Best Places Around Pleasanton To See Wildflowers

April is the height of the wildflower season in the Pleasanton area.  A short drive to a regional park provides a family with a day-long opportunity to wander through flower-studded meadows, next to babbling brooks and along lofty ridges. Views encompass Mount Diablo, the Altamont Pass windmills, and sometimes even the snowy Sierra.

Exercise is more pleasant when rewarded by views of purple lupine or a field of lavender shooting stars. Even the steepest trails seem more accessible when lined with white fairy lanterns and deep-blue hound's tongue blossoms.

The most convenient park for Pleasanton residents is Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park. From the staging area on Foothill Road, where parking is free, take a map and head up the wide Oak Tree Trail. Turn left onto the Woodland Trail for a shady walk that features shade-tolerant flowers such as milkmaids. At the top of the hill, the Ridgeline Trail offers sweeping views of the Tri-Valley area and the Altamont. Strong walkers and mountain bikers who make it to the Sinbad Creek Trail will be rewarded with a variety of both flowers and terrain.

Cat Taylor, naturalist and special event coordinator for the East Bay Regional Park District, recommends these trails at other parks near Pleasanton:

• Sunol Regional Wilderness: Just a few miles south of Pleasanton on Calaveras Road, Sunol is famous around the Bay Area for its April wildflower display. Taylor spotted 75 species just along the Canyon View Trail to Little Yosemite in April 2009. Outcrops of serpentinite , California's official state rock, provide friendly habitat for bird's eye gilia, linanthus and goldfields - and, of course, the state flower, the golden poppy. Other good trails: Maguire Peaks Loop, Ohlone Wilderness Trail to Mission Peak, Shady Glen and Indian Joe Creek Trail. Parking costs $5; dog fee is $2; Ohlone Wilderness Trail requires $2 permit.
• Las Trampas Regional Wilderness:  North of Pleasanton on Bollinger Canyon Road, the Las Trampas Ridge offers spectacular views along with wildflowers. Look for deep red Indian warriors on the west side of the trail. Parking is free.
• Del Valle Regional Park: South of Livermore, this is the place for hardcore hikers willing to tackle steep hills on the eastern end of the Ohlone Wilderness Trail in exchange for wonderful wildflowers and awesome views. Parking is $6; bring your $2 wilderness trail permit.
• Morgan Territory Regional Preserve: North of Livermore, short hikes along the Condor and Prairie Falcon trails provide lots of color among rolling, oak-studded hills. Parking is free.

At the parks, watch out for poison oak, rattlesnakes  and livestock. Cattle, sheep and goats graze at some parks. Their presence is a controversial issue with some park users, concerned that the animals will pollute waterways and overgraze the vegetation. Taylor and other park district folks say properly managed grazing increases biodiversity, as the large animals do for the grasslands what elk, deer and antelope used to do: encourage native plants while discouraging non-native grasses and those awful star thistles. 

"Grazing promotes conditions for our keystone species - the California ground squirrel - which in turn feeds snakes, hawks, eagles, badgers, foxes, coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions and provides habitat for tiger salamanders, burrowing owls, toads etc," Taylor said in an e-mail.

Before visiting parks, check the East Bay Regional Parks District web site ahead of time for hours, which vary depending on time of year. (And while you're at it, check out the Trails Challenge program - a great way to become acquainted with more parks in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.) After your hike, identify the flowers you saw at http://www.ebparks.org/stewardship/plants/flowers.

But take photos only. Picking flowers is not allowed.