Castle Crags

On January 28, 2023, I wrote that the day before, I packed my cargo bike with my foldable bike and rode to Embarcadero. Then I rode the under ground to Van Ness. I went to the apartment and had a cocktail with some guests who were staying with me. They were preparing to go to the Edwardian ball.

Later I met a friend at Patricia‘s Green. We went to dinner and I was happy with the experience. We talked about birding. We confirmed that we would go on a bike ride the next day. We went to nearby bar and caught a five up to Divisadero. Later we hung out with her roommate at home

In the morning of the day that I wrote this my friend and I went to Masonic where we got coffee. Then we took the five to Embarcadero and ate crepes before getting the bikes out and boarding a BART train to Pleasant Hill. I showed her how to use my cargo bike and then we rode to Heather Farm Park.

The ride was perfect up to that point. We made a stop, and then we rode to San Miguel Park. After that we rode past the high school to the entrance of Castle Crags. Again I was totally surprised at how easy things were.

We continued to Mammoth Rock. The terrain had changed so she hiked and I put the foldable on the back of the cargo bike and rode with her. After sitting and observing Mammoth Rock we climbed up to look at the sandstone there. There are wind made holes in the rock which are very unique looking.

Later we walked up Buckeye Ravine and I made a mistake and we ended up walking up the Diablo Scenic Trail. It was ironic because it afforded us a great view but changed the outcome of our hike – I had wanted to go through Shell Ridge but it was late once we had gotten down to Elise Court.

So, instead of going to Borges Ranch we descended to Castle Rock Road and retraced our steps down Castle rock Road to San Miguel Park. As we headed back to Pleasant Hill we made a brief stop in Diablo Hills Golf Course where we found my hat which I had sadly left in Heather Farm Park.

From there we opted then to go to Zachary‘s for dinner. We rode the Canal Trail to the East Bay Municipal Utility District trails and then we rode into the business center where Zachary‘s is.

When we were done eating we went to Monument. I noticed that the ride to the BART station was really hard because it was dark and it was on a major road. However, we did a really good job. When we got to Pleasant Hill station, I packed up and, after a short trip, we said bye at Civic Center.

 
This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.