TikTok started showing me Del Valle Regional Park videos which made me wonder if the universe was…read moretrying to tell me I need to go on a hike... well, I did. And it was beautiful so who really won? I don't recall which trail we did, but the views were nice. There's not much shade along the trail we took so I'd say wear a hat if you can and stay hydrated. Once in a while, we saw a random cow walking along which was cool. This place is popular - we saw a lot of families and bicyclists when we were here.

What a beautiful way to begin the Lunar New Year…read more Yesterday, we hiked 4.2 miles at Del Valle Regional Park, and it felt like the perfect start to my new year goals. The trail was absolutely beautiful, even with a light drizzle along the way. Rain or shine, we still show up and that's something I'm really proud of. I'm so happy to say that my stamina is getting stronger with every hike. Each time we head out, I can feel the progress. The hills feel a little less intimidating, the miles go by a little easier, and my confidence grows a little more. When we reached the top and looked out over Lake Del Valle, the view was breathtaking, calm, peaceful, and completely worth the climb. Moments like that remind me why I keep pushing forward. Growth doesn't happen overnight, but step by step, mile by mile, I'm getting better. And thank you, Hubby, for always motivating me and believing in me. Having someone by my side who encourages me to keep going makes all the difference. Here's to starting the Lunar New Year strong and continuing to chase every goal ahead of us.

So this reservoir was built in 1874 but closed to public, then opened for recreational use in the…read more60s. So the trails around the lake have matured really well. Like most parts of the paved trails are very well shaded from trees that have grown over those years. My dog and I walk for around an hour to hour and a half, so we usually pick west or east from the parking lot and return the same way. I think we've only explored like half of the lake so far. I've seen wild turkeys, deers, rabbits, and ducks around. And if you are wearing overear headphones, you get the natures remix with all the birds and insects chirping.

I've been to this east Bay regional park a million times and I've had a great visit each time. They…read moredo lots of races here and I've enjoyed running the bike trail up at the top coming through the Eucalyptus trees. It's's fun except for a challenging hill called live oak trail. If you've never tried it before, try running up the hill as fast as you can go. It will be a fun experience for you. You could thank me later. In the Marina. there's a small Cafe--sort of like a bar-and-grill except for no bar. They also sell fish, licenses and rent boats. One of my favorite all time parks in the east bay regional park system

Our guide was Joe, and he was great to work with, very knowledgeable and also very fun. I requested…read morea half day run for Mother's Day weekend, and my family of 4 (kids are 13 and 10) all had a blast.

We've rafted twice more with All-Outdoors since my last review - Goodwin Canyon in October 2022,…read moreand then Middle Fork American River again this past month (both 1-day trips). The last time we rafted Middle Fork American was on a cold, gloomy, drizzling day in October 2019 - so we had to give it another go in warmer weather. This time around was just as memorable. Two of us in the boat ended up falling out in the water at Tunnel Chute, which happened so fast that I barely knew what had happened - thankfully, there was a nice calmer stretch of water right after through the river tunnel, so we were easily able to get back into the raft. (Thank you to our guide, Troy, for hauling me back in, and for being an awesome guide in general!) Plus this was one of the photographer spots, so the action was all captured for us to laugh about later. Later, after our tasty sandwich picnic lunch, we had a few unexpected events happen, starting from the portage down Ruck-a-Chucky Falls. Shout-out to all three guides in our group - Troy, Shea, and AJ - for handling things so calmly and getting us all back where we were supposed to be! We had plenty of calm stretches floating down the river as well. The canyon is beautiful and quite peaceful. We saw a ton of dragonflies flying above our heads, masked ducks chilling on rocks and diving underwater, and wild grapes and blackberries growing alongside the river. We'll be back again for another trip with All-Outdoors! Maybe we'll try a 2-day or 3-day trip next time.

Shadow Cliffs Park was once a gravel quarry and was gifted to the East Bay Regional Park District…read moreby Henry Kaiser in mid 60's. I've been visiting the park since I've lived in the East Bay since 2001. I love kayaking and fishing on the lake (catfish is currently stocked) as well as bringing my dog Lola to explore the nature trails. The park has endured the drought and covid over the years and was closed for some time. It's open again and back to normal use. A new structure called "Interpretive Pavilion" has been built and has historical facts about the park. Hence my introduction to this review. Shadow Cliffs is a hidden gem here in the East Bay. I always leave filling blessed by God's creation of nature.

This place has everything I need for a restful day out…read more Beach, sunlight, birds, peace and quiet and a freaking trail. Woot woot How fun. Parking is $5

Came here with my girlfriend for a morning walk. The parking was good. The path was clean and…read moreoffered lots of views of the water and the hills in the background. Lots of wildlife. It's a good walk for 3.5 miles.

There's free parking at the Isherwood Staging Area and convenient gate access to the lake trails at…read morethe end of this lot (so no need to trek to the main parking lot to enter the park). Not only did I save money by avoiding parking fees, but there were so many adorable goats along the creek on the other side of the ISA lot, seemingly hundreds. Apparently, they are brought in periodically for wildfire prevention as they eat the dry grass. It was a lovely surprise. The Quarry Lakes recreation area offers multiple restrooms, picnic tables and park benches galore, plenty of grass with grazing geese, ducks swimming in the water, squirrels scampering around, fishing docks and pier, and wide gravel trails bordering the lakes which was perfect for my run this past Sunday. There were hardly any visitors while I was there so I was able to enjoy the scenic views and serene environment with minimal distractions.

Lovely park with lots of local wildlife, flora, and birds! Plenty of parking when we went right…read moreafter dinner and walking the stretch around the lake is enough to kill around an hour if you're just jaunting around and more than enough to digest a big meal. Around sunset on a Monday there were still lots of people sitting on the benches, walking, biking, jogging, and roller blading. Felt pretty safe, but when the sun sets there's not many walkway/street lamps so keep that in mind. Lots of Canadian geese and we got to see their awkward teenage goslings. There's some ducks and we got to see what looked like cormorant and I think a small heron. We also got to see small song birds and some robins too. It's neat that they have bird houses on some of the trees too and we got to see some ground squirrels. I think the prehistoric themed playground is super nice too. I LOVE themed things so the little saber tooth structure from the distance was quite nice. Along the lake are some "work out equipment" like a pull up bar and parallel bars. Lots of bird turds, so be wary of where you walk, but other than that. A solid park.

most elizabeths are great. to name a few - the queen (rip), elizabeth taylor (the queen), and…read moreelizabeth hurley (also the queen especially when she pulled up in that versace dress, if you don't know what i'm talking about just google it). lake elizabeth is a spectacular elizabeth! it reeks of geese droppings and i'm HERE FOR IT. not in a weird way. it's super nostalgic for every fremont kid, has a great scenic 2 mile trail, and also offers alternative trails like the one behind the railroad. great place for community events and parties. squirrels are cute. note - trail is flat but there is one section that's super bumpy. not ideal for roller skaters like me who only have indoor wheels! some personal memories from childhood: watching an old guy catch a rainbow fish out of the lake, getting chased by a goose, falling off the brown playground slide, getting screamed at by a random parrot

This is just for the outside area. I haven't been to the swimming area in ages…read more Most of the time (especially not during summer) you can enter for free, park, walk around, enjoy some nature in the city and relax. There are also a few pokemon gyms located in the area if that is your thing, lol. Great place to have an impromptu picnic with a little privacy from the outside world.

Wow! It's hard to beat having lake/beach vibes that is so local to us. Clean facilities and clean…read morebeaches/water. Plenty of parking but can fill up during the weekends. Cheap prices to get in for parking as well as into the lake itself. Get here early on the weekends otherwise there is an admission limit that can be easily hit during those hot summer days. There are also lifeguards on duty here making sure that everyone is safe. Couple of caveats. Water is supposed to be chlorinated, but do note that there are wild birds that do swim/poop into the water. The shower facilities are not heated so please keep that in mind. In addition, just be aware that though many places online say that they are open till 6pm, the swimming actually ends at 5:30pm so please plan accordingly. I just cannot recommend this place enough for families, your children will love it here!

It has always been an item on my bucket list to see bioluminescent plankton. However I held very…read morelittle hope of ever seeing it because it was my understanding that you never know when or where it'll ever appear. So when my wife mentioned that Napa Valley Paddle was doing a guided kayak tour though bioluminescent waters in Tomales Bay I had no choice but to book a trip. I've been kayaking exactly twice before and both times on lakes in broad daylight. So I was a little nervous about kayaking in a salt water bay in the dark. Hopefully the water is smooth and it doesn't get too choppy for my wife and I. Also, I had low expectations, maybe the plankton won't be there that night, and if it is, it's probably a very subtle glow that you almost have to use your imagination to see. When we arrived we found ourselves in a parking lot at the Miller Boat Launch in Marshall. We got some basic instructions on kayaking, given life vests and whistles and headlamps set to red light to wear backwards. It was all pretty laid back and chill. As the sun went away and the fog came in we paddled out to Hog Island and by the time we were close to it, it was dark enough that some people were beginning to see the water light up. Fortunately the water was very calm and it was comforting to see all the red headlamps on the water to guide us on our way. We paddked clear across the bay to the other side where there were cliffs making the water especially dark there. This is where we turned off all of our lights. There was no subtlety at all, it was nothing less than magical. The water lit up with every paddle and every splash. It was a smooth blue glow in the dark with occasional spatks mixed in. We spent a good while paddling around and splashing and generally bring awed by the trippy water. Then it was time to start heading back, the goal was to paddle around the other side of Hog Island where the water is also very fun to look at. However the water glowed the whole way there even. Unfortunately this is also when conditions changed. We had a nasty headwind and the water got choppy. We were seriously worried we might capsize as we paddled like crazy to get to the island again. When we finally got there, we were done. We just wanted was to get back to the car and go home and drink hot coacoa. So we kept on paddling as hard as we could while we struggled to keep the kayak heading in the right direction. People were starting to scatter and soon the only lights to follow were at the boat launch we came from. Whether that actually was the boat launch was debatable but it was the only indication of civilization so we kept heading in that direction. Maybe it was because we were heavier than anyone else or perhaps we just couldn't paddle very well but we lagged behind in the dark. To make things even more interesting the conditions continued to worsen. We had to fight the wind and the choppy water harder as we made that last leg of the paddle back to shore. Fortunately the lights we were aiming for did happen to be where we needed to land and although we missed the dock we did get to shore soaked but not dreched and we managed to actually make it without going into the drink. Needless to say, it became an adventure however no one could have predicted conditions would change like they did. Apparently under typical conditions we would have had a tail wind and that part of the trip should have been the easy part. A professional paddle boarder who was with our group told us those conditions were "insane" and it was not something she would have willingly attempted unless it was over a short distance in daylight. So we feel better about ourselves having a hard time making it back. I'm very glad we did this, it's a beautiful memory, and a great story to tell, and I highly recommend going.

We met Tanya downtown at the river walk and she set us up with a Fagan Marsh kayak trip the next…read moreday. Loved talking with Drew beforehand, learning about wetland restoration efforts and how quickly nature can rebound. The slough was peaceful and sparkling on this sunny October afternoon. We observed cranes and fish nibbling at surface snacks. In the distance, you can see Mount Tam and a bit closer--the Brazos railroad bridge. While there is much to see and do in Napa, this experience at the end of our trip was a definite highlight.