Garin Regional Park, Ziele Creek Entrance — Hayward

Banana slugs, ferns, wild turkey, and giant trees... Ziele Creek nature trail has so much to explore.

We did lots of nature spotting on this walk - bugs, mossy rocks, tree roots, a banana slug, a turkey, a lizard, a caterpillar, so many different wildflowers (not a lot of wildflowers just a variety), and, oh, poison oak. There was a bunch. At times I had to play pinball with sister so she wouldn’t walk into it. Brother thankfully knows what it looks like and was our spotter. Be careful of it though because it’s definitely on the sides of the trails, avoidable, but there. There were a lot of parts of the trail with a big cut-off down a cliffside. There are absolutely parts of this trail that make me think I’m in on the set of Ferngully.

There is a tiny creek along the trail with just a bit of water. If you’re worried about the poison oak I’d wait until it’s out of season. When I've been here before I didn’t notice any. There isn’t a bathroom and the street parking is on a neighborhood street. You could probably work a stroller but it gets hilly and narrow at times. We walked about fifteen minutes out and back on either side of the “dead-end”. This doesn’t loop unless you choose to do the entire 3.4 miles so be sure to know how far you go out, you have to do the same to walk back.

This is the back entrance for Garin Regional Park and sometimes where google maps will lead you if you google "Garin Regional Park."