In Which I Explore the Hayward Greenbelts
Apr. 7th, 2019 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aBART is a really great resource to enable hiking, as it can get you to different places all over the Bay. And I certainly take advantage of it, but not as often as I should, particularly not in my last year by the Bay. Because it's so much easier to just walk to the hills from my house, and to walk from there ... as far as I can go.
But this Saturday was gray and gloomy and promising low '60s in Berkeley. So I looked around for nicer temperatures, and finally got a promise of 64 or 65 in Hayward, so after looking for big green spots on the map, I decided to head down there.
Exiting the BART station, I was immediately pleased by my decision, because it felt almost muggy. I also discovered that there was a Togo's nearby. Alas! That's my favorite sandwiches, but I already had Cheese & Stuff in my backpack. Too often I've ended up in Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill and found sandwich pickin's to be slim, but apparently not so in Hayward. Note for the future.
I took my no-honestly-it-was-a-great sandwich out to Memorial Park and happily ate there, and then went to walk up the greenbelt trails that I'd specked out, which would take me some 5+ miles up the hill and back, along some linear parks. And found a big pair of cyclone fences jammed in front of the entryway with absolutely no signage explaining them. I tried to move the fences apart, but no go. I wondered briefly if I was looking at the wrong place, but then a troop of about 20 kids marched up, and a few parents looked around, very confused, and I decided I was not. They were trying to move the fences apart as a I left.
Now fortunately, the Hayward Greenbelts are split into three segments: one lower segment, and then two upper segments that together form a loop. So I figured maybe it was just the lower segment that was closed, and fortunately I'd brought my bike with me for this expedition, so up the hill I went.
Frickin' Hayward doesn't know how to build roads in the hills. In the Berkeley-Oakland area, where we're more properly skilled in such things, most of the hillside roads run along the contours of the hills, literally hillside, with some upward grade. Oh, it still gets too much for me from time to time, but there's a lot I can ride. Hayward instead seems to believe in building their roads like steps: mostly straight up, then mostly flat, then mostly straight up ... Yeah, I walked my bike from time to time, and even that was tiring.
After a bit of climbing, I found the turnoff for Campus Drive, which was to take me to where the three segments met, but the road was downhill, and by then I was in pure hills-survival mode, and there was no frickin' way I was going down a hill that I might have to go back up. So, using the utmost logic of my oxygen starved brain, I kept going up the hill instead. Eventually I made it to East Avenue Park, which was about halfway up one of the upper segments. And 'lo and behold, the greenbelt up there was accessible, as I had guessed.
I was able to hike the whole upper loop, and it was a very nice trail. It's all creekside, set in wooded areas with almost no civilization to be seen. I particularly loved the northernmost trail, which had little groves of picnic tables all over. I settled down in one, which was apparently some type of camp, right next to the creek, and did some reading and writing there. Very nice!
Down at the bottom of the trail, I verified that the whole lower segment was closed. There was an actual sign here! It claimed there were downed trees. Afterward I walked all the way up to the top of the trails, which turned out to be a very healthy hike!
And afterward it was back to the bike, and heading downhill to Hayward BART was a lot easier.
I spotted a few other things in the area that I was interested in seeing. There's an old (for the Bay Area) Japanese Garden with free admission. It also looks like it'd be nice to start out in the Don Castro Regional Recreation Area, and from there hike upward to the Five Canyons Park. (I considered going over to Five Canyons from the East Avenue Park, at about 4pm on Saturday, but discovered I'd have to drop down 700 feet then go up 700 feet! Nope!) Further south, the adjacent Garin and Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Parks are near South Hayward and Union City BARTS, respectively. I'd considered biking down to Garin if the greenbelts were a flop, but they were not.
So, stuff for the future. The near future, indeed.
But this Saturday was gray and gloomy and promising low '60s in Berkeley. So I looked around for nicer temperatures, and finally got a promise of 64 or 65 in Hayward, so after looking for big green spots on the map, I decided to head down there.
Exiting the BART station, I was immediately pleased by my decision, because it felt almost muggy. I also discovered that there was a Togo's nearby. Alas! That's my favorite sandwiches, but I already had Cheese & Stuff in my backpack. Too often I've ended up in Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill and found sandwich pickin's to be slim, but apparently not so in Hayward. Note for the future.
I took my no-honestly-it-was-a-great sandwich out to Memorial Park and happily ate there, and then went to walk up the greenbelt trails that I'd specked out, which would take me some 5+ miles up the hill and back, along some linear parks. And found a big pair of cyclone fences jammed in front of the entryway with absolutely no signage explaining them. I tried to move the fences apart, but no go. I wondered briefly if I was looking at the wrong place, but then a troop of about 20 kids marched up, and a few parents looked around, very confused, and I decided I was not. They were trying to move the fences apart as a I left.
Now fortunately, the Hayward Greenbelts are split into three segments: one lower segment, and then two upper segments that together form a loop. So I figured maybe it was just the lower segment that was closed, and fortunately I'd brought my bike with me for this expedition, so up the hill I went.
Frickin' Hayward doesn't know how to build roads in the hills. In the Berkeley-Oakland area, where we're more properly skilled in such things, most of the hillside roads run along the contours of the hills, literally hillside, with some upward grade. Oh, it still gets too much for me from time to time, but there's a lot I can ride. Hayward instead seems to believe in building their roads like steps: mostly straight up, then mostly flat, then mostly straight up ... Yeah, I walked my bike from time to time, and even that was tiring.
After a bit of climbing, I found the turnoff for Campus Drive, which was to take me to where the three segments met, but the road was downhill, and by then I was in pure hills-survival mode, and there was no frickin' way I was going down a hill that I might have to go back up. So, using the utmost logic of my oxygen starved brain, I kept going up the hill instead. Eventually I made it to East Avenue Park, which was about halfway up one of the upper segments. And 'lo and behold, the greenbelt up there was accessible, as I had guessed.
I was able to hike the whole upper loop, and it was a very nice trail. It's all creekside, set in wooded areas with almost no civilization to be seen. I particularly loved the northernmost trail, which had little groves of picnic tables all over. I settled down in one, which was apparently some type of camp, right next to the creek, and did some reading and writing there. Very nice!
Down at the bottom of the trail, I verified that the whole lower segment was closed. There was an actual sign here! It claimed there were downed trees. Afterward I walked all the way up to the top of the trails, which turned out to be a very healthy hike!
And afterward it was back to the bike, and heading downhill to Hayward BART was a lot easier.
I spotted a few other things in the area that I was interested in seeing. There's an old (for the Bay Area) Japanese Garden with free admission. It also looks like it'd be nice to start out in the Don Castro Regional Recreation Area, and from there hike upward to the Five Canyons Park. (I considered going over to Five Canyons from the East Avenue Park, at about 4pm on Saturday, but discovered I'd have to drop down 700 feet then go up 700 feet! Nope!) Further south, the adjacent Garin and Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Parks are near South Hayward and Union City BARTS, respectively. I'd considered biking down to Garin if the greenbelts were a flop, but they were not.
So, stuff for the future. The near future, indeed.