The Iron Horse Trail (& More)
Nov. 28th, 2008 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aI scheduled today to do a major biking adventure. It turned out to be about 40 miles of total biking, from Dublin to northern Concord, then back to Walnut Creek. Total time from Dublin BART to Walnut Creek BART was about 5 hours, including a 30-45 lunch & reading break.
The main object was to ride the Iron Horse Trail. This is a classic rails-to-trails trail. It used to be Southern Pacific thoroughfare, but it was abandoned in 1977 and the trail built sometime thereafter.
It currently starts at the Dublin BART, runs through Pleasanton, San Ramon, Danville, Alamo, Rossmoor, Walnut Creek, and Pleasant Hill, and ends in Concord. That's a 24.47 mile route. There are currently plans to expand it north to the Carquinez Straight, and over the 680 bridge into Benicia and southeast into Livermore. Going all the way up to the Strait would be nice, because it would allow it to connect to the Bay Trail.
The ride was quite nice. I'd seen a little bit of the trail before, in Walnut Creek, when I gamed at Alex's place last month, and I wasn't impressed. However, it looks like the mile or so I rode it that day was about the worst mile of the trail.
When the Iron Horse Trail starts down in Dublin, it's running right along the South San Ramon Creek. As with many of the "creeks" in the area, it's really a cement-guided waterway, but it was still pretty. It actually reminded me of a little creek back by my dad's house in Berryessa, which I used to ride my bike up and down on occasion. I'll have to get back there and find that trail again sometime, and see what I think of it in my old age.
San Ramon was the city that clearly had the most pride in its segment of the Iron Horse Trail. At every street crossing there was a map showing you exactly where you are. Beyond that, though, San Ramon is a pit. It was all commercial crap, with miles of industrial parks.
From Danville to the border of Walnut Creek is the most beautiful part of the trail, and it's very beautiful. That whole section of the Trail is a twenty-foot-or-so wide green belt, with grass and trees on both sides. Autumn was the perfect time to ride it because there were fallen leaves everywhere. It was like I was outside of California, and instead somewhere that has seasons. There are also some beautiful hills that rise up just west of you; very nice. I'd ride that 5 or 6 mile segment again and again.
Walnut Creek hosted the ugliest part of the trail. It was right up against a cement wall for a while, got ridiculously narrow at one point, then overlooked a sad little waterway for a while. The upkeep of the surface was also terrible. There was one part that was so rippled that it was like riding a roller coaster.
North of Pleasant Hill the creek that the Trail is running along becomes pretty impressive. It could actually be a river in the rainy season, as it's quite wide. The whole area once you get that far north also seems much more like rural California to me, with lots of brown hills and scrub.
The current end of the trail is pretty abrupt, pretty much dumping you out at the meeting of a couple of highways. There's a little segment of the De Anza Delta trail that runs east from it, but it only goes 3/4 of a mile or so. (There's more of that trail further east.)
From the north end of the Iron Horse trail I took the short De Anza Delta segment, rode some streets, then rode a short segment of trail paralleling BART, then rode some other streets. It wasn't bad, other than one trip over a highway on a major street, though it'd be better if it was all connected. My destination was the northeast end of the Contra Costa Canal Trail. This is a 14-mile trail that forms a big U, running from Concord, down to Walnut Creek, then back up through Pleasant Hill. My plan was to ride the eastern half of the trail, cross back to the Iron Horse Regional Trail, and from there head back to Walnut Creek BART.
Which I did.
The Canal Trail is pretty nice. It runs along another waterway, as you no doubt could suss out. It also connects up to several other trails, including the Ygnacio Canal Trail, the Briones to Mt. Diablo Trail, and trails in a few parks over there.
My only problem with the trail was that as I turned west, about halfway through the trail, and started riding into the setting sun I began to hit swarms of midges. Swarms of midges at biking speed are no fun. Bleh. I got midges in my eye.
I was quite tired by the time I made it back to Walnut Creek BART, but it was a very nice day of riding.
There are a number of other trails I'd love to try over the hills, but I think my next big biking adventure is going to be an attempt to follow the Bay Trail up from Richmond, around the Carquinez Strait. Not sure when that'll be.
The main object was to ride the Iron Horse Trail. This is a classic rails-to-trails trail. It used to be Southern Pacific thoroughfare, but it was abandoned in 1977 and the trail built sometime thereafter.
It currently starts at the Dublin BART, runs through Pleasanton, San Ramon, Danville, Alamo, Rossmoor, Walnut Creek, and Pleasant Hill, and ends in Concord. That's a 24.47 mile route. There are currently plans to expand it north to the Carquinez Straight, and over the 680 bridge into Benicia and southeast into Livermore. Going all the way up to the Strait would be nice, because it would allow it to connect to the Bay Trail.
The ride was quite nice. I'd seen a little bit of the trail before, in Walnut Creek, when I gamed at Alex's place last month, and I wasn't impressed. However, it looks like the mile or so I rode it that day was about the worst mile of the trail.
When the Iron Horse Trail starts down in Dublin, it's running right along the South San Ramon Creek. As with many of the "creeks" in the area, it's really a cement-guided waterway, but it was still pretty. It actually reminded me of a little creek back by my dad's house in Berryessa, which I used to ride my bike up and down on occasion. I'll have to get back there and find that trail again sometime, and see what I think of it in my old age.
San Ramon was the city that clearly had the most pride in its segment of the Iron Horse Trail. At every street crossing there was a map showing you exactly where you are. Beyond that, though, San Ramon is a pit. It was all commercial crap, with miles of industrial parks.
From Danville to the border of Walnut Creek is the most beautiful part of the trail, and it's very beautiful. That whole section of the Trail is a twenty-foot-or-so wide green belt, with grass and trees on both sides. Autumn was the perfect time to ride it because there were fallen leaves everywhere. It was like I was outside of California, and instead somewhere that has seasons. There are also some beautiful hills that rise up just west of you; very nice. I'd ride that 5 or 6 mile segment again and again.
Walnut Creek hosted the ugliest part of the trail. It was right up against a cement wall for a while, got ridiculously narrow at one point, then overlooked a sad little waterway for a while. The upkeep of the surface was also terrible. There was one part that was so rippled that it was like riding a roller coaster.
North of Pleasant Hill the creek that the Trail is running along becomes pretty impressive. It could actually be a river in the rainy season, as it's quite wide. The whole area once you get that far north also seems much more like rural California to me, with lots of brown hills and scrub.
The current end of the trail is pretty abrupt, pretty much dumping you out at the meeting of a couple of highways. There's a little segment of the De Anza Delta trail that runs east from it, but it only goes 3/4 of a mile or so. (There's more of that trail further east.)
From the north end of the Iron Horse trail I took the short De Anza Delta segment, rode some streets, then rode a short segment of trail paralleling BART, then rode some other streets. It wasn't bad, other than one trip over a highway on a major street, though it'd be better if it was all connected. My destination was the northeast end of the Contra Costa Canal Trail. This is a 14-mile trail that forms a big U, running from Concord, down to Walnut Creek, then back up through Pleasant Hill. My plan was to ride the eastern half of the trail, cross back to the Iron Horse Regional Trail, and from there head back to Walnut Creek BART.
Which I did.
The Canal Trail is pretty nice. It runs along another waterway, as you no doubt could suss out. It also connects up to several other trails, including the Ygnacio Canal Trail, the Briones to Mt. Diablo Trail, and trails in a few parks over there.
My only problem with the trail was that as I turned west, about halfway through the trail, and started riding into the setting sun I began to hit swarms of midges. Swarms of midges at biking speed are no fun. Bleh. I got midges in my eye.
I was quite tired by the time I made it back to Walnut Creek BART, but it was a very nice day of riding.
There are a number of other trails I'd love to try over the hills, but I think my next big biking adventure is going to be an attempt to follow the Bay Trail up from Richmond, around the Carquinez Strait. Not sure when that'll be.
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no subject
Date: 2008-11-30 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-30 07:18 pm (UTC)As I was riding on Friday I thought, "Wow, it sure would have been cool to have a trail like this going back and forth to my school when I was growing up." I guess you got to enjoy that exact thing.