Bear
Creek Staging Area,
Briones Regional Park,
East Bay Regional Park District,
Contra Costa County
In brief:
4.3 mile loop on fire roads that wander grassy hills north of Lafayette.
Getting there:
From CA 24 in Contra Costa County, exit Moraga/Orinda (exit 9). Drive north
on Camino Pablo Road for about 2 miles, then turn right onto Bear Creek Road.
Drive on Bear Creek about 4.4 miles, to the park entrance on the right side
of the road. After passing the entrance kiosk, continue straight to the parking
lot.
Trailhead details:
Parking fee of $5 charged when entrance kiosk is staffed. $2 dog fee. Lots of
parking. Pit toilets on site, but no drinking water. Maps available at the information
signboard near the start of the trail. There is no direct public transportation
to this trailhead, but you can walk (or cycle) into the park from BART: visit
the Transit
Info website for details. There are no designated handicapped parking spots
at this parking lot, but the initial stretch of Old Briones Road is wheelchair
accessible.
Gas, food, and lodging:
Pay phone, stores, gas, and restaurants back near Highway 24 in Orinda. No individual
camp sites in the park, although there is a group camp. Nearest campgrounds
are in Mount Diablo State Park.
Distance, category, and difficulty:
This 4.3 mile partial loop hike is easy. Trailhead elevation is
about 735 feet. The featured hike climbs to about 1370 feet, then descends back
to the trailhead. There is one short steep downhill section. Total elevation
change is about 830 feet.
Rules:
Most trails are multi-use. A few are open to equestrians and hikers only, and
one trail is designated hiking only. Dogs are permitted. Park is open from 8
a.m. to 10 p.m.
The Official Story:
EBRPD's Briones
page
EBRPD's
Briones brochure (pdf
Park headquarters 510-562-PARK
Map/Book Choices:
• Use AAA's San Francisco Bay Region map to get to the park.
• Map
from EBRPD (download the pdf).
• 
This hike is described
and mapped in 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: San Francisco, by Jane Huber
(yup, that's me, the creator of this website). Order
this book from Amazon.com.
• A Rambler's Guide to the Trails of the East Bay Hills, Northern Section,
published by The Olmsted &. Bros. Map Co. (order
this map from Amazon.com).
• Afoot and Afield: San Francisco Bay Area, by David Weintraub (order
this book from Amazon.com) has a great map and descriptions of a Briones
hike.
• The East Bay Out, by Malcolm Margolin, has a good map and park
descriptions (order
this book from Amazon.com).
• East Bay Trails, by David Weintraub, has a good map and descriptions
of Briones hikes (order
this book from Amazon.com).
Briones in a nutshell
-- a printable, text-only guide to the featured hike.
• View 79 photos from the
featured hike.
Briones is a great place throughout the year, but in
the 
spring
the park really shines. Or maybe I should say blooms. Wildflowers, lots of 'em,
thrive on the high slopes of the grassy hills here. Great patches of California
buttercups, filaree, California poppies, lupines, fiddlenecks, and creamcups
stand out against the lush green grass. Although cows graze here (making the
trails wet, muddy, and rutted in the winter, and dry, dusty, and rutted in the
summer) as in many hilly parks, flowers blooming near the crests are largely
unmunched.
Even when the wildflowers aren't in full splendor,
Briones has a lot to offer. Five staging areas (including Lafayette
Ridge Staging Area) provide ample parking, and some trailheads feature picnic
facilities and reservable youth campsites. With a rough circular shape and over
5,000 acres, there are a plethora of loop options. Most include a hike up to
Briones Crest, which is near the center of the park. The highest elevation at
Briones is under 1500 feet, so there are no strenuous climbs, although some
trails do wander up and down a bit. Nearly all the 
trails
here are open to cyclists and equestrians as well as hikers, so do expect to
share the trails with a vengeance at times.
For the featured hike, walk through the gate
on the paved road at the edge of the parking lot. Old Briones Road starts
out as a flat paved path, angling through coyote brush and small coast live
oak and elderberry trees. You will probably see cattle right away, and more
throughout the valley. At 0.13 mile, Homestead Valley Trail splits off from
Old Briones Road at a signed junction. (Homestead Valley Trail is sometimes
closed because of storm damage, but when the trail is open it makes a fine option
for the climb up to Briones' lagoon area; just take Homestead Valley to Briones
Crest Trail and resume the feature hike at the junction of Briones Crest and
Old Briones Road.) Continue straight on Old Briones Road.
The broad dirt multi-use trail crosses through
a cattle gate and enters grassland. In spring, your first course of flowers
may be presented off the left side of the trail: poppies lightly 
sprinkled
over the upper slopes of green hills. Briefly, Old Briones Road seeks
shelter beneath some California bay, coast live, valley, and black oaks.
California buttercups brighten the understory in spring. When the fire road
emerges back into grassland, Black Oak Trail sets off from a signed junction
at 0.61 mile. Keep going straight on Old Briones Road.
After another flat stretch through a pastoral setting,
Old Briones Road crosses a creek near a corral, then meets Valley Trail at a
signed junction at 0.96 mile. (Valley Trail is another option to extend your
hike a bit. The hiking, biking, and equestrian trail continues at a flat grade,
then climbs to a junction with Briones Crest Trail. Take a left on Briones Crest
Trail, pass the park's high spot, Briones Peak, and then rejoin the featured
hike at the junction of Briones Crest Trail and Old Briones Road.) Bear left
to stay on Old Briones Road, and begin the ascent to the crest.
In spring, your hike uphill will probably be 
enlivened
by a variety of flowers. California buttercups cover entire hillsides with blasts
of yellow. Delicate white woodland stars, blue dicks, various lupines, and yellow
fiddlenecks all may be on display on the sides of the trail. In the hills' damp
creases buckeye, California bay, and elderberry trees grow, with poison oak
a frequent companion. If you happen to visiting the park at "poppy peak,"
you may notice hilltops at the crest flushed with orange from blooming California
poppies. Purple lupines accompany California sagebrush in the dry rocky patches
on the right side of the path. The views back down and across the valley seem
to become more lovely with each step. After a moderate climb, Old Briones Road
reaches the crest and a signed junction at 1.59 miles. But before you cross
through the fence and reach that junction, look for a slight path to the left,
leading along the fence uphill to a bench. Turn left and walk toward the
bench.
It's just a few steps off the trail, and when you
reach the bench, look down the slope to the left for a truly spectacular
display of wildflowers in the spring. Substantial swaths of California poppy,
creamcups, clover, and lupine sprawl down the hill. Even if it's not spring,
the bench makes a nice rest spot, with tremendous views of the west part of
the park. It's also a fantastic place for bird watching. Bluebirds nest in boxes
attached to the fence, so they are commonly spotted, as are kestrel, hawks,
and lots of smaller birds. Just over the other side of the fence to the east
the Maricich Lagoons can be glimpsed (unfortunately, so can the industrial riffraff
near Martinez). When you're ready to continue, walk back to Old Briones Road,
pass through the gate, then turn left. After just a few steps, at 1.76 miles,
the trails split at a signed junction. Bear left on Briones Crest Trail.
The wide multi-use trail winds along the crest
through grassland. A view back over your shoulder on a clear day could include
Mount
Diablo. Some coast live oaks line the trail on the right side in sections, but
the left remains soft rolling grassy hills. Buttercups seem to favor area in
spring. A small fenced pond comes into view on the left edge of the Briones
Crest Trail. This part of Briones has been designated the John Muir Nature Area,
and steps are taken to keep cows (and humans presumably) from harming the park's
natural features. Lagoon Trail departs from the left side of the trail at a
signed junction opposite the pond (or perhaps this one is a lagoon; I can't
tell the difference) at 2.02 miles. (Lagoon is another good option for extending
this hike a little over 2 miles. Take Lagoon to Briones Crest, turn left, and
then turn right when you get to Mott Peak Trail.) Continue straight on Briones
Crest Trail.
A lagoon is visible to the right as the trail climbs
slightly in a nearly straight section. At 2.32 miles, at a signed junction Mott
Peak Trail begins on the left side of the trail. From here, all trails start
to descend and leave the crest area. Turn left on Mott Peak
Trail.
Mott Peak Trail, another broad multi-use fire
road, climbs for a few yards, then crests, crosses through a gate, and starts
a descent. Off the left side of the trail, on one spring hike I was stopped
in my tracks by a display of orange poppies sweeping uphill past an oak, like
a freeze frame of a small brush fire. Yellow fiddlenecks were the prevalent
wildflower along the trail on an April hike, but you might also see more poppy,
filarees, and lupine. At 2.69 miles, Mott Peak Trail meets Black Oak Trail at
a signed junction. (Mott Peak continues downhill until it ends at Abrigo Trail,
which is an optional route. Turn left on Abrigo and then at the parking lot,
turn left and walk along the road back to the trailhead.) Bear left onto
Black Oak Trail.
The trail, open to cyclists and equestrians as well
as hikers, dips, rises again, then levels out along a ridge. From a bench on
the left side of the path, vistas to the east include Mount Diablo, and Briones
Crest. To the north more rolling hills stretch to Suisun Bay. Black Oak Trail's
drop back into the valley is also visible. As the trail descends, another bench
sits off the trail, near an oak-studded hillside. Then Black Oak Trail turns
and shoots steeply downhill. In the spring, there may be many flowers in bloom.
I've seen redmaids, woodland star, blue-eyed grass, and California buttercup
in early April. Off to the left, a few buckeyes and California bays thrive near
the creekbed. The trail sweeps right, crosses through the valley, then ends
at the previously encountered junction with Old Briones Road at 3.65 miles.
Turn right here and retrace your steps to the trailhead.
Total distance: 4.29 miles
Last hiked: Wednesday, April 10,
2002
Go to Bay Area Hiker Home page
Bear
Creek Staging Area,
