Tolman's Peak

Location: Dry Creek Regional Park in Union City, CA
Parking: Park at the end of Tamarack Dr. which is off Mission Blvd.
The path starts at the Tamarack entrance.
Planted by Lizardbutt's Family

It had been years since "Chief" Tolman and his students had done any
geological fieldwork at the peak located close to the Meyer's farm.
Jeanette met Tolman once as he crossed the farm and headed to the far
peak. Little did she know that Cyrus "Chief" Tolman, the geology
professor from Stanford, was famous, that one day the peak would be
named after him, and that she would bequeath the farm to the East Bay
Regional Parks. She, too, would be in the history books.

It was August 24, 1951, and Jeanette was excited. Her sisters,
Mildred and Edith, were driving from Alameda. The girls had planned
on rehabilitating the garden at the old cottage. Jeanette was up
early to prepare for the day. The thick, ominous fog was still
clinging to the ground. Normally, the sun would have burnt through
the fog by now.

Walking out the door, Jeanette heard a thundering noise that sounded
like an explosion. She knew that something wasn't right. In all the
years that she lived on the farm she never heard such a thunderous
sound. Quickly, she ran out of the house and headed down the High
Ridge trail. At the junction Jeanette took Tolman's trail. The cattle
were in the lower pasture by the creek, and she was concerned about
what might have happened to them. As she ran past the corral she
smelled smoke and noticed that the cattle where heading back to the
corral. She then ran farther down the trail to the South Fork. The
smell of the smoke was stronger. Passing the junction, Jeanette saw
what had made the horrific sound. Scattered all over the hillside
were sections of a fragmented plane. Frightened and shocked, Jeanette
quickly raced back home to call for help.

Fifty years later two history buffs were reading an article about
United Flight 615 that crashed into Tolman Peak. They couldn't find
any records on salvaged items from the wreckage. The article stated
that the plane had rolled down the east side of the hill. Curious and
hopeful, the two men decided to hunt for any remnants from the fatal
crash.

Steve was too busy watching out for the cow patties to have noticed
that they were almost up at the gate by the eucalyptus grove. Mike
had seen the rabbit run over to the sycamore that was to the right of
the grove. Now the rabbit was stuck under some barbed wire and tree
branches. It looked like the rabbit had tried to hide itself under
the old gnarly section of a fallen down tree. Mike went over and
rescued the poor little fellow.

Steve continued on until he came to a huge sycamore. The tree's trunk
had grown horizontal, and Steve decided he would rest and wait for
Mike here. Looking around the tree he noticed an old cement watering
hole. As he glanced under the tree, he noticed a pile of rocks that
had something under it that looked rusty. Quickly, he started to
remove the rocks.