More North Berkeley Parks!

Today was a 'free day' for me as we move ever slowly to getting cleared of our Eville apartment, so I decided it was a perfect day to get to Mortar Rock Park.. a place I've been curious about since first reading about it in April this year..

I took the bus up to Hopkins (thinking it was a long walk to take from South Berkeley, and I'd recently re-wounded myself walking the 3+ miles from Oakland Saturday night.. new shoes.. pinching toes, the usual!) and walked up the fountain stairs and around the corner, up the road.. there we go.. Three City of Berkeley Parks in one day!! (not as amazing a feat as it sounds!)

Indian Rock Park is very small and is only a very short walk from Mortar Rock Park..



a fun little climb and a lovely view can be yours if you're adventurous.. I however, was not..


I did see some other adults (and not just excitable children) scramble up the rock stairs and sit up top having a little picnic. Me I decided I wasn't wanting to take a chance with the camera (and my laptop) and have them tumble down the boulders there..

Mortar Rock Park.. the reason I was wandering around the neighborhood..


Here the Ohlone native people would use the rock outcroppings to pound acorns into a fine meal. While I didn't spot any 'bowl-shaped' divots in the rock, I did manage an easier time of climbing to the top and checking out the view..




Here you can get a sense of the 'stairs' that carved out to make it easier to climb up to the top..

John Hinkel Park was a surprise.. I hadn't planned on going there but it too was only a short walk up the street. I ended up entering it from the backside.. so the picnic and playground were the last things I saw (along with the signage) While I hadn't planned to go there, it was my favorite of the three parks..






There's just so many pathways and stairs and moving water from the creek is nice to see when you know there's a drought on..




You can see my three photo sets here:

Indian Rock Park

Mortar Rock Park

John Hinkel Park


ps: the walk home was just fine! I wore my Vibrams (which are very comfortable for me despite the funny looks & comments I get from random people) which came in handy for mini rock climbing.. So that & the downhill walk back to worldly conveniences was comfortable and quick!