INCH Hike: King Canyon Loop Extension

1321. King Canyon Loop Extension (01/14/24)

Hikers (0):
Distance: 15 miles
Rating: 3 difficulty, 9 beauty
Park info: East Bay Municipal Utility District near Moraga

Write-up by Steve -- Pictures by Jim and Steve

It was very green and very muddy. We started with a gratuitous warmup arc from the parking lot and then were soon heading uphill to our primary destination. Amazingly, though not surprisingly, we watched as Nohemi and Susan S looked at the spur to the first summit and decided to skip it and go downhill instead. The rest of us headed up to Peak 1160 where we had shots for Sophie's combined 400th leaf.

400th overall leaf for Sophie

Green hills

It was downhill from there to where we had to cross a stream. Though small, it had eroded steep walls where people (and maybe animals) had torn up both sides. Didn't have much trouble getting down and up the other side, but figured others might. Turned out that Rainer took one look at it and said "Forget it" and turned around, figuring the rest of the hike would be more of the same. Everyone else soldiered through.

Miles into the hike, this sign appears

Despite being on a fairly popular trail (Rocky Ridge), was surprised to find a couple spots where it was difficult to decern the trail within the green hillsides. I put down crappy arrows when I figured it out, although no one probably saw them. I opened up a fairly large gap with the rest of the group behind me and eventually caught sight of Susan and Nohemi on Callahan Road ahead.

The bottom of Callahan Road leads to Miller Road which eventually requires crossing Kaiser Creek. The creek was quite wide so was happy to have brought plastic boot covers, which worked perfectly for the height of water present. I took a left (toward more water) to extend the hike by a mile to bag another nameless peak. I tried to take an alternate route off that peak which resulted in 20 minutes of bushwhacking that ended with me hiking back up to the summit a second time and going out the way I came. Lesson learned.

Crossing the Kaiser Creek

One of the locals

Peter M had reported he was also going to add a mile to chase a waterfall. We waited for a while hoping to see him before sunset. We were also hoping to see the police officer catch someone without a permit. Neither happened before we left, but Peter did make it back just after sunset. Some of us headed off to Canyon Club Brewery where we all agreed the beer was sub-par but the food was plentiful.