Hiking in the East Bay

城市概覽

EBRPD

Although the East Bay is not among the best-known of the world's hiking destinations, it has many hiking trails because the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) has purchased significant portions of land in the region, turned them into regional parks, and created numerous trails in these parks. Some of the longest trails in the EBRPD are well over ten miles in length. The parks district is still trying to add new parks to its area, but this is becoming increasingly difficult due to the limited amount of rural areas not already owned by the East Bay Parks District, the rate of development, high property taxes if you own land, and high land prices.

Climate

Inland If you are inland but are not far above sea level (for example, the Tri-Valley), you can expect daily highs in summer to be around 90 °F (32 °C) and lows in summer to be around 60 °F (16 °C). In a heat wave, high temperatures can get as high as 115 °F (46 °C), which of course makes hiking impossible. In the same location, winter highs will be around 60 °F (16 °C), with low temperatures in December sometimes dropping below 30 °F (−1 °C). At higher elevations in the same area, temperatures will be lower but still high: peaks such as Mount Diablo aren't nearly as high in elevation as they appear, so temperatures could be much higher than you expected. For hiking, the best months are October to May when temperatures are lower.

Coastline None of the East Bay reaches the Pacific Ocean itself, but a lot of it has coastlines along the San Francisco Bay, the San Pablo Bay, and the Sacramento Delta. However, there are not many hiking opportunities very close to the coastline; the closest hiking opportunities to the milder San Francisco Bay shoreline are in the hills near Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward, and Fremont. Temperatures at these hiking destinations are not as extreme as those experienced farther inland.

如何抵達

By car The East Bay region is quite easy to access by car because it is connected to several freeways and highways. I-580 enters the region from both the western and eastern sides and the I-680 enters the region from the northern and southern sides. (Both of these freeways usually have traffic jams during rush hours, however.) Once you leave the freeways numerous country roads that lead to the East Bay Regional Parks and trails. There is a general pattern when driving to one of the local parks: on your way to them, you will usually take a fairly wide road in one of the East Bay cities, but will eventually find yourself on a country road that leads to some ranches and a staging area, where you can begin your hike. Most of the local parks do not have any grand entrances or fancy visitor centers—you come to hike and view the scenery.

By public transit Most of the parks listed in this article can be reached by public transit (usually bus), with varying levels of convenience and sometimes requiring a 20 or 30-minute walk from the bus stop. A handful are only really reachable by car or bike. Mount Diablo State Park has one trailhead that starts near a bus stop, but it'll be a long uphill hike if you want to get to the peak from there. A number of not-too-challenging car-free hikes can be reached from Berkeley, Oakland, and Martinez.

必看景點

Most of the parks consist of grasslands, oak-covered areas, and a combination of shrubs and small trees called chaparral. The western part of the East Bay is more tree-covered than the eastern sections, which are closer to the Central Valley. The general pattern of the landscapes in the American West, which is desert at low elevations and forested land in the mountains, is generally not the case in California and the East Bay is the same. However, those who are in the East Bay will notice that while some of the lower hills near the Altamont Pass are very desert-like, the higher mountain ranges like Mount Diablo and those around Del Valle have noticeably more trees than the lower hills. Note that most of the photos of the hills in the area are deceptive: they are nearly all taken during wet period of winter or spring to capture the hills when the grass is green, making the area look lush. However, during much of the year (May to October at the least; March/April to December at the most), these hills are gold-colored because the grass has dried out, waiting for either a wildfire to burn them or the rainy season to begin in October to December. Some of the cities in the East Bay have more trees than would be expected, and this presents the illusion that the area has a wetter climate than it really does. The trees in the cities are almost all kept alive by irrigation, and naturally (as in the times when the area was inhabited by only Native Americans) there would be far fewer trees in the areas that are now densely populated.