Sunol Wilderness

After the Big Storm rolled through I went for a run on Saturday at a place called Sunol Regional Wilderness. The storm wasn't really over and overall the experience was a little unpleasant. The temps were in the 40s and the rain came back part way into my run. Good training for the upcoming BAAR BRAWL race, which always has weather like this.

Got a track on MB, but my GPS equipment didn't properly log some of it. Usually in spots where I was climbing or descending very steep slopes. This run was not too long but was all about the hills. I did about 6000ft of climbing on very steep slopes. Much of the run was off-trail.



Probably the nicest part was the Maguire Peaks, shown here. My route took my up one of the steep ridges on the left, across the three peaks and down the ridge below the third peak.



The wind and rain came in just as I was reaching the summit of the first peak. I had to lean into the wind to avoid being blown off the hill. I snapped a picture facing north to the reservoir below from the safety of a few bushes.



You can see how steep the cliffs below the peaks are here. The climb down them is not difficult, but there are a few places you have to scramble with hands and feet. The rain really started to come down after this and I didn't get any more decent pictures. The peaks aren't the highest place in the park, I went to that place next.

Towards the end of the run I had planned to follow a path down a rocky creek bed called the "W-Tree Rock Scramble". However with the rain coming down hard I didn't think it would be very safe. I had no desire to encounter the force that chucks boulders down this creek. Instead I bombed down a ridge parallel to the creek to the Ohlone trail which crosses it. When I did cross the creek it was pretty high. At best the scramble would have been unpleasant.

After that it was a simple run on trails and roads out.