INCH Hike: Acalanes Ridge

30. Acalanes Ridge (03/02/25)

Hikers (9): Arlene, Christina, Eva S, Jarda, Mihail, Nagendra, Sophie, Stacy, Steve
Distance: 8 miles
Rating: 2 difficulty, 8 beauty
Park info: Acalanes Ridge Open Space near Walnut Creek

Write-up by Steve -- Pictures by Jarda, Eva S and Steve

Despite the threat of rain, nine people showed up. As it turned out, there was no rain and very little mud. God smiles on Occasional.

Even better, we saved the environment by using public transportation to get from our far-flung locations to this BART-friendly hike. Just kidding. Very few maximized the BART for reasons dominated by "I drove to Lafayette and took the BART one station to Walnut Creek, what more does Mother Nature need?" Still, that's better than nothing, as the goal of this hike was to legally connect those two locations through as many trails as possible.

Jarda and Eva started farthest away at the Berryessa BART station

I got on BART at Warm Springs and crossed paths with some hikers while changing trains at 19th Street

Everyone successfully appeared at Rotator Taproom

In addition to some road walking--including the crux of getting over 680--we hiked in four different parks: Acalanes Ridge Open Space (City of Walnut Creek), Secluded Valley HOA, Acalanes Ridge (John Muir Land Trust), and Briones Regional Park.

We bookended the hike with a taphouse at the start and brewery at the end. Even better, we celebrated Stacy's joint INCH/Occasional 151^st hike at the Acalanes Ridge high point.