Livermore's Multi-Use Pathway From Richard Katz's
Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
If you didn't really want to read a rollerskating trails book: Back to Richard Katz's Homepage
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Chapter livermor
Livermore's Multi-Use Pathway: Skating Out to Pod F
When you get to the end of this flat three mile long trail, out on Almond Avenue in East Livermore, you're skating around the former playing fields of Almond Avenue School. The school was closed by the School Board, and the property was leased by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, located just a few miles down the road on East Avenue But the radiation business hasn't been so good lately, so we've seen a reversal of the tide, and the Rad Lab has turned part of the former school property (the part that they are not using for childcare) into a science oriented campus for kids. The little departments are labelled "pods". Pod F, for example, is a computer museum, the kind of computer museum that could only be brought to you by the Lab. It's got a supercomputer, a genuine Cray. It's located in the same building as the Lab's Dosimetry Department, the place where lab workers take their little badge to see if they got too big a dose of gamma rays. Everything is one story, so you can skate right up. Call ahead for a tour of these and other facilities 510-373-1373. You can drop in to the Science Education Center without reservations.
How to Get There by Car from Interstate 580:
From eastbound Interstate 580, take the Portola Avenue exit. Not too far from the freeway, take the right fork in the road onto North Murrieta Boulevard, a major thoroughfare. Stay on Murrieta until you come to another major thoroughfare, Stanley Boulevard. Look for a shopping center on the left and a gas station on the corner on the right. Turn right onto Stanley and look immediately across the street for the staging area to the right of the gas station. Go to the end of the block, hang a U-turn, and park in that staging area. Despite Livermore's generally bucolic atmosphere, rush hour at Stanley and Murrieta is just as intense as in the big city.
If you're westbound on 580, take the First Steet exit and go left on First Street. You're on Highway 84. Follow Highway 84 past Livermore Avenue to a three cornered intersection with Holmes Street, go south on Holmes, then take a quick right on Murrieta. You will see a staging area on the other side of the gas station on the southwest corner of the intersection of Murrieta and Stanley Boulevard. Park there.
What It's Like:
The trail to the north is brutish and short. Instead, start skating left on the wide smooth asphalt trail next to the staging area. There's a steep underpass and a wooden bridge within the first half mile. After that it's pretty smooth sailing for almost two miles, along a creek, by a horseshoe pit, over a concrete bridge and then back again -- pretty laid back, not very urban. At the fork by the Fairgrounds (the site of the annual Rodeo) stay to the left.
The path crosses Tesla Road/South Livermore Avenue. Just past the massive gate and sign announcing "Concannon Vineyards" is the auto entrance to Retzlaff Vineyards; skate past it, and look for the skaters' entrance (a deleted section of fencing leading to hardpacked gravel) just after the first sharp left turn. Retzlaff's is open for tasting daily 12-2 and weekends 12-5, skaters welcome. As you skate down the path you can inspect the very vines your glass of wine came from. After you go around the vineyard, the trail becomes a lot more urban along Findlay Way. At Hillcrest, jog right after the cobblestone crosswalk, then jog left again at the bench area at Findlay Way and St. Mary Drive. You have to repeat this rather odd drill again at Madison Avenue. Stop to admire the plaque at Madison and Findlay, "Peace through Understanding -- Quezaltenango Parkway 1972," which refers to the path you are skating on. Go straight, then take a sharp left around Almond Park. The trail ends at Almond Avenue and Almond Circle.
If you skate past the Almond Avenue School site, you can turn around in the five star parking lot behind the Church of Christ between Almond Court and East Avenue.
Places to Eat:
There are a number of interesting places to have a bite to eat in the Pepper Tree Plaza shopping center at the western end of the trail at Stanley Boulevard and Murrieta Boulevard. Try the Liberty Pizza parlor, 510 606 6652. Go for ice cream next door at Heart's Delight. Both open seven days.
Retzlaff Vineyards has picnic tables you may use, 510 447 8941. Treat yourself to something really special; buy a bottle of Dr Taylor's Merlot.
Public Transportation:
The Wheels Route 10 (Livermore --Amador Valley Transit Authority, a local bus service amongst Pleasanton, Livermore and Dublin) will take you to the western end of the trail. Weekdays there is BART Express Bus UL to Livermore from BART Walnut Creek. Weekends you have to go to Pleasanton first via BART UP and catch Wheels.
Ratings:
Path Surface = ***, some * (cobblestones)
Public Transit Access = ****
Surroundings = **
Level of Difficulty = EASY
Overall Rating = **
Length = about three miles, one way
Other trails to check out in the neighborhood:
The Iron Horse Trail is a stone's throw away east on I-580 near Dublin, and approaching fast.
10/10/96
Note from the Author: Haven't put in links to the other chapters yet.
From Richard Katz's Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
Back to Richard Katz's Homepage
If you want to go back to the Table of Contents of Skating Unrinked, Back to TOC