Town of Danville and Regional Park Rangers Reopen Resurfaced Equestrian and Multi-Use Trailhead at Sycamore Valley

Trail maintenance crews from the Town of Danville Maintenance Services Department and rangers with the East Bay Regional Park District reopened the eastern multi-use and equestrian staging corridor at Sycamore Valley Open Space off Holbrook Drive and Camino Tassajara on Saturday morning, completing a five-week autumn drainage and footing rehabilitation ahead of winter rains. Spanning 552 acres of rolling oak savanna between Sycamore Valley Park and the southern boundary of Mount Diablo State Park, the open space preserve forms a vital link in the thirty-mile Tri-Valley regional trail network used daily by horseback riders, trail runners, mountain bikers, and dog walkers.

During wet winter months, clay soils along the lower 1,800-foot canyon approach previously became slick and deeply rutted, forcing seasonal closures to protect hillside watersheds. Public works engineers excavated the muddy pinch points, installed cellular geogrid stabilization cells filled with crushed angular bluestone and decomposed granite, and constructed nine rock-lined cross-drains that divert hillside sheet flow into vegetated swales without eroding the treadway.

At the Holbrook Drive staging area, carpenters mounted two two-way saddle-height gate latches that riders can operate without dismounting, alongside a new stainless-steel livestock watering trough with an automatic float valve and a shaded mounting block. The adjacent gravel parking apron was restriped to provide four dedicated pull-through bays for two-horse trailers separate from youth soccer spectator parking.

The $154,000 trail and staging improvement was funded jointly through Danville's Open Space Maintenance Reserve and a Contra Costa County Measure WW regional trail connectivity allocation reviewed by the Danville Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission. Trail users can download updated multi-use yield etiquette guides and winter wet-weather trail status maps on the Town of Danville Trails and Open Space Portal.