Lagoon Valley Regional Park - March '23
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On the last day of March, a Friday, six of us went for a walk at Lagoon Valley, located (off highway 80) in the grassy hills between Vacaville & Fairfield, an area all of us have driven past for decades, no doubt on the way to a Bay Area destination.
Today, for once, we stopped in. A few had been here before, but it was new to me.
There was a steady uphill climb on a beat-up old road for two miles. Upon reaching the telecom tower, the high point, we sat on the grass & had lunch. The view to the south included Mount Diablo & Suisun Bay.
note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again (with some exceptions).
note - this view shows the single-track return route that most of us took back, which gradually turns to the right & descends.
The walk back was a challenge, because cows use the trails daily so it is all churned up. They probably compact the clay soil, too, leading to poor drainage and standing water at low areas, so good luck finding a dry footfall ! The only option was to walk on narrow dry ridges and it became a balancing act to get through.
Once past the worst of the muddy areas, at a trail junction, I took the steeper of two downhill options, straight down the fall line, always a thrill and test of knees & ankles. At the bottom of the hill, Diane & Linda were sitting & talking under a giant Oak.
The 'single track return group' walked five miles and all of us had 850 ft. of elevation gain. Rich said he walked 3.3 miles taking the road back and he arrived at the cars an hour early. He had the windows down & was listening to jazz when I returned.
This was a really enjoyable hike, with sweeping views of emerald-green hills, and colorful new foliage emerging on old Oaks.
And whatever the difficulty of the walk, it was worth it ! ....my ankles were 'buzzing' about the incredible bending/ twisting experience, for two days afterwards.
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