Old Moraga Ranch Trail to St. Mary's Peak

January 18, 2015
Moraga, CA
Hikers: Cathy, Laura
Distance: 5.72 miles - includes walking from Rancho Laguna Park to the trailhead - about .8 of a mile (each way). There is street parking closer to the trailhead on Camino Pablo @ Sanders Ranch Road.
Elevation gain: 1,453 ft.


A beautiful day filled with lots of fog, cows, cool clouds and hills. Lots of hills.






















We're thinking this wouldn't be a good hike after a rain. It was pretty soggy in areas, and we haven't had any rain in over three weeks.










Out of the fog we came. It was an amazing transformation, that just could not be caught on camera.








The view from our snack spot.


St. Mary's College of California

Mt. Diablo in the background.

A gentleman we met on the trail mentioned there was a chair up here, that gets moved from spot to spot.


Mt. D again! :)




You can barely see the rainbow colors in the wispy part of the cloud in the middle. The colors started fading before we could get our cameras out.

Trails:
Old Moraga Ranch Trail
The trailhead is located in the gated community of Sanders Ranch. Take the sidewalk on the left-hand side of the security kiosk, and look for the trail about five houses down, on the left.

1 comment:

  1. Cathy and Laura, my name is Sam Levy. I happened upon your blog this morning while while searching the web for photos of old Moraga. On a hunch, I went through your photos from your hike on January 18. I usually don't do that, because frankly I've never seen any that capture the essence of what those hills are like ... you've done that and they are very good. For personal reasons, I especially like the ones in the fog, and even more so the one with cattle in them or fences. Personal reason; I grew up in Moraga. We moved there in May of 1951 and had a home there on Larch Ave. until my step-father passed away in the fall of 2014. When I was 14 I went to work, in the summer, for The Moraga Ranch or at that time what we called The Company. When I graduated from high school I worked there for two and a half years. I had my own horses and rode those hills, the ones you took the photos of, when I was working for the ranch and when I was working with other ranchers, Sam Carr and John and Frank Sanders, I rode there in the rain, in the sun, in the wind and fog, when it was hot and when it was freezing cold. And when I wasn't, I was wishing I was, cause there's nothing like it. I'm glad you took that hike and got those photos. I've had some of my best experiences on horseback in those hill ... I don't know if when I send this if my email address goes with it, but here it is: e.levy.sam@gmail.com. I'd like to copy a couple of the photos but I don't want to do it without asking you first. Thank you and all the best, Sam Levy

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