It was about to downpour soon and I had to head back cutting the rest of my planned route short. It ended up being a good thing I picked a spot along the trail next that allowed me to go two different directions. I was able to accomplish my goal of going along one of the routes but not the other.
The Herriage Center along the West Orange Trail ended up being quite a packed place. It felt quiet in the heart of the town almost. When we first got there the parking lot was full. With how long it took to get here I was going to be disappointed if we had to turn around and try another day.
Thankfully not that far down the road was a park. While they claim it was for park use only. Once we got back from our trip and realized there was not a single person in that park with the parking lot almost full. It became clear many of the locals used that parking space as needed. There was even a direct path towards the trail I wanted to go to which made it even an easier choice to just use the open space.
One of the reasons parking near the Herriage Center along the trail was an issue is there were also a lot of small businesses. They all had reserved parking-only signs. It was quite clear this area had become built up more than it could support. I would only truly start to see that issue going along the trail.
At the time I ended up arriving on the day of the week the Herriage Center was closed. They were busy getting ready for different holidays and events at the time. For the best I could tell it was mostly used to host as an art gallery. At least the restrooms were still open.
This trail was quite busy with a few crosswalks as well. For the first part of the trip, I ended up going from the Heritage Center of Oakland back to Tildenville Outpost which had a butterfly garden. I had not gone to this section of the route yet and I more than welcomed a nice little break in the garden again anyway.
This section of the trail is mostly in between a bunch of homes and ongoing construction sites. Large amounts of it, however, were nicely covered in trees and bushes. While it was quite a humid day when a little bit of breeze did blow through the trail it felt amazing.
You might also notice that it is quite early in the morning. It almost looks like this is heading into the evening. The skies would slowly start to get cloudier as conditions started to deteriorate. I was not expecting rain into the late afternoon, so I did not worry much about it at the time.
It was quite fun to stop once and a while and take a look at all the different kinds of flowers on this part of the route. Not only did this part of the trail have some decent landscaping it had some surprises as well.
There were also quite a few retention ponds and just a lot of contractarian work going around as well. It was kind of funny this side of the Heritage Center had a lot of newer homes, many of them starting at half a million or higher if I recall that was what the development sign stated. On the other side were the remaining old-time residents of the area in not so squished up against each other fashion.
Many of these homes being built did not even have an attached garage. Some had alleyways that would lead off to sections that had half a dozen or more different colored garages matching the same color of the house they belonged to.
While walking along the path I noticed a sign that stated, “Beware of gator.” It was right next to a giant pond that I would not quite call a lake. It was also quite a swamp-looking kind of water. I had no doubt there were gators nearby.
The sign was not wrong either. Sure, enough, a couple of minutes later I came across this. I admit it they got me. From a distance, it sure looks like a real one. You might however notice someone was clever when they had a tree cut down. They had the trunk carved into a gator! I wonder how many other people they fool daily?
I love the kind of look these trees had along the pathway. If it was late at night this place would be downright spooky.
After a bit more walking, I made it back to the Tildenville Outpost for the butterfly garden. The plan was to rest there for a bit, but everything was still quite wet from the night before. I did, however, enjoy a short break walking around it and seeing a couple of butterflies.
The walk back to the Heritage Center went by quite quickly. This time my attention was mostly focused on peaking over the bushes and into the construction areas to see the crazy homes they were building. You would think the one on the right was three homes. That is how it looked from the other way. This way you can see it’s just one.
Once back to the center, I realized the parking lot was almost empty. It was only a short walk back to the park to pick up the car and move it to the center. I did not want to overstay any kind of parking welcome at the park, but it was clear no one else parked there was even at the park either.
With how empty the place was I did a double check of the weather. While chances were increasing for rain. It was still not expected till afternoon. I felt it was still worth trying to push in the other direction.
So far, I have only gone down about 3.5 miles. If I could end up going another 4.4 miles, I'd finish off this side of the trail and more or less be done with West Orange Trail. As the far other end looked like it was mostly a bike-only path at least for a large amount of it.
At the very least I thought I'd want to make it to the Oakland Nature Preserve. That stop would end up only adding about .8 of a mile each way to go there and back. With how I was feeling at the time I decided it was worth going for and seeing how far I could make it.
At this point, it felt like I almost had the trail to myself. A lot less people seemed to be wanting to go this way. It did end up having a lot more crosswalks. One thing I did notice here is just how few cars I'd see. Most of the time there was nothing but empty road.
It was not long before I'd see a wooden Oakland Nature Preserve sign. At first, it looked like I'd have to go fully off the trail and down a dirt road to get to check the place out further. I, however, decided to keep going.
They ended up having a little outpost and a back entryway into the place. Since I might check this place out in the future, I thought I'd just take a peek inside. The trails here are going to be a lot rougher than I'm used to. I’ve also been told it’s easy to get lost since so many of the different trails inside loop into each other before heading back. So, if you are not careful you can take the wrong path and not be where you wanted to be.
While I was hoping to do this one a couple of days later. It ended up raining quite hard for the following couple of weeks. I can only expect those trails to be nothing but mud and trouble. I’ll have to come back much later at some point if I have time as I do want to check the place out.
I ended up staying at this location for about twenty or so minutes just checking things out. As they have a few things to read. Some maps I wanted to get photos of for the future. Along with some other recon work. The weather outside started to change.
The nice thing about this little outpost is I could have stayed in a sheltered spot for a while if needed. It was kind of fun to see all the different projects that had been worked on for the preserve over the years.
I, however, decided after seeing a raindrop and checking the weather radar that it was best to try and make it back to the Heritage Center before a large downpour of rain hit the area.
I had made it to some thicker tree-covered areas during one of the more rain-forward rainclouds unleashed what they had on me before the rest of the storm came along. It, however, was not the perfect cover as a couple of raindrops fell on me. While it was only a 0.8 of a mile back, I could tell I was running out of time quickly. That is just how the weather here is fast-moving.
Final Thoughts
Right after making it back to the Heritage Center about ready to leave it started to downpour. I made it back just in time with only a few raindrops on me from the trip. It’s a shame this trip got cut a bit short. At least I got to discover the preserve as information online is quite lacking.
This trip ended up being a lot shorter than I would have liked. I ended up falling a bit short of what I was hoping to do that day distance-wise. So, once I made it home, I added a couple of miles to my day. The distance I had gone earlier in the day did feel like it was nothing at this point into things. Which I could not have said months ago when I was first getting out into nature more often.
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Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar about my personal experiences in the real world away from the computer at home.
