Avid reader Keith Barlow sent this news tip along this morning:

Heads up that there is some new hiking (& biking & running) mileage on the Pleasanton Ridge.

http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/show_story.php?id=1048

http://ebparks.org/node/1006

The article says you can get there by starting at the EBRPD’s Foothill Staging area and passing though Pleasanton’s Augustin Bernal park. But you should actually be able to get there from the Augustin Bernal park staging area. Note that I haven’t been there up to the new trails yet, so I don’t know how the trail access goes.

Theoretically, you can only get to the Bernal staging area if you are a Pleasanton resident, but I’ve never been challenged for proof when I enter at Golden Eagle Estates.

I ‘spect there’ll be some new geocaching soon and since I have some vacation coming up, I hope to be Johnny on the Spot!

BTW, with all this storming, maybe it is time to think about Murrieta Falls again. Maybe catch the snow.

I had the same thought this morning about Murietta Falls, but that hike up the Ohlone Trail is a beast when it’s muddy. Best time to see a gusher in the falls is a dry day after about four days of rain. On the other hand, if you’ve got the legs for it, the high country up toward Rose Peak gets the most snow we ever see in these parts (except for the occasional blizzard in the Santa Cruz Mountains — best viewed from Castle Rock State Park, which is at 3,000 feet.)

Mount Diablo summit gets its share of snow, though you have to hike up from pretty far down the mountain to see it — best to start early in the morning as it tends to melt in the afternoon.