February Hike of the Month: Briones Peak in Briones Regional Park

I love February. The days are longer and warmer, and the first signs of spring sprout on the hills in the low elevations, such as the first flowers you’ll see on the climb to Briones Peak in Briones Regional Park. The East Bay has a bunch of beautiful parks to entice hikers, but Briones is one of the best. (For other options, visit Jane Huber’s excellent Bay Area hiker blog; also see the East Bay Regional Park District site.)

The hike described below is Hike 89 (Briones Regional Park Trails) from 100 Classic Hikes in Northern California, third edition, written by me (John Soares) and my brother Marc Soares. You can download a PDF of the hike over on the hike download page of the Northern California Hiking Trails main site.

Briones Regional Park Trails

Length: 8.4 miles loop
Hiking time: 5 hours
High point: 1,483 feet
Total elevation gain: 1,300 feet
Difficulty: easy to moderate
Season: year-round
Water: bring your own
Maps: USGS 7.5′ Briones Valley, USGS 7.5′ Walnut Creek
Information: East Bay Regional Park District

Explore a creek and a pond, and then climb Briones Peak for views of rolling hillsides, Mounts Diablo and Tamalpais, and San Pablo and Suisun Bays.

From Highway 24 in Lafayette, take the Pleasant Hill Boulevard exit, go north for 0.6 mile, and then turn left on Reliez Valley Road. Drive 4.8 miles, turn left onto the road signed for the Alhambra Creek Staging Area, and then go 0.8 mile to the parking lot.

From Highway 4, take the Alhambra Avenue exit south, and then go right onto Alhambra Valley Road. Drive 1.7 miles, turn left on Reliez Valley Road for 0.5 mile, and then go right for 0.8 mile.

Take the Alhambra Creek Trail past riparian habitat, buckeye, live oak, and blue oak to a signed trail junction at 0.9 mile, where you bear right onto the Spengler Trail. Climb away from the creek past coast live oak, poison oak, coyote brush, and California laurel to two ponds called Maricich Lagoons at 1.6 miles, where you turn left onto the Old Briones Road Trail. Climb gradually along gently rolling grassy hillsides that typify the Briones region to a signed trail junction at 1.9 miles, where you bear left on the Briones Crest Trail.

Take the spur trail on the left at 2.5 miles to a bench marking the top of 1,483-foot Briones Peak, the highest spot in Briones Regional Park. To the north you can see the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers converge into Suisun Bay; San Pablo Bay sprawls northwesterly, Mount Tamalpais looms westward beyond the Berkeley hills, and Mount Diablo juts to the east.

Bear left at the next signed trail junction, and then climb briefly and go right onto the signed Table Top Trail. Walk past chaparral and scattered coast live oak to a signed trail junction at 3.3 miles, where you turn left back onto the Spengler Trail. This wide road plunges steeply at times through a canyon shaded by coast live oak, huge toyon, buckeye, California laurel, and the occasional bigleaf maple.

Ignore an unsigned trail junction near a water tank and continue left to a signed trail junction at 5.7 miles, where you turn right. Bear right at an unsigned trail junction and then left at a signed trail junction at 6.3 miles. Continue left on the Spengler Trail at a three-way, unsigned trail junction 25 yards farther. The trail stays shaded while dropping 0.4 mile to an unsigned fork, where you bear left for a brief climb. Go right onto the Diablo View Trail at 7.3 miles. Turn left at a signed trail junction 0.5 mile farther. After 100 yards the trail drops to the Alhambra Creek canyon and to the trailhead at 8.4 miles.

View from Briones Peak in Briones Regional Park. (Photo by Marc Soares)

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