Completed: March 17, 2023 | Elevation: 948′ | Trail: Vista Loop Trail | Distance: 3.3 miles
I had started out thinking I would have a grand plan or strategy for tackling the Nifty Ninety, however, reality has so far proven otherwise. Instead, decisions have typically been made last minute going into the weekend, often based on the weather and how far we feel like driving. They have also been taken opportunistically, which is how we ended up doing Garin Peak one Friday afternoon.
We had an appointment in Fremont so wanted to take advantage of being all the way over there. Research identified two parks, Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Park and Garin Regional Park, about 10 miles up the road in Hayward. Between the two of the they contained three peaks. In an ideal scenario we would have done all of them in one long-ish day, but the two peaks in Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Park—Gossip Rock and Tolman Peak—would have required a very long hike which we didn’t have time for, and not to mention, one of the key trails was closed due to storm damage. This left us with Garin Peak in Garin Regional Park.
The main staging area was located at the end of Garin Avenue, which runs east of Mission Boulevard, up the hill through a residential neighborhood. There were gophers running around everywhere and we caught sight of a coyote. We parked in the lot furthest to the left as you enter the park, and followed the paved pathway that ran alongside a creek towards Arroyo Flat Group Camp, went through the gate, and turned left up a low grassy hill past several grazing cows. The trail here, while not too muddy, was heavily rutted.
At the junction with the Vista Peak Loop Trail we went left to go clock-wise around the loop. The hills all around us were a verdant green, and our views westward opened up as we paralleled the Bay in the distance.
After 1.3 miles we reached another junction where we veered right to continue along Vista Peak Loop Trail up towards a tree covered hill.
The trail doesn’t actually lead to Garin Peak but it’s easy to see where the top is, so we got off the trail and started walking up the hill. We first came to Vista Peak and then walked a short distance, up a gentle grade, to reach Garin Peak, where we found a geological survey marker, and what looked to be the remnants of another one. We took in the 360° vistas of the Bay to the west and the homes dotting the hills to the north and east.
Back on the trail, we stayed right at two junctions to continue along the loop until we returned to the intersection with the trail that led to the parking lot. It was an easy hike that took us about 1 hour and 20 minutes walking at a leisurely pace. We encountered 3 people riding horses but otherwise had the trail to ourselves. Definitely a nice way to end the work week and kick-off the weekend.
Follow our progress bagging the Bay Area’s Nifty Ninety here.
Coda
Our hike to Garin Peak actually turned out to be perfect for the amount of time we had, and I was happy we did it, even if it meant that we’d have to return to the area to bag Gossip Rock and Tolman Peak (assuming that the trails re-open).
It was actually hard to find definitive information on Garin Peak. A lot of the trails and maps only show Vista Peak (even the East Bay Regional Park District map doesn’t indicate Garin Peak). I eventually turned to Peakbagger and found their topo map which shows the two peaks, and relative position next to each other.
Additional Info
- It’s free to enter Garin Regional Park when there’s no one manning the kiosk (which happened to be the case for us), otherwise it’s $5 per vehicle.