Las Trampas Regional Wilderness
18012 Bollinger Canyon Rd, San Ramon, CA 94583
Las Trampas Regional Wilderness is a national park of 5,342 acres (21,62 km2), located in northern California's Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The closest city is Danville, California Las Trampas for the traps, or the snares is Spanish. The Park is part of the Eastern Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD).
It consists of two steep, hilly ridges (Las Trampas Ridge on the east and Rocky Ridge on the west) flanking a narrow valley along Bollinger Creek that includes a horse stable and a visitor's car park. Some of the hiking trails have steep sections; they can require an elevation drop of as much as 900 feet (270 m). The park was described as "the tough guy of the East Bay Regional Park District."
The vegetation on the southern and western slopes of the two ridges is predominant: black sage, chamise, and buck grass, with smaller quantities of toyon, hybrid manzanitas, elderberry, gooseberry, chaparral currant, sticky monkeyflower, coffeeberry, coyote bush, poison oak, holly leaf redberry, deer weed and hundreds of other plants. Some of the rocks exposed to it contain compressed fossil layers.
The Rugged Ridge reaches 2,024 feet (617 m ) above sea level. There is another trail at the elevation of 1,760 feet (540 m), that leads across EBMUD land. The trail leads either to the staging area of Valle Vista on Canyon Road in Moraga or to the staging area of Chabot in Castro Valley to the south.
Chamise and Bollinger Creek Loop trails connect to Las Trampas Hill, east of Bollinger Creek. The range provides fantastic views over the valleys of Ygnacio, San Ramon, and Amador, as well as Mt. Diablo and the Carquinez Straits.
There are two picnic areas next to the parking lot, called Steelhead and Shady. These are first-come, first-served, and can not be reserved. The nearby Little Hills Picnic Ranch provides reservable picnic spots for groups of 50 to 300 people.
Trails:
Bicycles are permitted on half the trails; hikers and equestrians on all the trails. Dogs are accepted. Cows, goats, steers and an occasional free-ranging bull can be found on the trails; their grazing keeps the grass short for fire protection throughout the summer. You can see deer, coons, and skunks as well as hawks, vultures, and an occasional eagle. The most common trees are laurel in the California bay and live oak on the coast. Certain plants include buckeye, broadleaf maple, live canyon oak, black oak, and scrub oak. The latter tends to prefer the ridgetop area at the end of Chamise Road, with its mistletoe.
The park encloses, on its eastern boundary, the triangular property of the National Historic Site of Eugene O'Neill on all three sides, with access from Las Trampas via hiking trails or from Danville by the single-lane path. There are also numerous secluded waterfalls in the eastern portion of the park, most of which are difficult to access.
Las Trampas' western-slope section is a vulnerable watershed of the EBMUD (East Bay Municipal Utility District), and is restricted to hiking by those who do not have a valid EBMUD permit.
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This amazing attraction in San Ramon, California is located near some other must-see places of interest:
- Zscape Games
- The Bridges Golf Course
- Clementine’s
- Primavera Ristorante
- Forest Home Farms Historic Park
- The Golden Skate
- Canyon Lakes Golf Course & Brewery
- San Ramon Royal Vista Golf Course
All of these wonderful attractions are located just a short distance from our location at 1261 Locust Street in Walnut Creek California! Stop by for a visit anytime!
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By JeffreymendelImage Courtesy of Jeffrey Nash - Own work, CC BY 3.0, Link
