Morgan Territory Regional Preserve has been at the top of my list of favorite places to hike for some time. I have explored much of he park except for portion to the far east of the preserves boundary. I had read about a nice hike along a lonely stretch of forgotten road and trail. It sounded to good to pass up.
With Alice we headed to Old Finley Road for an 8-mile hike exploring ridge lines, groves of trees and the occasional grassland. You have to park outside the preserve along the road and hike almost a mile just to rech the trailhead. Entering you walk along ranches before turning to the heart of the trail that winds through rolling hills, live oaks and open grasslands as it loops through a portion of adjacent Mount Diablo State Park.
The views along the hike are spectacular. We watched as fog rolled through and washed over the Diablo summit. A deer and red-tailed hawk made brief appearances as we wound our way along. We parked near several cars on the road but only came across a few bicyclists on the trail. Just like on most of the Morgan Territory hikes I've been on it seemed we had the park to ourselves.
The trail was overgrown in spots leading us to think it was not used that often. The loop is a moderately strenuous hike that I think doesn't see to many takers. Even though it has some fairly steep sections of trail the effort was worth the views.
I have one section of Morgan Territory left to explore this summer, but I will still return to these trails, I can never tire of their scenery and gorgeous views.
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