Sunol valley floor to Rose Peak

Inaugural post. For years now I've been meaning to jot down notes from trips and trails. Have to start sometime. For years now I've also been meaning to run from the Sunol Regional Wilderness (Sunol valley floor) to the Del Valle Regional Park. But that trip involves planning, like, shuttling cars. Ugh.

So as a surrogate I decided to go out and back to Rose Peak (3817 ft), second highest peak (I think) in the East Bay, along the Ohlone Wilderness Trail. OK, so this wasn't really a trail run. You start at ~400' and its 10 miles to the summit. I probably ran 20% of the way up. There is a mile long stretch just after entering the Ohlone WIlderness that felt like a staircase. But eventually you get up to around 2000' and the views are stellar: rocky, golden meadows, steep canyons filled with oaks. I startled a fox around a blind corner, but couldn't get to my camera quick enough (he bolted).

There is a decent bit of single track, but a majority of the trail is jeep track. Not quite what I expected for a wilderness trail.

Views from the top are great. Mt Tam to the west,

Mt Hamilton and Lick Observatory to the south..

In late summer, don't count on water; the streams are all dried up and the cow ponds are a bit rank (there is a cow in that picture.. can you see it?).

Coming down, I decided to take a short cut via The Bluff, at signpost 23. The plan was to lop off a few miles, as I was running out of water. If the way up was a staircase, the shortcut down was a freight elevator. I swear I dropped 1500' in half a mile (>50% grade). Would have been a blast on a bike. Got a great view of Goat Rock, too:

The plan didn't really work, I chopped off maybe 1/2 a mile.. and evidently one isn't allowed to take this short cut. I didn't see any signs to that effect from where I dropped in, but when I got back down to the Camp Ohlone Road I crossed another gate, and saw a bunch of signs:

The last few miles out were a battle of will. Out of fuel and water, basically bonked, the fact that the road is mostly downhill didn't seem to matter. At one point I almost stepped on a tarantula the size of my hand. That woke me up..

Summary: great views, wildlife, mostly unspoiled high meadows and canyons, straight up straight down, and too much of the trail is jeep tracks. About 19 miles round trip, 3.5 hrs moving time. More info on SummitPost.

Would I do it all again? Probably not, though I am curious to (a) see it in the rainy season when the creeks are flowing, and (b) run the section from Del Valle to Rose Peak. Hey, maybe that section is more single track.

Parting shot: 2.5 liters of water and 3 energy bars are *not* enough water/fuel for this trip, at least not in late summer. Also, keep your camera handy so you don't miss the fox shot.