Sunol Regional Wilderness
EBRPD, south of Pleasanton                        INFO                      MAP

Camp Ohlone Rd  B - C   **** 2+ miles; Wet Weather Yes

Cerro Este Road   C - D    **** 0.7+ miles

Camp Ohlone Road runs a couple of well-graded miles up the beautiful canyon of Alameda Creek, and is well worth a visit if you can handle considerable up and down after the first 0.3 mile or so. Even if you can't, that first part is pretty, crossing a pleasant bridge, and there are acres of inviting picnic areas near the entrance.

About a mile out is Little Yosemite, where the creek descends a series of waterfalls. This is very much a seasonal attraction, since after the fashion of coastal creeks it hibernates from about June to after the first heavy rains, sometimes as late as November. In that season, traffic on the trail is light (especially if the weather is hot, as it usually is in summer), but when the stream is full, so is the south end of the parking lot, and in the area near the falls many hikers clamber on the rocks or wander down to the water on a maze of footpaths. The crowds on the trail, and the impossibility of getting near the stream or even finding a good place to view it made the trail less enjoyable for me then than it had been when we went in a dry autumn and found no waterfalls, but solitude and the special colors of California. That hike was the day after a light rain, and though the hills were green, as yet the dry ground was soaking up every drop that fell. It didn't seem much like Yosemite then, though the unusual rugged terrain might suggest the Sierra. But it's a lovely place, and a remarkably easy trail considering that it's cut into the side of a rock bluff.

Cerro Este Road takes off to the left about a mile out on Camp Ohlone Rd., past Little Yosemite, where you see a picnic table and an inaccessible toilet. The trail is a well graded but immediately very steep service road, which is too bad because the views are lovely. I went to the junction with McGorkle Trail before turning back; it seems likely that one could make a loop back to the trailhead on this, but judging by the map McGorkle may be even steeper than Cerro Este.

Details: Two vault toilets and designated parking spaces are at the trailhead; picnic areas are nearby. The visitor center is about 0.3 mile away (1895 Geary Road, Sunol; 510-544-3249) Other trails in this park look to be good and steep, and some are single-track. There are fees for parking and pet dogs; park gates are locked at dusk, which is why I was afraid to attempt McGorkle Trail.

To get there take I-680 south from Pleasanton; exit at Calaveras Road/Highway 84 (NOT "Sunol" but the exit after!). Take the underpass left onto Calaveras Road and proceed to Geary Road, which leads directly into the park. Last visit February 2010.

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Trail Map with access details (only on trails I have evaluated). Original map from EBRPS can be found here