Any interest in a twilight hike up to Trampas Peak (the highest point in Las Trampas Regional Park at just over 2,000 feet)? It has a great view to the west towards Oakland, SF and the bay and is pretty spectacular at sunset. The trailhead starts around 500 feet, so there's a pretty significant elevation gain. I don't know how many miles it is exactly, but it took about 2 1/2 hours for a naturalist-led hike (with a few folks that were not really in good shape, even compared to me) to get up there on an indirect route. The indirect route is much more scenic and interesting than the direct route. You get great views along the way of the tri-valley and the hills to the East and South of Livermore and Pleasanton, Mt. Diablo, the Northern part of the bay, Walnut Creek, Danville, Orinda/Moraga, etc.

Since it will be dark on the way back, we'd take the fireroad back. You'd need good shoes with plenty of support (running shoes are ok, but there's lots of loose dirt on steep trails, so boots would be better), water, some food (since we'd be getting back somewhere around 9pm?), some additional layers (it gets cold when the sun goes down) and a good flashlight. Oh, and a camera. I'll have my dog along - it's ok to let dogs off leash as long as they are under control and will return when called. I might even have my kids, depending on if I have custody that weekend.

I figure this time of year, we should be up there by around 7, so we'd want to start hiking around 4:30 - 5 on a weekend evening. Any interest?

JB

Edit - the park gate closes at 7 (in theory - I've never seen it closed before 8 or so), so we wouldn't want to park inside the park itself. We'd want to park in the parking lot just before the gate on Bollinger Canyon Rd. It's a short walk to the trailhead from that parking lot. The park curfew is 10 pm - I'd hope we'd be out of there way before then. Chipotle makes some mean burritos and is close by - maybe we should plan on refueling there after the hike.