An Almost Wilderness Adventure
Jun 10, 2020
(NOTE: This story contains low-resolution images. For those photos that have been added to the gallery, you can see high-resoution images by clicking on the picture. If an image does not lead to a gallery item and you would like to learn more about that piece, send me a request at my contact page)
It was a chilly morning at the start of February. My companion and I set off from Concord in search of what we thought was an easy hiking trail. Knowing full well it would be foggier at the coast than it was at my studio, we waited until mid-morning and drove to Martinez to get access to that portion of the Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline.
The Carquinez Strait is the gateway from the San Francisco Bay to the Sacremento River Delta. It is a narrows that connects the two bodies of water.
According to the East Bay Regional Parks District, the Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline
"Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline comprises 1,568 acres of bluffs and shoreline along Carquinez Scenic Drive between the town of Crockett and the hillsides overlooking Martinez. This parkland provides a gateway to the river delta region along the northern edge of Contra Costa County. The coastal hills rise steeply up to 750 feet above Carquinez Strait. From the highest elevations, the view includes the marshland of Benicia State Recreation Area to the north across Carquinez Strait. From atop Franklin Ridge along the Franklin Ridge Loop Trail and the California Riding and Hiking Trail, the horizon is pierced by the peaks of Mt. Tamalpais to the west and Mt. Diablo to the east. Looking south from this high point are the ridges of Briones and Las Trampas regional parks."
It was the Franklin Ridge Loop Trail that we were planning on hiking. And plan is the operative word here.
We started off well enough, we found the trail that would lead us to the top of the ridge easily enough after we parked the car. An informative historical marker explained the trail and the naming and all the useful information. It started up the hill following a small gully that on a wetter day would have been a creek..
We were hiking in a wooded area and the path was wide and well tended. There were many wonderful picture opportunities was we walked.
But soon we noticed that things were getting a bit rougher. More and more it seemed like the path we were following was narrow and partially or completely blocked by vegetation. It was a lot of work, and we wondered about it. But we figured it was February, probably not a high maintenance month for trails and so we pressed on. Besides, it was pretty and we were having a challenging but good time. We continued following the little gully as the underbrush grew thicker and thicker.
In places, we almost had to get to our hands and knees to pass under a branch fallen across our "trail". I must admit that we began to mumble about the poor upkeep of the trail at that point.
Then we heard voices.
Not like ghostly voices. Real people voices. Looking around we noticed a pair of people walking very comfortably along a different trail probably 10 feet above us up the slope of the hill out of the gully! We waved and said "Hi".
And since they looked much more comfortable than we were by then, since the day was getting warmer and we were getting exhausted from the hard work of getting around obstacles, we climbed up the hill to where we had seen them pass.
At last, a ray of hope.
It was only when we reached the level where we had seen them pass that we realized THEY were on the trail and WE had been lost. There again was the wide well maintained trail that we had started on!
Scouting ahead we realized that there was a last steep scramble and it looked like we would be on top of the ridge and connect up with the Franklin Ridge Loop Trail. But by that time we were too tired, too dirty, and too hot to make the final climb. So we never did make it to the trail we were going to hike.
Turning around we walked easily down a gentle sloping, well maintained trail through open meadows with bright sunshine back to the car. We even found the switch back turn that we missed on the way up and clearly saw our footprints leading off into the underbrush. And we smiled.
J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in the Lord of the Rings:
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
I would just add that not all those that are lost know it at the time. Sometimes it is only in finding our way that we realize just hour far astray we had gone.
-- Ron , June, 2020
Here are the images from that day that have made it into the gallery thus far: