Ohlone Greenway Walk!

One of the walks I've been wanting to do is the entire length of the Ohlone Greenway which runs along the BART tracks from north of El Cerrito/ Richmond south to Berkeley.. a few pocket and city parks lie along the way..

Along with the 'challenge' of doing it.. (it's entire length is less than 6miles despite traveling through 4 cities.. it's northern most point located in Richmond) I wanted to see what was to be seen along the way. I started my adventure Thursday morning by BART-ing to El Cerrito Del Norte, where the Safeway provided a clean pitstop & supply pick up (since moving I've not located my Brita water bottle.)

For some of the path the North & South-bound trails are seperate.. but eventually it all becomes one big paved pathway with a small side trail for dogs to run along:


Opened in 2010, Bruce King Memorial Dog Park is named after an El Cerrito maintenance/engineer Manager who passed the year before the park opened.



El Cerrito Community Garden is just one of the gardens I passed on my walk:



Codornices Creek "overpass" near the Albany border:





Nice to know you can get "free air" in Berkeley:



I *heart* the West Berkeley cows that cross along the Greenway near the North Berkeley BART:


Something to be aware of before deciding to do a walk like this:

my timing was very good!

The Ohlone Greenway stops and starts on the opposite side of the North Berkeley BART:


near Delaware Street:


The walk brings you to Ohlone Park on Haste:


Here you'll find places to throw a frisbee, have a picnic, sit in a big sun patch, or have some fun with your dog:


I ended my walk after taking several pix of the Ohlone Park Mural.. which are in this set ..as well as my Mural set..


My route & stats:

about 5.5 miles..

Willard Park

Not far from bustling neighborhood of Elmwood in Berkeley is Willard Park. It was opened in the early 70s and named after Suffragate and Temperance leader Frances Willard.



Here in the background you can see the clubhouse (and bathroom on left side of structure) where the Berkeley Day Camp is ran from.. a neat water fountain is seen in the foreground.





Toddler Play Area seen across an open field of dead grass.. Tennis Courts are to the right of the play area.




Willard Park is really a family, neighborhood park.. and is located just around the corner from Willard Middle School, which also uses the park for activities.

What I don't show is the smattering of homeless folks there that were sleeping under the few random trees.. Along with the homeless were random sunbathers, napping folks, ladies having picnics and playing cards. Nearby a couple bicyclists had taken a break from their ride to rest by cooling off and playing a game of "hacky sack" (they were doing pretty good too!)

It was a busy park mid-afternoon and I was hard-pressed to find a spot where I wanted to sit and read. It wasn't peaceful, nor restful. The day was such that with a strong breeze, a shady tree wasn't what I was looking for, and the grass that extended outside in the sun was very dead. I ended up sitting and watching the hacky sack players for a bit and then contemplated the random piece of brown glass from a beer bottle laying weather-worn in the grass next to me. The day camp kids on the far side of the park were playing some kind of soccer I think, well away from the resting homeless. The thing about Berkeley though, is that you can have a wide range of people of various backgrounds and economic situations enjoying the same park. No one is bothering anyone.

That said, this isn't really my idea of a 'meditate under a tree' and read type of park. I'm sure it is for someone..

Ohlone Park Mural

Small wander today.. I plan to walk the Ohlone Greenway another time, but wanted to take in the mural in its current state (was touched up late last year.. and will celebrate 20yr anniversary next year.)

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!

Halcyon Commons

Most likely the smallest of Berkeley's City Parks..







City of Berkeley site

Ain't I a Woman

Tuesday I needed to be in Downtown Berkeley before dinner time. I thought to go hiking in another city park (I still want to do Mortar Rock Park!), but had a late start (yet again) getting out for my walk. So, after I treated myself to lunch, I headed over to Live Oak Park to read. Despite it being closer to a residential area and playground, it's actually a rather quiet place to just sit on a bench, read, had a snack or watch some fat squirrels acting like cats in the trees... I meandered about and found this really cool mural under a bridge there on the far side of the park..


Sojourner Truth.. "Ain't I a Woman?"

Codornices Park and Bay View with Fog

Monday's Adventure had me hiking back up to the Rose Garden with the camera and zoom lens to take some views of the Bay from the Berkeley Rose Garden and to check out Codornices Park.. I got a late start and the fog had already rolled in..

Remains of the Berkeley Pier and Alcatraz in the distance..

Fortunately the fog played no role in my day at the park..

1201 Euclid Avenue
Berkeley, CA.













The park was a fun place to shoot.. lots of gnarled trees, pathways, streams and light. It's a busy park though, so it's full of noise and family and sound.. water, birds.. not so much squirrels... There's even a really great concrete slide all the kids slide down with pieces of cardboard. I made sure to keep people out of my images, but trust me, they were there!

Here's a lovely shot of the City as I headed back down the hill..

Karl the Fog and the SF Skyline..


the rest of the photo set from the day can be seen HERE