Garin/Dry Creek Park [EBRP, Hayward]

AA - D; *** ; 0.5+ miles; Transit                                     INFO & MAP                          

I was attracted to this park by its accessibility by bus, much-hyped in the brochure, so I was disappointed to find that the 1 mile distance from the bus stop at Mission Boulevard to the Garin Avenue entrance is so steep, and the road so narrow, as to make the claim of transit access there a joke. The Tamerack Avenue entrance is indeed only a near-level 0.3 mile from the bus stop on Mission Boulevard, BUT has been blocked by an impassible motorcycle barrier. This is slated to be removed soon, and once it is gone the most wheelchair friendly trail in the park, winding through Dry Creek's riparian habitat to a picnic table in the meadow where Meyer's Ranch once stood, will be open.

NEWS FLASH! Ron Mueller of EBRP emails in November 2007:

...we finally got the wheel chair access installed at the end of Tamarack Dr. Sorry it took so long, it was done as an eagle scout project and was just completed last week. The ground passing through the access is still pretty rough and needs some work. Eventually we will be putting a paved path through the access that will lead to the Meyer’s Ranch Tr.

Unfortunately I can't get out there to check what he means by "pretty rough." If you have been there since the barrier was removed, please let me know.

Meanwhile, with a car a wheelchair user can have a pleasant time at the main entrance. The park center is shaped around its 19th and 20th century history of settlement and farming. Ample landscaped picnic areas north of Jordan Pond are flanked by apple orchards, antique farm machinery and a red barn where the visitor center is open on summer weekends. It's got the feel of a nice city park, and can be busy with people fishing, flying kites, and playing games.

But there are access glitches. The otherwise accessible restrooms have 1½" edges at the beginning of their concrete ramps. The women's toilet seat is unusually low, and the men's restroom toilet paper can't be reached from the seat! The Visitor Center was closed when we visited, but I noticed that its ramp also had a 1½" edge.

A nice paved path leads through the park to an accessible fishing pier at Jordan Pond, and continues around the pond to where it crosses a concrete spillway that must be wheelchair-impassable when much water is flowing. Other obstacles make completing the loop a little tricky.

Dry Creek Trail, which starts here, is the only Garin Park trail that is detailed in the EBRPD ADA web pages, and it's a poster child for those pages' deficiencies, for it is not accessible to any wheelchair--reading the detailed specs is a total waste of energy. The north end of Dry Creek, at the pond, is paved for 200 feet or so, dropping steeply to the creek bed. Then after another couple hundred feet, it crosses the creek on a very narrow, impassable wooden bridge. The same sort of bridge prevents access to the trail's south end, where it meets Meyer's Ranch Trail.

North of the Visitor Center, a similar story. The first 0.1 mile of Old Homestead Trail is paved and gradually rising. Past a gate, it gets steeper and becomes smooth looking dirt, which when we visited in a dry January was actually very rough due to cattle tracks. This would be bad going in mud; but might be smoother late in summer. In this area we got a good look at a red-tailed hawk, saw white-throated swifts hawking about near a big oak tree, and met at least half a dozen wild turkeys uphill from the junction with Vista Peak Loop Trail. We continued to "Newt Pond," but found no pond, just cows in what might be a marsh.

And that's about it for anyone who doesn't do very steep and rough. Crazies read on:

Taking Vista Peak Loop Trail and turning east, we enjoyed the steep climb out of the canyon through attractive mixed forest , but as we got higher, were unhappy to find ourselves looking down on Hayward and at luxury housing on nearby hills. A more appealing prospect of the Bay salt ponds showed through one notch .

Before reaching the junction with Zeile Creek Trail, at a saddle of the ridge, we took a right turn on a fire trail not shown on the map. It climbed steeply, taking us after about 0.3 mile to the edge of the park and through a gate onto the ridgetop east of the park. From this height we could see downtown SF, the Bay Bridge, and daunting views of more subdivisions. Up there we also found strange piles of boulders scattered about--later we learned these were deposited along the ridges, not by visitors from another planet, but by developers, to supposedly mitigate human appropriation of most of the habitat of the endangered Alameda whipsnake.

On another day we took in part of the west High Ridge Loop Trail, which is similar in offering grand views and intimidating going: mostly steep and steeper, and rough-surfaced to boot. In addition there's a gate that would be hard for a wheelchair-user to handle alone on the climb east of the visitor center. But if this kind of going is your cup of tea, there's plenty of it here, 6+ miles on the High Ridge Loop alone..

Details: Take Industrial Blvd east from I-880 to Mission, right then left up Garin Avenue to the main entrance. The #99 bus from BART stops near the Tamarack entrance, which has no toilets, benches or off street parking, and at present has an inexcusable wheelchair-proof gate. At the main entrance there is plentiful parking and disabled spaces, ($5 per vehicle when kiosk is attended) accessible toilets (detail above) and water. Non-service dogs are allowed ($2 fee)