Morgan Territory Road definitely makes it into my top tier of best rides in the Bay Area. Miles of paved single-lane road twisting up through a forest and then swooping down through hilly countryside (which is actually green at this time of year!)… all with no cross roads and not much traffic:
Five of us rode it Sunday via this 42-mile route from Pleasant Hill BART -> Clayton (a town with oddly Old-Western-themed street signs) -> Morgan Territory (quail, red-winged blackbirds, frogs, the trickling of streams, some wildflowers), with a break for lunch and to refill water near the top -> the suburbs of Livermore -> Dublin BART.
There continue to be new developments in the Livermore-area mixed-use trails every year, and the ones we checked out were quite nice– a long stretch of off-road paved trail that curves South from W Jack London, followed by the packed-dirty Arroyo Mocho trail. And the Contra Costa Canal Trail East of the Iron Horse trail is also quite nice– the jasmine was blooming.
Some other sights from along the way:
It’s good to be back to more regular bike exploration.