Berkeley
Trip Type: Day Hike / Trail Run
Elevation: 200 - 1700 ft
Distance: 2 - 15 miles
Surface: Pavement and Dirt
Vegetation: Suburban Streets to Shady Paths to Forested Canyons to Grassy Hills
 |
| Sunset over the Golden Gate from Grizzly Peak Road |
This isn't so much a trip report as summary of my favorite routes up to Tilden Regional Park from Berkeley. As far as I'm concerned the best part about living in Berkeley is the great running and walking options up the hill to Tilden. Between the roads, public stairways, and fire trails there are dozens of good options with a variety of distances, surface types and climb rate to match whatever type of workout or walk you want to get in. Well... as long as you're ready to do some substantial climbing one way or another. These are running routes for me, but the scenery merits a hike for those seeking a more relaxing day.
Tilden and the East Bay Regional Parks in general fantastic places to get out with your dog and go a long way to make up for the general anti-dog attitude in the Bay Area. Once you get up to the trails dogs can be off leash under voice control on the generally uncrowded trails. And your dinky little city park Tilden is not, with miles of trails in pleasant forest and sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay to the west and Mt Diablo foothills to the east.
On the roads and stairways where these routes start, I encourage you to keep your running partner leashed. Berkeley has a leash law that considers dogs "under strict voice control" to be on-leash, but it's highly abused by negligent owners with poorly controlled dogs. Don't be THAT guy.
Links
Tilden Regional Park: http://www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden
East Bay Regional Parks: http://gis.ebparks.org/public/parksmobile/
Map
Route #1: Spruce Street to Wildcat Canyon Road (Blue)
This is the most gentle and simple way up to Tilden. Start at the north west corner of the UC Berkeley campus and just follow Spruce St north up the hill. When Spruce ends at Grizzly Peak Road at the Berkeley Reservoir, continue on Wildcat Canyon Road for a couple hundred yards. The Selby trail can be accessed here, and from there the Tilden trail network. Not the most exciting way to go, but the best bet for a smooth, slow ascent up to the park.
Route #2: Berkeley Rose Garden to Sibley Trail via Public Stairways (Red)
For a faster and more interesting route from north Berk to Tilden, find your way to the Berkeley Rose Garden. Go up to Euclid and find the walking path along the north edge of Codornices park. Follow the path across a footbridge to the base of the Tamalpais steps. Ascend the steps then continue climbing on Tamalpais road. Turn right on Shasta, then look for a walking path climbing steeply to the right. This path was recently constructed and isn't on some maps with other paths. The path climbs up to picnic area and ball field with partial views of the bay. Keep climbing to the top of this little park to Glendale ave. Glendale ave will lead you up to Glendale path. Glendale path will continue climbing, crossing a few small streets before dumping at an intersection with Arcade ave, leading just 50 yards or so to Grizzly Peak ave. Just across Grizzly peak to your right is Atlas path, on which you'll find a bench looking out over the bay. At the top of Atlas path, a short street leads you to the border of Tilden. Follow the Selby trail to the left to descend towards Lake Anza or to the right to continue climbing towards Grizzly Peak.
Route #3: Strawberry Canyon Fire Road to Grizzly Peak (Green)
My favorite route up to Tilden. Start on the UC Berkeley Campus and climb up to the Stadium. Around the back side of the stadium, continue climbing along Centennial drive. Past the Strawberry canyon athletic complex and outdoor pool you'll follow a narrow gravel pedestrian way up to a small parking area on the right of the road. The fire trail breaks off from here and winds steadily up through the canyon. About 3/4 of a mile after leaving Centennial drive you'll come upon a particularly steep stretch of hill. The base of this stretch can easily be accessed from Panoramic way, so you could turn back here and take some of the public stairways down through the Panoramic neighborhood, ending up just south east of the Cal stadium. After about 100 murderous yards, the climb moderates again. Keep chugging for another 3/4 miles and you'll encounter a bench with a great view of Berkeley and the Bay. From here the next 1.5 miles is completely flat as you circle around the canyon with more great views. Only in the last few hundred yards does the trail climb again, as you skirt a research building and come out on Grizzly Peak Road. Take the road downhill to the intersection with Centennial drive and turn down Golf Course road for a few more yards, here you'll find a trailhead from which you can access the Selby, Grizzly Peak, and Redwood trails in Tilden... if you've got an energy left that is... A few times I've run this route and continued on the Redwood trail to South Park drive, then up the Volmer peak trail to Volmer peak then back down via Route #4 below for a very gratifying and leg-destroying half marathon.
Route #4: Clark Kerr Campus to Grizzly Peak via Panoramic Hill (Yellow)
If you're looking for a brutal hill climb in Berkeley, you can't do much better than this route. Start at the UC Berkeley Clark Kerr Campus. Either cut up through campus or follow Derby street up to a concrete path (Tanglewood path) to find the Stonewall-Panoramic Trail at the far southwest corner of the campus. Start climbing. Aggressively. Just under a mile as you finish a particularly punishing section you'll find a bench that I've never seen empty at sunset. Just past the bench is a gate as the trail seemingly comes to an end. Keep trucking up the street here (the last paved bit of Panoramic Way) and as it turns a corner the pavement ends again and you're once again on a fire trail. The next mile is rolling with a few short steep sections up and down but climbing overall. Over this rolling section you'll have a couple of opportunities to turn left and return via Route #3. Assuming you're up for more punishment, keep straight ahead through these junctions and you'll find yourself climbing up to a wooded summit just west of Grizzly Peak Road. As you crest this false summit you'll drop a dozen feed to an open field with trails going off in every direction. Just keep straight ahead (north at this point). The trail curves to the northwest up yet another climb. Keep on the northwest course (slight left) at the next intersection to take the trail down to Grizzly Peak Road (near its intersection with South Park Drive). From there it's just a few hundred yards west along Grizzly Peak Road to gravel parking area with yet another superb view of Berkeley. Just past this parking area, on the north ease (inland) side of the road is a trail head for the Grizzly Peak and Tower trails, through which you can access the Tilden trail network. Alternatively, at Grizzly Peak and South Park Drive, you can just head down South Park towards Lake Anza (the road is closed to cars for part of the year for newt migration) or head east on Grizzly Peak towards the Tilden steam trains and the trailheads for the Sea-View and Volmer Peak trails.
Sibley and Grizzly Peak Trails, Tilden (Purple)
Tying the above routes together are the Sibley and Grizzly Peak trails in Tilden. Starting at the northwest (lowest) end the trail follows just below Wildcat Canyon Road towards lake Anza, gently rolling with a very gradual overall climb. Just past Lake Anza stay right to start climbing up to a picnic area near the Botanical Garden and Brazil Room (event area, I only know the name because I went to a wedding there once)... anyway when you hit the picnic area follow the access road back to Wildcat Canyon Road and the Selby trail continues directly across the street. From this point, the trail climbs steeply for a bit, then moderates after you cross Shasta Rd. After crossing Shasta, Golf Course Rd will be on you left for a bit, as you pull away from that road that's when you'll pass by Atlas path (top of Route #2). The path continues to climb gradually, topping out as it winds to the east of some big water tanks on a minor peak along the ridgeline. On the other side of the tanks, the Selby trail ends at Golf Course Drive near its intersection with Grizzly Peak. We are now at the top of Route #3. Crossing Golf Course Drive and find the start of the Grizzly Peak trail just uphill of the small parking area. Stay right through the next intersection to stay on Grizzly Peak Trail and you'll climb up towards the high point on the ridge overlooking Berkeley. The trail stays on the east side of the ridge and offers some very nice views off towards Mt. Diablo just before you reach the Tower Trail. Turn right here and about 50 yards you'll hit Grizzly Peak Road. Just to your left and across the street (southeast) you'll see a parking area with great views of Berkeley and the Bay. This is the highest vista on Grizzly Peak Road and the end of Route #4.
No comments:
Post a Comment