Favorite Trails: Lime Ridge Open Space

So I have been getting requests from a couple of my friends to start posting some of my wife and mine favorite trails in the Lime Ridge Open Space near our house.  This is a great playground in our backyard that is taken care of by the Walnut Creek Park District and has a lot of trails to challenge any level of runner.

Lime Ridge is segmented into three parts separated by Treat Blvd and Ygnacio Valley Road.  While the north part of the open space is separated by Treat (and really does not have that great of running), the great news is that there are two tunnels that connect the central and southern part of the open space.

We either access the open space on Citrus Rd where the Contra Costa Canal Trail intersects), the parking lot off Ygnacio Valley Road and Cowell Rd, or the Magini Ranch entrance located in the back of the Crystyl Ranch housing development. 

Starting at the Citrus Road entrance affords you the opportunity to run some wonderful, but fully exposed hills.  In fact, my wife loves running the tall hill right at the beginning of the trail head and then down some serious single track.  There are so many trails here to explore you can really mix it up, especially if you are training for a serious run.

By taking one of the two tunnels ( the eastern tunnel), you are again treated to both wonderful single track and fire road.  You can easily get over 1,500 feet elevation gain on some of the trails to the peak.  Wrapping around, you can also access the Arbalado trail head and back to the southern tunnel which also gives you the opportunity to take it easy back to Citrus, or another nice climb before you drop down to the trail head.

For another fun run start at the Cowell and Ygnacio Staging area.  Follow the following course.




For more information on the Lime Ridge Open Space, check out the video tour put together by Save Mt. Diablo. You can find it here. It highlights the history as well as what you will be seeing on your run.