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Hiking Las Trampas, part 2
Feb. 27th, 2024 02:35 pmIn part 1 of this blog I shared photos from our hike up through the Bollinger Creek Canyon to Bollinger Ridge in the Las Trampas Regional Wilderness near Danville, California. Part 2 is thankfully more than, "Okay, time to go back down." First we enjoy walking along the ridge for a bit— and visiting a sister peak near it.
From where we crested the top of the ridge after completing our initial climb we enjoyed views across the ridge and to the valleys far below. The photo above shows some of the knobs on the ridge. In the center is Vail Peak. The ridge trail winds around over it from the right. The ridge on the left is actually geologically distinct from the Bollinger Ridge. It's part of a different rock formation called the Corduroy Hills. But it's close enough that we can cross over to its summit, Eagle Peak, on a short spur trail form Vail Peak.
From atop Eagle Peak in the Corduroy Hills there's a great view east across the valley to Mount Diablo, one of the most prominent peaks in the SF Bay Area, at 3,849' (1,173 m). In the midground of the photo above are the cities of Danville and San Ramon.
While atop Eagle Peak we didn't see any eagles... though we did see a few hawks and lots of turkey vultures. The vultures were "kettling", circling around in groups following the air currents as they drifted higher and lower looking for food in the area. Food for them, of course, is dead stuff. Vultures are carrion eaters. Sometimes they "kettle" around a hawk or an eagle to mop up the leftovers of whatever it hunts.
After watching the vultures flying around for a while we spotted a few of them taking a break to sun themselves on the rocks. In the video above I jokingly refer to these turkey vultures as "ugly". That's because their bare and bony heads look kind of ghoulish. Those bare flesh heads and wide open nostrils are actually part of their adaptation to being carrion eaters.
After sunning ourselves on the rocks at Eagle Peak for a bit it was time to start heading back down. It was already after 4pm. (Though we'd only started hiking just after 2.)
For the route down we chose a different path than previous visits here. The photo above shows part of the Chamise Trail. In the past we've looped farther around to the left and come down a fairly steep descent into a stream canyon. Here we enjoyed a less-steep— though by no means easy— descent along the nose of a ridge.
The last bit of descent especially is fairly steep. At least with the route we took this time we didn't have to climb back up out of the stream canyon to go back down the other side of this hill. We made it back to the trailhead a bit after 5pm, for a good 3-hour outing.
That was later than I planned on but still totally fine. For me the point was to do a thing I enjoy, hiking— and to do the full hike— despite being sick. In beauty I walk.
From where we crested the top of the ridge after completing our initial climb we enjoyed views across the ridge and to the valleys far below. The photo above shows some of the knobs on the ridge. In the center is Vail Peak. The ridge trail winds around over it from the right. The ridge on the left is actually geologically distinct from the Bollinger Ridge. It's part of a different rock formation called the Corduroy Hills. But it's close enough that we can cross over to its summit, Eagle Peak, on a short spur trail form Vail Peak.
From atop Eagle Peak in the Corduroy Hills there's a great view east across the valley to Mount Diablo, one of the most prominent peaks in the SF Bay Area, at 3,849' (1,173 m). In the midground of the photo above are the cities of Danville and San Ramon.
While atop Eagle Peak we didn't see any eagles... though we did see a few hawks and lots of turkey vultures. The vultures were "kettling", circling around in groups following the air currents as they drifted higher and lower looking for food in the area. Food for them, of course, is dead stuff. Vultures are carrion eaters. Sometimes they "kettle" around a hawk or an eagle to mop up the leftovers of whatever it hunts.
After watching the vultures flying around for a while we spotted a few of them taking a break to sun themselves on the rocks. In the video above I jokingly refer to these turkey vultures as "ugly". That's because their bare and bony heads look kind of ghoulish. Those bare flesh heads and wide open nostrils are actually part of their adaptation to being carrion eaters.
After sunning ourselves on the rocks at Eagle Peak for a bit it was time to start heading back down. It was already after 4pm. (Though we'd only started hiking just after 2.)
For the route down we chose a different path than previous visits here. The photo above shows part of the Chamise Trail. In the past we've looped farther around to the left and come down a fairly steep descent into a stream canyon. Here we enjoyed a less-steep— though by no means easy— descent along the nose of a ridge.
The last bit of descent especially is fairly steep. At least with the route we took this time we didn't have to climb back up out of the stream canyon to go back down the other side of this hill. We made it back to the trailhead a bit after 5pm, for a good 3-hour outing.
That was later than I planned on but still totally fine. For me the point was to do a thing I enjoy, hiking— and to do the full hike— despite being sick. In beauty I walk.
