Lake Chabot loop

I had a discussion with my son about the relationship between talents and passions while watching F1 on Sunday morning. We all know how talented and passionate those drivers are. They are the best-of-the-best in the world after all. Of course there are people good at doing stuff that they don't care for and that's certainly not a lot of fun. And the last case: no talent but has passion perfectly describe me and biking. By no means I'm good at biking, road or mountain. For many years I try riding as much as I can but confined to flat routes only. A lot of them are paved bike trails. I didn't start riding more challenging roads until several years ago. And I finally bought a real mountain bike 2 years ago and honed my climbing and turning skills at the nearby Arastradero Preserve. (My climbing skill I got from road biking was useful but it takes more to climb mountain biking trails) One of the first trails I wanted to ride was this Lake Chabot loop.
So, why do I have a thing about this route? Check out these pic from 7 years ago (with my old Costco bike!):

The first picture was where I stopped and turned back on the East Shore Trail. The reason was shown in the 2nd picture: it was way too steep for me in 2007 (August 31st to be exact) Fast forward to today, this climb was no longer an issue. (Still, there are other sections that I have to get down and pushed the bike, e.g. parts of the Honker Bay Trail which looks like cracks on a palm. Also, parts of the Logger's loop which I couldn't get any traction on the rear wheel because of loose leaves and tree trunks) The bigger challenge was actually not to get lost.

Here is the map of the route:

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My map showed I did ~18 miles. It would have been about 13 miles without my 3 detours:
- the quail trail
- the logger's loop
- the sections of grass valley trail and Brandon trail after the stone bridge bypass.

I started the ride with the East Shore Trail. When this trail ended, there's a sign about continuing onto Cameroon loop. Just keep going and soon there's a wood bridge.

This was actually taken after I crossed the bridge and turned left immediately, which was the wrong way! I should have continued on until the next junction, then turn left to the Honker Bay Trail, which was along the lake. After the climb that gave me trouble, the trail went through the campground and there was a gate/office with attendants. I mistook an entrance to a trail before the gate as the one for the Brandon trail but in fact it was the quail trail. I won't recommend this detour at all. From my biking experience, you always feel bad after taking a wrong turn downhill because you need to waste more energy to get back up, which was the case here. I got smart after getting back: once I saw the gate, I asked for directions to the Brandon trail :) In less than a mile there was the logger's loop on the left. The loop was ~ one mile detour that I rode counter-clockwise.

Lots of loose, dried leaves and wood sticks on the ground. Not a bad experience but I might skip this loop next time. In less than 2 miles there is a stone bridge, which I chose not to cross as I saw on one book there's a grass valley trail after the gate which I could ride. It was a fun section even though there was water and mud and I got it all over my bike and legs. After 1.5 mile, there's another gate.

Exit the gate and turn back for 1.3 mile on the Brandon trail again. And you will be on Goldenrod trail. This trail has a tricky junction:

Of course I went the wrong way (right) and got into the Lake Chabot Golf course :P Once I got back and turned left. The rest was simple: followed Bass Cove Trail and West Shore Trail along the lake and you will soon see the dam and lots of hiker. And in no time there's the marina!