Pleasanton Ridge: On Top of the World Again

Pleasanton Ridge: On Top of the World Again
4 June 2002

Location Pleasanton Ridge Park, East Bay Regional Parks District in Alameda County in California. Map in PDF format.

Another holiday in the Bay Area, and another walk in the place I love most on earth. Last time I was here, in February, the grass was still green but the oaks hadn't got their leaves yet.

Just like last time, I took the Woodland Trail up to the top of the ridge and spent some time in the olive grove at the top. But when I had eaten my sandwich, I walked back south and west on the Thermalito Trail. At trail marker 6 I turned back east and north and finally used the Oak Tree Trail to get off the ridge.

Weather

A beautiful day, very hot and sunny.

Technical Stuff

The photos on this page were taken with a Sony DSC F707. It's a fabulous camera. If you compare the photos taken with this camera to the others on this site, you'll notice the difference in colours and sharpness. To take advantage of the better image quality, the large versions are 700 pixels across. This means that the file sizes are quite large, up to almost 500 Kb for the more detailed images.

Click on the images to see larger versions.

An oak tree framed by the foliage of another oak. Except that the oaks at the bottom of the picture are poison oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum. The name tells us that poison oak isn't actually an oak, a Quercus. In fact, it's more closely related to poison ivy and poison sumac. The Latin name translates roughly as "the poison tree with the variable leaves", a good enough description of this insidious plant. The fact that the leaves are variable make it hard to identify so after numerous warnings of "Leaves of three, leave me be" from people who had had rashes induced by poison oak, I decided that in North-America, anything that I can't reliably identify I won't touch. This is different from northern Europe, where I touch pretty much any plant except nettles or things with obvious thorns.

The beginning of the Woodland Trail is still nice and shady but at this time of the year, shade is much more important than in February. The sun was beating down and I was having second thoughts about going up the ridge, out of shape as I was.

I made frequent stops to admire views like this one, towards Livermore.

Another view of distant hills. I love this kind of picture so there are quite a lot of them on this page. On the hills middle of the picture you can see the velvety effect that I like so much.

Still on the Woodland Trail, there is a place where an oak leans across the path just before it crosses a meadow and turns right. Last time I was here, it was much greener.

In this photo the path has turned and I'm looking back at the shade I just left.

Moving on a little bit, we get a better view of the Livermore hills in the distance.

A little bit further on, I was passed by some riders. You can just about make out the last of them underneath the trees on the right.

This is looking further to the north across the Pleasanton Valley.

The last photo from the Woodland Trail is of a graceful, weeping oak. I took a picture of it back in February too. Now that the leaves are out, it's harder to appreciate the elegant outline but the shape is softer instead.

I sat down to have lunch in the first olive grove at the top of the ridge.

I love the interplay of light and shadow between the twisting trunks of the trees.

Olives have a long history, in fact they've been cultivated in the Mediterranean for over 5000 years. These trees, on the other hand, are probably just about a hundred years old.

The olives were in flower.

The shapes created by olive tree rots are fascinating.

The way the roots twist and turn looks a bit like a dancer in motion.

One final close-up of some roots.

I took my time, savouring the atmosphere of the olive grove and playing with my camera. This is the same tree as above taken with a sepia effect.

And this is the same view with a solarised effect.

All around the Bay Area I had been seeing trees with pretty white horsechestnut-like flowers. They are the flowers of the California buckeye, Aesculus californica. The conkers were used as a food source by Native Americans.

Just after the pond is the turn-off to the Ridgeline Trail. That's where I saw this bank of fragrant sage and yellow monkeyflowers.

Where the trail turns northward, it looks as if it goes straight out into thin air.

Back on the Ridgeline Trail but looking south, I got this view of oaks and distant hills.

Just a little bit further on but I'm looking north in this picture. You can make out Pleasanton among the greenery at the valley bottom.

I thought for a moment of taking the Woodland Trail back down but decided eventually on the Oak Tree Trail.

One last look at the ridge that separates Pleasanton from Livermore. Below I could hear the soft hiss from the freeway, calling me back to my obligations.

Location	Pleasanton Ridge Park, East Bay Regional Parks District in Alameda County in California. Map in PDF format. Another holiday in the Bay Area, and another walk in the place I love most on earth. Last time I was here, in February, the grass was still green but the oaks hadn't got their leaves yet. Just like last time, I took the Woodland Trail up to the top of the ridge and spent some time in the olive grove at the top. But when I had eaten my sandwich, I walked back south and west on the Thermalito Trail. At trail marker 6 I turned back east and north and finally used the Oak Tree Trail to get off the ridge.

Weather	A beautiful day, very hot and sunny.

Technical Stuff	The photos on this page were taken with a Sony DSC F707. It's a fabulous camera. If you compare the photos taken with this camera to the others on this site, you'll notice the difference in colours and sharpness. To take advantage of the better image quality, the large versions are 700 pixels across. This means that the file sizes are quite large, up to almost 500 Kb for the more detailed images.

Click on the images to see larger versions.

	An oak tree framed by the foliage of another oak. Except that the oaks at the bottom of the picture are poison oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum. The name tells us that poison oak isn't actually an oak, a Quercus. In fact, it's more closely related to poison ivy and poison sumac. The Latin name translates roughly as "the poison tree with the variable leaves", a good enough description of this insidious plant. The fact that the leaves are variable make it hard to identify so after numerous warnings of "Leaves of three, leave me be" from people who had had rashes induced by poison oak, I decided that in North-America, anything that I can't reliably identify I won't touch. This is different from northern Europe, where I touch pretty much any plant except nettles or things with obvious thorns.

The beginning of the Woodland Trail is still nice and shady but at this time of the year, shade is much more important than in February. The sun was beating down and I was having second thoughts about going up the ridge, out of shape as I was.

	I made frequent stops to admire views like this one, towards Livermore.

Another view of distant hills. I love this kind of picture so there are quite a lot of them on this page. On the hills middle of the picture you can see the velvety effect that I like so much.

	Still on the Woodland Trail, there is a place where an oak leans across the path just before it crosses a meadow and turns right. Last time I was here, it was much greener.

In this photo the path has turned and I'm looking back at the shade I just left.

	Moving on a little bit, we get a better view of the Livermore hills in the distance.

A little bit further on, I was passed by some riders. You can just about make out the last of them underneath the trees on the right.

	This is looking further to the north across the Pleasanton Valley.

The last photo from the Woodland Trail is of a graceful, weeping oak. I took a picture of it back in February too. Now that the leaves are out, it's harder to appreciate the elegant outline but the shape is softer instead.

	I sat down to have lunch in the first olive grove at the top of the ridge.

I love the interplay of light and shadow between the twisting trunks of the trees.

	Olives have a long history, in fact they've been cultivated in the Mediterranean for over 5000 years. These trees, on the other hand, are probably just about a hundred years old.

The olives were in flower.

	The shapes created by olive tree rots are fascinating.

The way the roots twist and turn looks a bit like a dancer in motion.

	One final close-up of some roots.

I took my time, savouring the atmosphere of the olive grove and playing with my camera. This is the same tree as above taken with a sepia effect.

	And this is the same view with a solarised effect.

All around the Bay Area I had been seeing trees with pretty white horsechestnut-like flowers. They are the flowers of the California buckeye, Aesculus californica. The conkers were used as a food source by Native Americans.

	Just after the pond is the turn-off to the Ridgeline Trail. That's where I saw this bank of fragrant sage and yellow monkeyflowers.

Where the trail turns northward, it looks as if it goes straight out into thin air.

	Back on the Ridgeline Trail but looking south, I got this view of oaks and distant hills.

Just a little bit further on but I'm looking north in this picture. You can make out Pleasanton among the greenery at the valley bottom.

	I thought for a moment of taking the Woodland Trail back down but decided eventually on the Oak Tree Trail.

One last look at the ridge that separates Pleasanton from Livermore. Below I could hear the soft hiss from the freeway, calling me back to my obligations.