This column first appeared in the Jan. 31 print edition of the Benicia Herald.

Welcome back to my outdoor column focused on local day hiking destinations, that with a little imagination, will take you back in time to when our local Native Americans lived in a garden of Eden we now call home. For more hiking ideas, go to www.eastbayhillpeople.com and read the “Travelogue Blog” tab.

It’s January and the hills are getting greener with the rains, the creeks are singing their songs and as usual, I’m eager to get in the field, hiking back in time, and to sing along.

Winter in California was easy living, and the Native Americans were enjoying a continued seasonal time of plenty.

One of the reasons that California natives never developed a horse culture after they were introduced in 1769 is because they never had to go anywhere for resources. Everything was here, all the time. Except for special ceremonies and gatherings, most of the people never went more than 10 miles from where they were born. The locations and times to harvest plants and the best places and times to take game was passed down, generation to generation. How many generations had used the same oak trees to gather acorns?

The “Eastbay hill people“ hiking team and other notable scientific field hikers have documented village sites with hundreds of bedrock mortars, indicating thousands of years of habitation. There are always oak trees nearby, offering food, cool shade, and in January, delicious miners lettuce growing under their graceful limbs. These trees we see today are the offspring of oak trees the natives harvested from thousands of years ago. Pretty cool.

In addition to mortars, we have found large boulders in village sites that have many shallow cupules or round indentations bored into the rock. These range in size, but are generally the size of a ping pong ball to billiard ball and about 1/2” deep. We don’t know for sure what these cupules mean. Could they mark astrological events, fertility rites or tribal events? We just don’t know and probably never will. Pretty cool.

This month’s back in time hike will take you to a native “power spot” that later became the Green ranch, a notable equestrian and intellectual summer retreat for UCB professors. Fortunately for us, this story ends the way history begins. Enjoy your hike back in time to a place we call “The Shamans Redoubt”.

As explorers in the field, we are always looking for power spots or a locations that “just feel right.” It may sound a bit strange, but we have been to several, and I know they exist.

These power spots were used by Shamans and other vision seekers to start or end their quest. The top of Mt Diablo was a natural destination for Native vision seekers, and half way up, is the Shamans Redoubt. This power spot is located on a prominent flat with great vistas and an obvious spiritual vibe. Let’s go check it out.

The Shamans Redroubt is located about half way up Mt Diablo and is a moderate 2 1/2 mile round trip hike that offers superb vistas into the Volvon territory to the south and solid footing in the winter.

To get there, go to the Oak Knoll picnic area (ask the ranger for easy directions) and look for the trail heading downhill by the water spigot. This is also a great wild flower hike in March / April. After a short mile, the single track will meet the old Green Ranch Road, continue down hill a short distance and you’ll start to see the remains of the Green family ranch.

In 1938 construction began on the home that was designed by William Wurster, Dean of Architecture at UCB. The home had electricity, spring water, large pool, tennis and basketball courts, and of course, a horse stable for Mrs Deborah Bixly Green, an accomplished equestrian. In the summer, 40-50 people, some of them on their way back from the Bohemian Club would stay a few weeks. It was by all accounts, a fine time. Go to https://patch.com/california/ for more background and photos.

Mrs. Green passed in 1958 and the grieving family stopped going there. The house became an attractive nuisance and was razed in 1993.

Now, only foundations and chimneys mark where the home stood, the land has taken back what man tried to claim. Through it all, the power was still in the rocks, the water and the trees, spreading their leaves upward to the sky and the top of the great mountain. Looking much as it did for thousands of years, this power spot is waiting for you.

Seize the day.

Richard DeGraffenreid and his wife Anne are 35 year residents of Benicia. He is also a Drummer/song writer, photographer, cook, Dad and Grandpa. He can be reached at: Richarddegraffenreid@comcast.net.

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