I tried to get to Russian Ridge early to beat the heat on Thursday, but as I pulled into the parking lot at 10am I knew I would be suffering in 2 hours, since it was already uncomfortably hot. At the start of my hike Mount Diablo poked above a blanket of valley fog to the east. The views south were tremendous and I could see the mountains south of Monterey Bay quite clearly.I crossed paths only with 4 mountain bikers in 2 1/2 hours -- I suppose the more sane hikers were (wisely) trekking in the woods. I was hot but had a great hike anyway.
There are few wildflowers left in the grassland so late in the season, just some smatterings of clarkia and California fuschia. I spotted white-tailed kites soaring over the hills, and
throughout the hike there were many cliff swallows flitting about. I was pleased to see fat snake squiggles in the dust and the trails are so dry right now that coyote and bobc
at tracks were visible as well. Not far from the trailhead I came across this massive scat which m
ust be from a mountain lion -- I put my camera case next to it for scale and the case is 4 inches so the scat was more than 8 inches. Yow!
Trails were in great shape and I encountered no changes or mistakes that would require updating or fixing for the next edition. I'll likely extend the Russian Ridge hike from 3.6 miles (as it stands in the second edition) to 4.7 miles, substituting Hawk Ridge Trail for the unnamed connector between the Ridge Trail and Mindego Trail, and requiring a longer stretch on the Ridge Trail to return to the trailhead -- I think Hawk Ridge (a singletrack) is a prettier trail and an easier ascent.
PS: Apologies for the funky formatting and line breaks here -- I can't figure out how to insert photos without this happening!
