Vargas Plateau Regional Park Hike, 8/30/17 by Ronald Horii
On 8/30/17, I went for a hike to explore a new park, 1249-acre Vargas Plateau Regional Park, part of the East Bay Regional Park District, high up in the hills above Fremont south of Niles Canyon. It's a park that I had heard about and was curious to see it, but before I could check it out, it closed soon after it opened in 2016 due to legal issues. After the park district addressed those issues, it re-opened the park in May of 2017.

I finally got around to visiting it in August. It was probably not the best time to visit it, as there is very little shade, and the hills were mostly brown, but I got an idea of what it was like. The park will be a lot greener in the spring. However, any time of year, the park has spectacular views. Check out those views below. To the west, you can see San Francisco Bay and all the urban areas around it. To the north is steep-sided Niles Canyon and Alameda Creek. To the south is Mission Peak. To the east are open ranchlands and the rugged mountains of the Sunol and Ohlone Wilderness areas.

It's called a plateau because most of the park is about 1000 feet above the city below. Most of the trails are flat or have easy climbs, except for the Cliff Trail, which comes up 800 feet from the edge of the Fremont suburbs.

I recorded a GPS track of this hike and imported it into Topo and Google Earth to show the terrain and surrounding topography: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1629897167033799.1073742289.100000405933924&type=1&l=6b6887de1c

Here's the controversy and why it was closed:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/East-Bay-s-newest-park-Vargas-Plateau-shuts-8381247.php
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/05/02/shuttered-vargas-plateau-regional-park-to-reopen-may-15/

Here's the press release for the opening:
http://www.ebparks.org/about/news/vargas-to-reopen-05-15-17

Here's the webpage for the park:
http://www.ebparks.org/parks/vargas

Here's the park map:
http://www.ebparks.org/Assets/_Nav_Categories/Parks/Vargas-Plateau/Vargas+Plateau+map.pdf
http://www.ebparks.org/Assets/_Nav_Categories/Parks/Vargas-Plateau/Vargas+Plateau+text.pdf

The Bay Area Ridge Trail runs through the park:
http://ridgetrail.org/vargas-plateau-regional-park/
http://ridgetrail.org/ridgetrail/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/2017-Map-Web-Download-Vargas-Plateau-Regional-Park.pdf

Here are Yelp reviews of the park: https://www.yelp.com/biz/vargas-plateau-regional-park-fremont

Here's a trail blog: https://trailhiker.wordpress.com/2016/05/22/vargas-plateau-regional-park/

Here are directions: "From I-680 in Fremont, exit at Vargas Road and go north. Drive about 1.6 miles to Morrison Canyon Road and turn right. The staging area is ahead on the left about 0.4 miles. Car-pooling is strongly recommended as staging area parking is limited. There is no street parking in the area." Taking Morrison Canyon Road from Mission Blvd. is discouraged because it's a narrow one-lane road.

2008 initial study and proposed mitigated negative declaration for Vargas Plateau: http://scc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/sccbb/2013/1310/20131003Board11_Ridge_Trail_Vargas_Plateau_Ex5.pdf
It shows proposed trails that don't exist, but could be future trails.

This is a study about trail connections in Niles Canyon. It includes a study of a trail connection from Vargas Plateau to Sunol. http://www.ebparks.org/Assets/_Nav_Categories/Park_Planning/Niles+Canyon+Regional+Trail/Niles+Canyon+Regional+Trail+Connectivity+Feasibility+Study.pdf 
2 comments
7 Shares
Katherine Dollard
Thanks for the tour, Ron. Looking forward to checking it out. I've been following its slow progress in the news.
6 yrsReport
Greg Tivon Koopman
Nice pictures! I did not know about this place.
6 yrsReport