Stebbins Cold Canyon - Hiking

We got up early to be at Stebbins by 7:30am to beat the heat and the crowd. We succeeded at both! We had most of the front side to ourselves, which made climbing the stairs a little easier. Then we encountered a few more people on the backside. The trail is well-marked and very easy to follow. It was also very dry and, as usual, lots of rock hopping. We decreased the amount of time it took us to complete the loop by nearly an hour. Neither of us believed the time on my phone was accurate when we finished. lol

I took my hiking poles and wore my Asolo boots to see if my knees would be in better shape for the descent. Nope! Maybe the boots are too heavy or perhaps it was because I haven't worn them hiking in awhile as I've opted for lighter weight most of the time. The scar I have on my foot was protected by mole skin but I also thinking the more solid boot helped with that. It's all about finding the balance. Speaking of balance, I think yoga has helped me with the rock hopping a lot. But now I need a little more strength to protect my knees.

Here's the route:

Stebbins Cold Canyon - Hiking

Distance - 4.75 miles

Time - 4 hours

Trails - Homestead and Blue Ridge Trail

We decided to go with one of our Meetup groups to Stebbins Cold Canyon to finally check it out. It's one of those hikes that's near by but unless you know where to park, it's difficult to find. Now it seems so easy to find! lol We met up with the group in Davis at 9:00am and were on the trail by 9:30am. We started with eight but one person had to turn around when it started getting a little too difficult and two people ran on ahead at a faster speed than the bulk of us wanted to travel. It took us about 4 hours with our stops and taking a casual pace.

Here is the description listed on the Meetup:

Here is a brief description:

http://redtailtrails.com/trails/stebbins-cold-canyon-reserve-lake-berryessa 

Stebbins Cold Canyon Trail - The full hike is a 4.75 mile loop hike up Cold Canyon and then to the Blue Ridge with spectacular views of Lake Berryessa and the surrounding area. Lots of steps and rocks. A great workout!

Length/Degree of Difficulty:

•Loop trail - 4.75 miles, strenuous, elevation gain of 1500 feet 

•Trail Condition: maintained, traihead well marked but otherwise unmarked, trailbed obvious, footing rough along ridge.

What I didn't attend closely enough to was the word "strenuous!" lol I'm not sure we would have gone had we noticed that so it was good we hadn't. The hike ended up being beautiful! There were definitely a lot of steps  to climb and rocks to shinny over but the view of Lake Berryessa and the rest of the valley below was just incredible. The sky and lake were both so blue... different shades.

We stopped quite a bit to catch our breath for photos and to take in the views. The air temp changed periodically so that it would be so hot and then we'd walk through a cool spot. At the top we even got a little chilled. That kept things pretty comfortable overall.

As usual, coming down was such a relief at first. Then that started getting painful too. Tired legs definitely make the downhill more difficult. And Bozo with her bolted together knee was enjoying this part less than any of us. Thankfully it was pretty quick and we got back to the cars. I would definitely recommend going the direction that we did. I'd rather climb up the stairs and up the bulk of the rocks going up than going down. The Blue Ridge side also seemed a little more exposed so I imagine it being very hot climbing that side.

Afterwards we headed to Winters for some beer (Bozo, Arlene, & May), a Coke (Daphne), and an iced coffee (me) along with sandwiches and wraps at Steady Eddy's Coffee House. Very good reviews on the sandwiches and the drinks.

Definitely a great hike to be done again and again... now that we know where the trailhead is!