April — Briones

Scout Activity Briones Hike

April 2 2003

In preparation for our outing to Angel Island on April 11th. We decided to take the scouts hiking up in Briones.

Our route was essentially:

parked at the Alhambra Creek Staging Area
hiking up the Alhambra Creek Trail
connected with Spengler Trail up the switch backs to the Maricich Lagoons
headed to the left (east) of the lagoons on a single track trail (not listed on most maps) towards Spengler Trail
connected with Spengler Trail and headed north
connected with Diablo View Trail and back to Alhambra Creek Staging Area

Heading up Alhambra Creek Trail

Further up Alhambra Creek Trail

Front: Larry Phair, Robert Hickman, Scott Barentsen, Joe Rudd
Back: Kyle Krutsch, Bronson Smith (others are too far back to see)

You could not ask for a more beautiful setting, the hills a bright verdant green.

This is heading off on the single track trail on the left (east) side of the lagoons. Sofi is wearing my dev2dev fleece to stay warm. I am pretty sure I carried more weight than anyone, of course that was mostly due to my big belly.

The single track trails that lead off to the lagoon, don't be deceived by the trail that leads up the hill, it also angles off to the left, which is the path we took.

One of the lagoons, you can see the trail heading off to the left.

Group shot we took along the way.

Front: Sofi and I, Bronson Smith, Kyle Krutsch, Larry Phair, Scott Barentsen, Joe Rudd, Robert Hickman
Back: Nathan Phair, Ben Rudd, Canyon Copa, Dan Hogan

(Click for bigger image)

This is the view pretty far down the single track trail, looking back towards where we came from (i.e. the lagoons).

You eventually break out on top of the ridge and had an awesome view of a cloud shrouded Mt. Diablo.

Just after hooking up with the Mt. Diablo View Trail, there was a small rainbow.

Heading back down to the parking lot, Kyle and Bronson began their epic, dancing with cows, where they wildly chased them over the hills, here is a silhouette shot.

Bronson and Kyle Dancing with Cows

Kyle Dancing with Cows

(Click for bigger image)

It was an awesome hike, despite the minor rainstorm just before we left, everything cleared up. The air was crisp and cold, perfect for lugging your self up and over hills with great vista's and cows to boot.