Redwood Peak is an easy little peak that’s a stone’s throw from the nearest trailhead. Not one to take the easy way, I decided to approach it from a trailhead several miles away in Chabot.
Let me back up a second – I actually started off the day with a goal to hike a segment of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. I needed to finish up the last few miles in Chabot (from Bort Meadow to Redwood Road), so I parked at Bort and started hiking down the BART with a firm turnaround time in mind since I had to be back at the trailhead no later than 1:30. I figured I’d knock off as many miles of the BART as I could and then turn around.
After finishing up Chabot and crossing into Redwood preserve, I pulled out the map to see what kind of loop options I had available for my return hike. There was nothing in Chabot, but something caught my eye – if I continued another 3 miles along BART I’d reach Redwood Bowl and Redwood Peak – a peak! Yay! I have a hard time resisting those. I figured I’d hike BART to the Redwood Bowl, then on the return hike I’d bag the peak and take some of the single track side trails back to Chabot.
With an hour left until my turnaround time I hustled along BART until I reached Redwood Bowl 15 minutes early. I had a snack, refilled the water bottles, and then headed up the peak. It’s a very easy one – the most excitement comes from the fact that the approach trail runs against the archery range fence and I heard several arrows flying through the woods. Hmm.
I took some of the side trails back and they were quite muddy after this week’s storms. The rain started up so I had a soaking wet slog through the trees – it was fun, and quiet. Not many people out on the muddy trails.
If You Go
There are several access points and trails in this area – you can do anything from a half mile stroll to an all day slog. The terrain varies from open ridge vistas to deep redwood and eucalyptus groves, so there is a lot of variety to enjoy.
We crossed paths, a day apart. I’ve been intermittently doing BART segments southbound. Monday I started at the fish ladder in Redwood Regional and then went down to the little day parking area just south of the rifle range. I haven’t blogged on it yet, though a few little problems did inspire me to post on backpacking in the rain, and I did a google map of my route .
Ralph, maybe one of these days we’ll run into each other out there!