A great neighborhood trail.
This reminds me of areas like Strawberry Canyon Fire trail if you live in Berkeley, Pulgas Ridge in Redwood City, or Glen Canyon Park if you live in San Francisco. Smaller trail systems that can be combined to lengthen your hike in the middle of a neighborhood.
When you start, after you pass some initial cover, you get a view of the bay.
The trail quickly becomes more exposed.
This is middle of the summer so it was quite hot. The trail at this point is mostly dry dirt and loose gravel.
At 0.14m you hit your first intersection. We chose to stay on Escalon Fire Road. Straight ahead!
As long as dogs are under voice control, they are allowed on fire roads off leash. The route we chose included a small on-leash portion.
Since this is, for the most part, an in/out trail, we chose to go Escalon Fire Road > Lower Summit Fire Road, and then on the way back, Lower Summit Fire Road > Octopus Trail > Camino Alto Fire Road > Escalon Fire Road. Total miles 2.73
After slight incline, the next intersection is at the water pump station. Heading straight (passing the station on your right) takes you to Lower Summit Fire Road.
Continue ever so slightly uphill...
And then all of a sudden the trees appear, creating a great cool cover. The ground also becomes softer.
I'm much happier in the shade 😎
I always have to explore slightly off trail...
That magical forest light.
Walking on the edge.
Make sure to stop and smell the...plants.
This marks the end of Lower Summit Fire Road.
Even though there's no one else in our pictures, we passed a handful of friendly people, with and without dogs, and a few mountain bikers.
Octopus Trail
At the same intersection with the water pump station, on the right hand side are two additional trails. The one going uphill is Octopus Trail.
This trail is leash only but it's only 0.2 miles - I can put up with that! This short trail is mostly covered but opens up to an amazing view.
From Octopus Trail > Camino Alto Fire Road > Escalon Fire Road it's pretty much back to the same exposed, dry packed dirt. But it is going downhill, so that helps make me move faster.
If you wanted to keep it super simple in/out for about the same mileage, you can stay on Escalon Fire Road > Lower Summit Fire Road and back for a total of 2.58 miles. You can check out this map of the entire area. The area also has clearly marked signs.
This was a nice, quiet getaway, but man, I had to sit through so much traffic just to make it out of the city! Being a city dog sure is tough!
Your fur parents want to know:
- Yes, there is street parking
- Yes, this is an off-leash park (on fire roads only)
- No, there are no doggy (or human) water fountains
- Yes, there are poop bags
- Yes, there are trash bins
- No, there are no benches
- No, there are no toilets
🐾 Caesar