Ghost Camping in the East Bay Hills (Night Backpacking) (2009.01.19)

My fingers torn from climbing at Indian Rock, Adam dropped me off inTilden near the Quarry. We hike together up onto the ridge line that contains Volmer Peak at its far end. The city lights spread out beneathus like a broken beer bottles, shimmering in the moon light. A negative imprint of the water and its light less light sketching the only dividing lines. We soaked up the silence while overlooking Briones and San Pablo Reservoirs and it the distance from the ravines and hills the shrill sound of coyotes echoed up to find us on this wind swept ridge.Adam cut me loose to my own devices around 6:30pm and I headed in the dark, a sliver of a moon, along the trail aimed at Volmer Peak where I intended to sleep. Having MLK day off and a desire to just sleep outside, sometimes a little ghost camping is as good as it gets in the east bay if I can't find someone else with time and transportation togo out further. Along the trail I ran into a strange fellow wandering around in the night with two dogs, we exchanged enough words to ensure each other that the other wasn't going to cut the other up in the night and leave them in a ravine. Within a half an hour I found a great place to bed down: a view of the entire bay to the west and to the east an open glance of dark spaces and pockets of light from Martinez, Antioch,and Walnut Creek. I had a little bit of dinner and realized I was far to awake to sleep, so I wandered on in a southernly direction for about3.5 hours. I followed fire trails, East Bay mud roads (marked no trespassing....because they've got great views!) and bumbled my way up and down a couple steep hills with no apparent trail. Eventually I hit Grizzly Peak Road and followed that to a spit of land just west of the road, but part of Sibley Volcanic park. Its a spot I've seen in my mind for a couple years now where the clearing of some Eucalyptus trees has made a soft bed of the ground right on the edge of a steep decline, so that the western world spreads out with a flare beneath. I bedded down on a sheet of plastic in my summer sleeping bag and bivy.

From my bivy, the bay bellowed forth from my breath
A sea of yellow lights, ebbing in the tidal flow flow of time
The linearlity of streets mock out the negative imprint of tall closed square buildings.
From on high everything is quiet, peaceful, and full of space
The top of the town open,
I see where I live and its happily not familiar
And this fills me with hope

The wind was strong during the night and the sent of Madrone,Eucalyptus, and Sage came in waves. In the morning I woke before sunrise, the rare blue glow of the world coming up to the east as I walked my way back down towards the center of Oakland (2 hours), through sleepy neighborhoods and curious inhabitants wondering obviously where I had come from and where I was going. I collected some artimisia californica and fennel for making my East Bay Absinthe (all local plants) and then found myself in the city by 9am, just in time to start some work.

Here is the trail guide: