NorCal Dog Trails: Del Valle to Murietta Falls

Near: Livermore
Trip Type: Hike
Distance: 14 miles
Elevation: 800 - 3500 ft
Vegetation: Forest, Scrub and Pasture
Last Hiked: May 8, 2016

**Note: This hike was affected by the 2020 SCU fire complex. Check on official information for the Ohlone Regional Wilderness, for up to date information on the state of trails there**

Murietta Falls are not particularly awe-inspiring, but they make for a just-reachable destination over a challenging and pleasant section of the Ohlone Wilderness Trail. All but a mile or so of this "Wilderness Trail" is a typical east bay fire road... but there's enough poison oak around you won't mind so little single track. At least 13 miles out and back with almost 3,000 feet of net elevation gain and significant back climbing, reaching the falls makes for no easy stroll. Most of the climb up to the best vista at Schlieper Rock is in forest and scrub land (as opposed to the grazed pastureland around Murietta Falls) so while I think "Wilderness" is a bit of a stretch, the landscape does feel more wild the most of the east bay. Let's call it a wildishness if not a wilderness.

Links
Ohlone Regional Wilderness

Trailhead

Del Valle Trailhead, south end of Del Valle Lake. Nothing complicated about this trailhead. A large day use area with facilities and a huge parking lot. There's a smaller lot outside the set of gates that are locked at night that you may want to use if you're going past Murietta Falls to Rose Peak.

Route

The route is of course very easy to follow since it's mostly fire road. It starts by climbing steadily up through a forested valley and around a minor ridge, then descends slightly to a sign-in station to the Ohlone Wilderness at about mile 1. The next mile and a half is a steady climb in and out of the trees to the open, grassy Rocky Ridge; a nice lunch spot or final destination for a short hike with a nice view. Just over Rocky Ridge, you quickly give back of 400' of the 1700' you just climbed down to a thickly treed gulch (Williams Gulch) with a small stream running down it.

Rocky Ridge. Should be called Grassy Ridge.

Stream in Williams Gulch

Crossing the stream the trail suddenly turns from wide fire trail to narrow single track and climbs steeply again. 1000' later you'll hit Schlieper Rock, with the best view on the hike. Another few hundred feet of climbing and you top out on a rolling ridge that looks a lot like any other in the east bay: sparse oak trees, grass and cattle fences. At Johnny's Pond, there a couple possible routes to the falls. We followed the signs to the falls along the most direct, steepest route along a ridge to the west, then south to the falls. The falls themselves are quite anemic. They make a big enough drop to feel like a destination... but don't haul all this way if you're mainly excited about waterfalls. This is case where you better enjoy the squeeze as much as the juice if it's going to be worth your time.

Single track above Williams Gulch

Schlieper's Rock.

Rolling, grassy terrain near Johnny's Pond.

The trickle over the top of Murietta Falls.

Relaxing in the shallow pools above the falls.

Instead of heading back the way we came, we headed southeast on Greenside Road back up to the Ohlone Wildness Trail at Shafter Flat. From there we could have continued south another few miles to Rose Peak, one of the highest points in the Bay Area... but 14 miles and 4,000 feet of climbing sounded like enough for us at the time. Another 6 miles and a few hundred feet of additional climb could wait for another day....

Near Shafter Flat somewheres...

Holy Agrobacterium Batman!

Caltopo Map: http://caltopo.com/m/A9RE

More Pictures

The wildflowers were never very dense, but there was quite a variety out. Late spring is probably the best season to take this hike. The lower terrain all around was turning brown, but the higher elevations were still nice and green.