The summer here in California has been dry dry dry, but we’ve had rain the last few days and I can just imagine these hills, in the outskirts of Dublin, soon turning bright green with a carpet of wildflowers.
The grassy ranchlands east of San Francisco are gradually giving way to housing developments, so the acquisition of this land, Doolan Canyon, by the East Bay Regional Park District, is an important step in preserving open space for public use, part of a great swath of greenbelt surrounding the urban Bay Area.
I hiked among the hills a while back, up along cow trails and though the thistles, and soaked in the quiet of the wind and the open sky.
On the way back this cattle pond, with its layered contrast of dry dirt, rippled water and the curves of the hills, gave me the photo for the day.
Hiking recommendation: none yet. Will be part of Doolan Canyon Regional Preserve.