Yesterday was my birthday. No, I’m not going to tell you which one. I am too old to have exciting milestone birthdays and too young to brag that I’m still here despite my advanced age.
But I did celebrate. My sweetheart and I went on a hike in Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve, part of the East Bay Regional Parks. It is about five miles from where we live, with the starting point for the trail we followed in the city of Oakland.
In addition to being a birthday celebratory hike, this is part of a project we’ve undertaken for the year. We’re going to visit all of the East Bay Regional Parks that we haven’t been to before. Actually, we might go back to some of the ones we have visited in the past, but at least one of them — Brooks Island — is only accessible by boat and with an appointment since they are trying to restore it and don’t let people on it except in very limited ways.
We are very fortunate to have these parks. According to the park district website, there are 73 of them, all in Alameda and Contra Costa County. They range from walks along wetlands near the Bay to challenging hikes on rugged hills.
Huckleberry is home to to the rare pallid manzanita, which only grows in one other place. It also has lots of bay laurels and, of course, huckleberry trees. A lot of the area looks like this:
It was a typical California hike, which is to say that the trail was very narrow in spots, usually with a steep cliff down one side, and my sweetheart kept saying “Poison oak on the right. Poison oak on the left. Poison oak on both sides.” There were also several steep climbs up and down on the trail where I was very grateful to have good hiking poles and to have learned to use them.
We walked up a short side trail to a spot with a good view of the surrounding area. I got a nice picture of Mount Diablo off to our east. Mount Diablo itself is a state park, but there’s a regional park that leads up to it. It’s in Alameda County, so not too far away. (We’ve been there.)
I think we avoided the poison oak. We didn’t fall down any cliffs. We met a few others out enjoying the trail, including a large group of kids with their camp counselors. Some of the kids ran up trails I climbed with care.
One of the many flowers we saw was the Douglas iris, a wild form of the flower that graces so many gardens in the city.
All in all, a satisfactory hike. We came home to an excellent chocolate cake from our neighborhood bakery and sandwich shop, La Dolce Vita, and the news that a federal grand jury had indicted Trump.
That was a most excellent birthday present.