Just to tag another local point of interest, I rounded up a couple BPL buddies and we headed up to Berryessa Peak. Until somewhat recently it was not (legally) possible, or very easy (due to lack of a trail) to reach the peak. It is on BLM land, however it’s landlocked by private property. Quite the irony! According to Dingus Milktoast, Berryessa Peak sat on the largest landlocked piece of BLM land in the US… and coming from a guy with a name like that, you know this must be true! Luckily the good folks of Tuleyome were able to work with the land owners who allowed some easements through which the Berryessa Peak Trail runs. They did a nice job on the trail construction as well.
A short but brisk hike with a cumulative elevation gain of 3500 ft in ~7 miles. There are a few spots along the way where the trail heads upward at a grade of about 1000 ft/mile and water reliability is not good anywhere out there. Great views at the top however! Here’s a quick photo report of our trip that started in a biker bar and ended with many wild pig hunters.
(edit: oops, moved large photos into next post for easier reading)
It’s always good to hang out with BPL’ers. Each of us brought an ultralight pack, bivy, and quilt. I’ll let Max and Dylan post their version of things and their gear, my setup consisted of: Arc Blast, Borah Cuben/M90 bivy, Jacks R Better Sierra Stealth quilt, Neoair X-Lite pad.
We enjoyed some beers and bivvied at the top. It turned from a calm night into one of the windiest nights I’ve spent outside. None of us got much sleep. The windchill in the morning was bad! We booked down and headed for burgers. Glad we had the opportunity to get up there while the weather was still cool.
