Trail
- Transit Accessible
Overview
Cycling notes:
Getting out of the BART station is a little tricky; take the narrow ramp to your right when exiting the station, and then get on the foot bridge over the freeway entrance (not the footpath that goes under the freeway). After the foot bridge there’s a slightly awkward turn off the sidewalk onto Orinda Way.
Miner is a pretty road by the golf course, which usually has some traffic until we turn off on Lombardy (just before Miner goes up a hill to the right). The rest are quiet residential roads. The turn onto Sundown Terrace has a gate as the route goes through a small park. There’s a short, steep climb at the end of Sundown.
To the right, Happy Valley coasts downhill to Lafayette BART. To the left, it has a steep, twisty climb, usually with bad pavement, followed by a steep, twisty descent, usually with bad pavement. It’s fun, but be careful. There’s one hairpin on the descent marked as 10MPH; slow way down for that.
Bear Creek Road is one of my favorite roads. It’s wide, well-paved, has little traffic, and is very pretty. Happy Valley Road hits it between Mama Bear and Papa Bear (the two main hills). The hill starts as soon as we turn, and kicks in in earnest around the time we get around the first bend. It’s a very straight 7% grade and about 1.5 km long. There’s no shade so be wary of overheating and drink lots of water. After the peak the road dips for a bit, then climbs again to about the height of the first peak, then drops into one of the best gonzo descents in the area. There’s no traffic, no turns that require braking, and a nice view. I usually find myself shouting something similar to “whoop!” somewhere along this hill.
Eventually the descent flattens out, then the road ends with a short, steep climb (“Baby Bear”).
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