This pleasant 3 mile loop trail begins at the Marina, at the end of the
road at the south entrance of the Los Vaqueros Watershed near Livermore.
For Los Vaqueros, famous for plenty of steep trails within its nearly
20,000 acres, this trail is not too steep with a gentle 350-foot climb
that offers great views of the reservoir and a picnic area near its
peak. Also, you'll walk through some oak groves
In the winter
and early spring, the grass is dark green and trails are soft, the oak
trees are bare. We would not recommend this trip during hot and windy
July, unless you walked very early in the morning.
Directions
Start at the Marina and head north on the gravel Los Vaqueros Trail,
crossing the "Rock Wall" and staying to the left and up. After about 1/3
of a mile, turn left at the first trail marker you see. There is some
confusion here. When we hiked this trail, the trail sign said: "Danner
Trail." On the map it states "West Loop Trail." These are the same
trail.
You take the trail up, heading to the west. The trail
heads toward imposing Mallory Canyon and Morgan Territory. While that's
very, very steep, this trail avoids that difficult climb. You don't link
up with any other trails on this loop.
Oak Groves
The highlight of the trip are the walks through the oak groves, and the picnic area overlooking the reservoir.
On the way down, you'll see some large water tanks on the hills. The
Contra Costa Water District has planted hundreds of oak trees in this
area, and the tanks are part of the irrigation system for the young
trees.
The loop rejoins the Los Vaqueros Trail, and we headed back along this curvy gravel road back to the Marina.
When we hiked this loop early in the morning in January, it was a fun and cold walk and took a little more than an hour to complete.
