New Launch Sites

This location is north-west of the intersection of Isabell and Vineyard Ave. We thought we had it made with this one as it is a mile long flat gravel area with no houses within about a half mile and no plans to put houses near there. Unfortunately, when we contacted the owner, he said that the city of Pleasanton is going to rebuild Vineyard Ave. and run it right down the middle of this area. However, if you have been out there lately, they ran the road along its original course and not down the gravel pits. This is probably our best shot. It is not being used, it is fireproof, and no houses are going to be built any closer than they already are.

If you drive out Corral hollow road, there is a dirt bike area about half way to Tracy. It is down the center of the canyon in the creek bed so it is fireproof. There are bathrooms and camping sites there. The only drawback is a power line running down the center of the canyon. It still might be worth looking at again.

To the north of the Chain of Lakes Gravel Pit are more gravel pits, some of them still being worked. Most of the working gravel pits are shut down on Saturday and Sunday so maybe we could launch in the middle of the gravel pit. A lot of these are full of water, which is a problem.

Just over the Altamont near Byron there are a lot of irrigated fields. If anyone in the Byron, Tracy area knows anybody in that area, we might want to see if someone would be willing to let us fly there. This is only about a 15 or 20 minute drive from Livermore.

Out north on the new Vasco road is the new Los Vaqueros reservoir. The area around the new lake is parkland. Down in front of the dam is a big, open canyon. There might be a place there we could launch. There is a lot of open space with no houses. In the winter, there are few people in the area as well. Fire danger is a bit high and fire prevention would have to be worked out.

Anyone know if Camp Parks is usable?

West of North Livermore Ave. and south of the turn off to Morgan Territory Road is a ranch owned by the Crosby family. I understand that they are planning to build a golf course there someday and it has been on the LARPD maps as a potential trail. Unfortunately, it is on the glide path to the airport for plains coming from the north. We might still want to look at it. It would have a significant fire danger that would have to be considered.

The garbage dump on north Vasco road has some huge open spaces. This is actually not a bad place to consider. As long as you stay away from the currently active pit, the smell is not bad and there are no houses and little grass.

Along Greenvill Road is another dump.

On the way to Sunol Park, there is a large open area that is used as a nursery. Most of the plants are in pots and boxes with open areas between them. There are no houses in the area and only one road. If we bust a plant, we buy it. As they are all for sale anyway, that shouldn't bother the owners.

This BMX track is just across the street from the decommissioned Vallecitos Nuclear facility along Vallecitos Road. There appear to be only two close neighbors according to the aerial photo. The two houses are each about 600 feet from the center of the BMX track and the Vallecitos facility is about 1500 feet away. There are two power lines surrounding the property; one down the east side and one across the south side. The BMX track already has power, parking, and bathrooms (a porta potty). It is owned by the SFO water district and we have already been turned down.