A long hike through five adjacent parks in East Bay.

Location: East Bay Skyline National Recreation Trail — Tilden Regional Park — Wildcat Canyon Regional Park — Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve — Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve — Redwood Regional Park — Anthony Chabot Regional Preserve

Location: near intersection of McBryde Avenue and Park Avenue, Richmond, CA 94806 . No street address. Parking area is visible in Google Maps if you zoom in sufficiently.

Directions: From I-80 East, take exit 17 toward Solano Ave and merge onto Amador St. After 0.4 miles, turn right onto McBryde Ave. In 0.3 miles, there is an intersection with Park Ave. Drive about 0.2 miles further along Park Avenue to reach Wildcat Canyon Staging Area (see trail map for its location).

Google Maps:

Parking Fees: None (last visited: May 2011)

Capacity: More than 10 cars

Latitude: 37.951383     Longitude: -122.322201

Location: (Proctor Staging Area) along Redwood Rd, Castro Valley, CA 94546 . No street address. Parking area is visible in Google Maps if you zoom in sufficiently.

Directions: From I-580 East, take exit 36A for Redwood Rd toward Castro Valley. In 0.3 miles, turn left onto Redwood Road. In 2.2 miles, Proctor Staging Area is on the left.

Google Maps:

Parking Fees: None (last visited: May 2011)

Capacity: About 10 to 15 cars

Latitude: 37.721642     Longitude: -122.076379

Route in brief: The trail is in five sections:

1. Part 1 (7.2 miles, 1300 ft): Wildcat Canyon Regional Park.
2. Part 2 (3.0 miles, 900 ft): Tilden Regional Park.
3. Part 3 (6.3 miles, 900 ft): Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve and Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve.
4. Part 4 (5.0 miles, 300 ft): Redwood Regional Park (via West Ridge Trail). An alternative is 6.5 miles, 900 ft: Redwood Regional Park (via French Trail).
5. Part 5 (9.3 miles, 1300 ft): Anthony Chabot Regional Preserve.

Notes:

1. Trail Maps: Free maps are available for all segments of the trail, which is marked with small triangles on all the maps.

   Each of us took a printout with trails marked with a highlighter. It is best if all members in a group have studied maps and know what they are doing along this unusually long hike.

2. Cars: We parked two cars, one at each end point of the trail. We parked a third car with food and water supplies at MacDonald Gate in Anthony Chabot Regional Preserve.
3. Water: Water is available at only 3 points along the trial: Steam Trains (10.3 miles) when we come out of Tilden Regional Park, "Staging Area" (14.8 miles) within Sibley Volcanic Preserve and Skyline Gate (16.5 miles) which is an entrance to Redwood Regional Park. We cached water in our car parked at MacDonald Gate (~ 23 mile mark).
4. Clothing: Layered clothing was helpful. We did the hike in November. The difference in temperatures between day and night was over fifteen degrees.
5. Flashlights: We took flashlights with us. We met two large groups of hikers in Anthony Chabot Regional Preserve when hiking in the dark.
6. Trail Conditions: See Trail Closures (EBRPD).
7. Book: East Bay Trails: Hiking Trails in Alameda And Contra Costa Counties (2005, 288 pages) by David Weintraub has great descriptions of various sections of the trail.
8. In November 2009, I finished the hike in 13.5 hours, along with three friends. For Part 4, we followed the longer route through Redwood Regional Park (French Trail) for a total of 32.3 miles (~ 2.4 miles per hour).