Wildcat Canyon hike

During the long and strenuous hike in Mount Diablo state park my hiking boots broke and fell apart. The plastic sole apparently lost its flexibility and completely disintegrated. So we had to buy new hiking shoes at REI. As you could have guessed the only model that actually fit my feet was the most expensive Salomon model for 230$. On the other hand, the old pair of boots latest for more than 10 years, so it's not that bad. To break the new boots in we decided to head off to an easy hike this Saturday, covering only a couple of miles and (almost) no elevation gain. Wildcat Canyon is a regional park close to Albany and only a 15min drive away. On the plus side we had time for a couple of GeoCaches on the way! If you have kids: plan a long stop at Little Farm; there are tons of (farm) animals walking around that your kids can pet and look at. The hike is easy, we brought around 1/4 gallon (1l) of water per person.

Trail navigation

We parked near Little Farm and started on the Loop road and headed off towards Laurel Canyon trail. The Laural Canyon trail ends in Nimitz road which is an easy fire road along the rim of Wildcat canyon. Near the second GeoCache we headed off from the trail and went up a little hill. The hill offered a perfect view of the bay area, San Francisco, the Golden Gate bridge, and Sausalito. We then followed the Meadows Canyon trail back to Little Farm and to our parking lot. View Map

Hike description

The hike is an easy Saturday stroll of around 6.2mi (10km) with negligible elevation gain. Most of the hike is on paved or unpaved fire roads with some stretches on trails. If you want to follow our hike make sure to check the map above to discover the right place where you have to break out for the most awesome view of the bay area ever.

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Picture time

The pictures where taken during the hike and show some of the best views during the hike from the top of the little hill plus some shots after we found the GeoCaches.

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Short stop on Nimitz road.

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View from Nimitz road.

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View from Nimitz road.

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View from top of the hill into the back country.

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View from top of the hill into the back country. The amazing mountain in the back is Mount Diablo.

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View from top of the hill towards San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge.

Summary

The hike was a basically nice Saturday stroll that gave us the opportunity to visit a couple of GeoCaches. The area is nice but frequented by many walkers, runners, bikers, strollers. So if you want the quite natural reserve experience then this is not the right park. On the other hand if you are looking for a quick escape from day to day troubles then this is the right place to go!

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