Adventure 008, Hike 007 - Pig Pond Trail

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 008, Hike 007 – Pig Pond

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  May 27, 2012

Location: Pacheco State Park

Hike Info:

Trail: Pig Pond

Distance: 2.8

Duration: 1:23

Elevation Rise: 526'

Description:
With a name such as Pig Pond, you wonder what kind of place will we end up at? Well Pig Pond lived up to its name, or maybe down to it. Pacheco State Park may never be our favorite place on earth, but it is quickly becoming a good place to stop, mid-way between Fresno and Mountain View. It has a fine array of trails—some short, like the one we will go on today, and some longer-up to a 10 mile loop.

The Pig Pond trail starts at the same place as the Tunnel Monument trail did and for a little ways goes on the same trail. We cross the Spikes Peak Road trail and continue on to Pig Pond. After a short rise, we descend into a ravine which Pig Pond sits at the bottom of. Pig Pond is a man-made reservoir, fed by a seasonal flow from a small creek—dry when we came. The pond was only about a third of its full size, with a layer of pond scum over the top of it. Not much to look at.

We loop around the pond. At the far end, there is a cow trail which leads down the outlet ravine from Pig Pond. We follow this in the hopes that there will be a good view of the area—at least of the wind farm. But alas, like most cow tracks, this one just ends in the shade of some trees. A good place for a cow to rest, but not very satisfying. We turn around and retreat back to the car, taking a slightly different route.