When you compare
yourself to Yosemite, you’re reaching pretty high
Reading about a hike close to home that includes an area called Little Yosemite left me skeptical. When you compare yourself to Yosemite, you’re reaching pretty high. Either I’m ignorant of a jewel of a hike, or there is some Madison Avenue-caliber puffery going on.
Better check it out.
The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) manages over 95,000 acres and 65 regional parks up and down the East Bay. Last Sunday, I drove to Sunol Wilderness, which at over 7,000 acres is one of EBRPD’s largest holdings. To get there, head north up Highway 680. On the other side of the Sunol Grade, exit at Calaveras Road and follow it south about four miles to a left turn on Geary Road. The park’s entry kiosk ($5 day use) is two miles ahead at the end of the road.
There are many trails at Sunol Wilderness of varying difficulty. At around three miles, this loop to Little Yosemite is the shortest and easiest in the park. Even granny and the kids will enjoy this one. After parking at your first opportunity near the visitor center, begin your hike by crossing the bridge over Alameda Creek where you pick up the Canyon View Trail. After following the creek for a while, your only battle with gravity begins. You climb easily at first, followed by a short steep section that levels off a couple hundred feet above the creek.
The rest is pure pleasure. Canyon View Trail levels off and travels through oak-dotted open grasslands and truly lives up to its name with sweeping views across Alameda Creek below. This time of year, the new yellow-green leaves popping out on the valley oaks against the deep green grass of the hills is a feast for the eyes.
As the trail prepares to drop down to the creek, the valley narrows and precipitous viewpoints can promote vertigo. Below, the narrow gorge pinches the creek into a torrent that pounds the large boulders in its course. From the overlook, I marveled at a massive but still leafless sycamore that has found a home clinging to bare rock in the midst of the surge.
Canyon View Trail, a single-track trail, finally descends to Camp Ohlone Road. This is Little Yosemite. The pounding white water of Alameda Creek has indeed carved a path through a narrow gorge here. Steep canyon walls loom overhead. It is beautiful, and there is a remote resemblance to its namesake, but a good imagination helps.
The return trip is along Alameda Creek via Camp Ohlone Road. If you’re with companions who would find even the small climb up Canyon View Trail objectionable, a trip out and back along this near-level road is the ticket. While I had seen no one on Canyon View Trail, the road was a thoroughfare for strollers, pooches and walkers of every description. It would also be perfect for little tikes on bikes.
Little Yosemite? Well, I’d have a hard time saying it with a straight face. But this walk stands on its own without needing to claim questionable family connections. It is billed as a great autumn hike boasting a West Coast version of fall colors, but spring made an excellent case for its own show last Saturday. The alder trees along the creek were just beginning to leaf out. I saw two varieties of shooting stars, California Saxifrage, Johnny jump-ups and other flowers that are responding to this warmth after the recent rains.
The pleasure-to-pain ratio for this walk is high, so no one has an excuse. Spring won’t last forever.
