It has been a while since I've run this far (~63 miles) so I wasn't quite committed. After some research it started to look feasible - there is water available at the turn-around spot in Wildcat park, there's no gate at the Proctor parking lot on the south end, and park curfew is 10 pm to 5 am. Well then, I don't really have any excuses not to do this! Plus a time goal of 17 hours to try to (mostly) stay inside the curfew.
I hedged slightly and started a few minutes before 5 am. Selfie in the dark:
I managed to time this run during another bright moon, same as last year and completely unintentional. With all the trees in Chabot the moon wasn't nearly as useful as on the Wildcat end, but it was still pretty.
I heard owls in Chabot both in the morning and in the evening, very cool. Also a brief coyote howl.
Ah, some mud. Yes, the recent rains have made the Chabot trails pretty messy. Brandon Trail and especially Grass Valley had plenty of mud patches and puddles and water rivulets. At least it was slippery and not clumpy.
Temperatures were about freezing, making the creek valley even colder. I was happy to climb out of there, and also happy to have multiple layers on.
I crossed over to Redwood park and climbed up the West Ridge Trail. My only map check of the day was to verify the turn onto Orchard to drop down to the French Trail. It was great having seen this whole trail before (more than once in some places, as I've done a couple 50K's in these parks) but I hadn't always seen the intersections from the south-to-north directions.
I didn't even carry a camera, trying to save a bit of weight - and time! I used my phone for a couple shots, including a smile for the lovely French Trail singletrack and redwood trees:
There was a bit of mud on the climb out on the French Trail and I figured it would be a good goal to get back to this spot before dark (I made it, barely).
I was testing out a new, larger vest and it seemed to work quite well. Lots of little pockets, playing around with what went where and how to access the important stuff. A good experiment and hopefully useful for other long adventures.
In thinking about the climbs in this direction, I suddenly realized what a steep ascent it would be coming up from San Leandro Creek to Sibley Park. Yep, it's a bit of a haul! Good place for a quick photo break:
I had a bit of inspiration and stashed a couple items of clothing near the trail that drops north from Sibley Staging Area. That was a great spot for picking them back up later when it would start getting cooler again.
Ah mud... the trail down to and along Round Top Creek was the worst. Shoe sucking quagmires. Mostly jumpable and walk around-able, especially if you were OK with slopping through the shallow stuff and dipping a toe in here and there. It did seem to dry up slightly over the course of the day and was marginally better on the way back. Or maybe I cared less then.
Somehow my right shoe collected some pebble/mud detritus, not just once but three times during the day. The mud was overwhelming my running gaiters. But only on the right foot. Odd, but OK, I'll clean it out AGAIN.
Yay for gates that latch with a ring that drops down - still my favorite method (no photo this time though).
The Sea View Trail through Tilden is so lovely, a spectacular place to go hiking and gaze at the views.
Lots of people on the Nimitz bike path today! Even all the way to the more remote spots above Wildcat.
Feeling fine along the paved path:
Wow, I don't think I've noticed before that there are a couple places where you can see both Mount Tam to the west...
...and Mount Diablo to the east at the same time. Very cool.
I'd not run down Wildcat in this direction before, so I wasn't quite sure which path I would be taking until I got to each intersection and verified the directions. Partly confusing was all the climbing, one hill after another. Where is that saddle where the trail is supposed to drop down? Finally, there it is. I had been wondering if I might make it all the way north in 8 hours but now wasn't so sure.
But I did make it - in 7:59:06, that's pretty funny.
Yay for a water spigot, that helped a lot in minimizing water weight for this self-supported effort.
Two ravens kept flying directly overhead, buzzing me and then landing in a tree to watch me walk up the path. One started strolling alongside, like "hey, what's that in your hand?" What, this Spiz baggie? No, not for you! Who has been feeding the birds? Cut it out. Especially ravens, they don't need any encouragement.
The climb back up through Wildcat wasn't fast but not as slow as I thought it might be. Thank you legs. They eventually got tired of steeper grades but were fine with the normal ones the whole day.
Back along the Nimitz Trail, over to Tilden. I finally decided I could turn on the iPod I had been wearing, entertaining myself with a couple podcasts and then William Shatner's book about Leonard Nimoy.
There were many reminders throughout the day that this trail is quite well marked (I'm looking at you, Bay to Ridge Trail). There are only a couple intersections without a guidepost full of great info, including the East Bay Skyline Trail marker (the white/red/blue one in the middle):
More water at the Steam Trains, a nice run down to Sibley, mud-hopping along the creek, climbing up and remembering to pick up the clothes I had stashed. I put everything back on, ready for the evening temperature drop.
The French Trail at night was fun, always longer than expected even when you just saw it a few hours ago, but easy to follow.
Back to Chabot, one last park! I don't think those trails dried out at all. Lots of muck. Good thing I wasn't trying to run fast. Just trying to beat the curfew.
And I did! I made it back to the parking lot a few minutes before 10. Quick photo from the front seat of the truck before starting for home:
Total time = 17:05:35 (just over 9 hours back), so my estimate of 17 hours was close.
The FKT page:
https://fastestknowntime.com/route/east-bay-skyline-national-recreation-trail-ca
What an enjoyable day!
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