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Happy 50th Anniversary Lake Chabot: Clyde Woolridge Staging Area Loop

by Stephanie

In honor of Lake Chabot’s 50th Anniversary and to continue our Memorial Day weekend, we spent time somewhere we weren’t familiar with. The Clyde Woolridge Staging Area is right where Grass Valley Rd. and Skyline Blvd meet. I grew up here and had no idea this area existed which is why I am so grateful to have such a beautiful space nearby to explore more. This entry leads right into Lake Chabot, but not after some awesome features and terrain variation.

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Goldenrod Trail to Columbine, the first part of the loop

The trail starts on the Goldenrod Trail, where we ran into a gopher snake  as it was pretty dry and hot out today.
Once you get about .75 miles up the Goldenrod Trail, you’ll come to a trail post for the Columbine Trail.
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Gopher snake crossing the trail

If you continue straight, you’ll go all the way to Lake Chabot. Turn down to the Columbine Trail which you will appreciate it getting increasingly shaded. As you continue to go downwards you’ll pass tons of blackberry bushes and various wildflowers, including an abundance of ocean spray which was scattered throughout the shrubs with its pretty pops of white.
About .25 miles on the Columbine trail you’ll reach the Cascade Trail and after about 1 mile hiking, you’ll come up on a steep rock area you can descend into. It was definitely hard to get down to, but worth it! The climbs were risk challenges for our big kids and super fun for our lab, Gus, who was appreciative of any water he could jump into.
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Anthony doing some climbing. He didn’t make it all the way up, but he had fun trying!

There is an area above the rocks to reach another water feature that can be reached further down.
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Descending down to the rock area we found off the Cascade Trail

After climbing back onto Cascade Trail, we came upon a stone bridge and the main Lake Chabot trail–there were bike sightings and following along this section, led us right back to the staging area where we started.

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The Stone Bridge after the Cascade Trail which met with the main Lake Chabot trail where lots of bikes ride rode down

There are 600 ft gains the last portion of the loop (in case you were thinking of your little ones getting out to finish the hike). We let our 2 year old out to walk the last .25 miles slowly, but she did it. We will definitely be back to explore here and maybe extend the hike further to Lake Chabot.
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Maeve found some Ocean Spray on the ground and used it as a fun hair addition

Lake Chabot’s 50th Anniversary  celebration is next week on June 4th and will be kicking off the day with a fishing derby. There will be tons of family-friendly fun on the lake. We will be there at the EBRPD table and giving out information on the various parks and featured hikes. If you can make it out, be sure to stop by and say hello.
Happy 50th Anniversary Lake Chabot!
                 
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-1 Comment-

  • May 30, 2016 at 12:01 pm
    Pat

    Thanks for this great information. I, too, live in the area and didn’t know about this trail. Unfortunately, I have a snake phobia. Are there other places nearby you can recommend for a snake-a-phobe like me?

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