A Quick Hike at Lime Ridge Open Space (Walnut Creek, Ca)

While looking at houses, my husband and I decided to do a short hike at Hike at Lime Ridge Open Space in Walnut Creek, Ca. We had time to kill and it looked like a nice spot.

About Lime Ridge Open Space:

1226 acres
25 miles of trails for hiking, running, or mountain biking
Trailheads in both Walnut Creek and Concord
Hike at Lime Ridge Open Space gets it’s name from the limestone in the area.

the Hike at Lime Ridge Open Space is located near the eastern part of Walnut Creek near the famous Mount. Diablo (a hike we want to do sometime soon). Lime Ridge is located on the eastern edge of Walnut Creek on a dominant ridge leading to Mount Diablo. While there are sections of Hike at Lime Ridge Open Space that go into Concord, CA, it’s all managed by the city of Walnut Creek.

Our Trip:

Our mistake was getting to Hike at Lime Ridge Open Space in the afternoon. While California is definitely a “dry heat” (I still feel guilty about it after all of these years on the East Coast), it’s still hot. We brought water but in the summer, there is almost no cloud cover.

The beginning of Hike at Lime Ridge Open Space is a steep uphill. You climb over 500 feet in less than half a mile and with no cloud cover. When we got to the top of the first climb, we decided to shorten the hike to 3 miles.

We walked along the ridge of Hike at Lime Ridge Open Space, went down about 250 feet and then back up to what would be our highest point. The third mile was a steep grade downhill. After hiking technical trails on the East Coast, I’ve realized I do prefer hiking uphill better.

At the end, we saw turkeys! As most readers know, turkeys are not my favorite creature and I was surprised to see them! My last .1 was faster than a road race sprinting back to the car.

In all, it was a beautiful but short trip to Hike at Lime Ridge Open Space. I would love to come back when it’s cooler and during the winter months because I think it would be beautiful to see what else it has to offer.