HIdden Vallley Ridge Trail, 5.1 miles, 600Kcal, 2hr 10min

This week we decided to go on a smaller hike due to everyone being preoccupied with volunteering activity for the Indian festival Sri Rama Navami. There was one more reason we chose to go for a small hike, we did not want to get exhausted as we wanted to stay awake and watch the Cricket World Cup final :).  But the hike still had its challenges, a very foggy morning, badly maintained trail, and of course cows that refused to give way forcing us to go off-trail.  We spotted a dead snake on our way back. By the second half of the hike, the fog cleared out giving us glorious sun kissed views of Mt. Diablo and the Tassajara valley. We also had a couple of new members join the hiking group.and hopefully they enjoyed getting their dirty:).



Route: Hidden Valley Ridge Trail.
Time: 2hr 10 min
Difficulty: 3/10

Lafayette Reservoir Rim trail, 5.6 Miles, 2.30 Hr, Elevation 900ft

The reservoir was over 20 miles away, but it was worth it. A beautiful spring day greeted us and the hills were a nice deep green. The trail had a mild gradient except for one stretch. Compared to other trails, there were several hikers on this trail. The park entrance has a fee of $7 and the machine was not working at the time we went so the ranger let us in :). I wish there are more trails here to do different hikes.


Route: Lafayette Reservoir Rim trail
Time: 2.30 hr  
Difficulty: 4.75/10

Martins Canyon CreekTrail , 5.1 Miles, 2 hr, 600 K cal

The last time we had done this route was in summer and the hills were golden brown. It was wonderful to see the green hills all around. The hike was pretty straightforward, except for one section where had a huge tree had fallen and taken out the trail. After last week's intense hike, this was a nice change. We also had some new comers join this week hike.


Route: Martins Canyon Creek trail and back
Time: 2 hr  
Difficulty: 4.5/10

Mt.Olympia Trail 2946 Ft Elevation, 7.5 Miles, 4 hr, 2000 Kcal

  It was expected to be a sunny day with temperatures nearing 80's. We decided to do an early start and headed to the Mt. Diablo trail head on Marsh Creek Rd at 6:30am. Unfortunately, on our way we missed a few turns and ended up taking a roundabout route and ended up at the trail head after over an hour's drive. By this time the sun has already up and there was no breeze, We knew were in for a long, hot day. We started the hike by taking East Trail. It took a few wrong turns to finally find it. The trail was narrow, hugging the mountain line with a drop on one side . Also it was steep and slippery due to loose dirt and rock. This was the first time we saw wild flowers blooming to the fullest. We stopped at several places to take photos. We had great views of the bay, the delta area and central valley.
We also did an impromptu Holi celebration once reached the Mt. Olympia. It was surprise celebration and nice timing to celebrate. We took Mt. Olympia road down but the trail was equally steep and slippery. It took longer than we expected and we were exhausted by the time we reached the cars. We saw traces of the fire, in the form of charred trees, that had swept through the park in Sept 2013.

Excellent link to the trail: http://gregable.com/2014/01/mt-olympia-hike-part-of-mt-diablo-state.html


Route:
Time: 4 hr  
Difficulty: 7.5/10
Total Elevation:2946 ft