Completed: April 8, 2023 | Elevation: 1,740′ | Trail: bootleg trail to top | Distance: < 1 mile
Back in the car after completing our hike (walk) to Vollmer Peak, we continued our drive on Grizzly Peak Boulevard, missed the turnout for Grizzly Peak and had to turn around. No road signs indicated where Grizzly Peak might be but GPS proved to be helpful and if I had paid more attention on the drive over I would have seen a hill with a – you guessed it – communication/radio tower on it just visible through the trees.
We pulled off to the side behind some other cars and could see a bootleg trail to the summit of Grizzly Peak. What looked like it once might have been a parking lot to access an official trail, was now blocked off, and a fence now prevented access to the trail.
After surveying our surroundings, we decided to go for it—clearly other people had made this trip—and followed outlines of a trail to the summit of Grizzly Peak. It was a really short hike, 10 to 15 minutes at most, and like Vollmer, even though there is a rather unbecoming structure at the top, there are still peek-a-boo views of the bay to be had.
It was just a little after noon and even with a later start, we had finished reaching two peaks. Our next hike to Wildcat Peak was going to our longest one of the day, but it would also be the most enjoyable one.
Find an overview of our Tilden hikes here.
Follow our progress bagging the Bay Area’s Nifty Ninety here.
Coda
Given that both the parking lot and former trail to access Grizzly Peak are closed off I’m not sure how “legal” this hike is. I was half expecting a cop to see us and tell us to get down. Luckily, nothing happened and I don’t think any of the cars driving by gave two thoughts wondering what we were doing up on the hill.