Tilden Park — Big Springs/Seaview/Lupine/Vollmer Trail

Unlike Labor Day, today was cold and foggy, your typical Berkeley summer.

We set out to hike a smaller but steeper loop — starting from Arroyo Trail, then Lupine Trail, and finishing with Vollmer Trail. But we misread the map and started from the other end of the Big Springs parking lot… We didn’t realize that we were on Big Springs Trail instead until we came to the intersection of Big Springs/Seaview Trails. No wonder that the trail was wide enough for a firetruck and it was not as steep as we had imagined! Well, it was still quite a workout for me though.

The fog gave Big Springs Trail a mysterious look; things showed at one second and disappear next. Our little lizard friends were nowhere to be found today. Instead, we saw various sizes of pine cones along the path…

Lupine Trail was quite different from Big Springs: narrow and steep. I wasn’t quite sure if we wanted to take that route as soon as we reached the beginning of its steep downhill… But I was the one voting it over the gigantic Big Spring loop and had to stay with my hard choice. Plus, we saved a lost runner on the way by pointing him the direction to Seaview/Big Springs, the big loop that I had rejected. With my walking stick, my knees still complained loudly all the way down. Unfortunately, Vollmer Trail was no better, even though it was as wide as Big Springs.

So even though today we hiked a shorter distance, we worked out a lot more. Well, we learned our lesson that Vollmer, Lupine, and Arroyo Trails were not the best way down and will make sure not to make the same mistake again.