Last Saturday we walked from West Berkeley to Orinda BART.
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- From our house, we walked down past the park
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- and then picked up some snacks at the farmers market.
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- We walked through downtown Berkeley.
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- Near the Clark Kerr campus we passed a memorial.
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- After an extremely steep ascent we rested briefly in a clearing.
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- Crossing Grizzly Peak near the Steam Trains, we found a lunch spot on a lightly traveled trail.
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- We started descending onto the Contra Costa side of the hill.
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- The rest of the hike was on East Bay MUD land and required a permit.
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- Saturday afternoon and we were the only ones on the poppy strewn trail.
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- A cow rubbed against a drinking trough and gave us a strange salute.
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- Following the power lines down the trail, Highway 24 once again came into view.
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- Signs warned that the trail had been spiked with nails.
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- The sign-in sheet indicated the steep trail is used infrequently.
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- Sidewalks and crosswalks were non-existent in Orinda. We proceeded cautiously to BART.
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- Back in Berkeley, we headed home to relax on the couch.
I love that tired old dog on the couch. Seems like a fitting end to a long walk.
Trails spiked w/ nails? This is for real? I’ve heard of barbed wire across streams to catch paddlers, but this is a new one. As in rusty, bent nails sticking up out of pieces of old lumber? What’s the warning amount to?
Tim – he looks like I felt at the time.
Kent – We didn’t see any nails, just a sign that warned about them. The area with the sign is a singletrack trail close to a suburban development, and the trail is for hikers/horses only. Perhaps this was an anti-mountain bike contingent? Teenage vandals? Disgruntled carpenters?
Yikes, many theories. But I enjoyed the journey, in spite of the hazards, steep climbs, lack of sidewalks, and need for permits. One doesn’t simply take off in the woods in CA. Nor much of anywhere, I guess.
Looks like fun. How far was the hike to Orinda?
Your poppies reminded me of my hike up Mitchell Canyon last weekend. It’s a great time for wildflowers.
Kent – with how busy the Bay Area is, I’m often surprised how few people are out. The steeper and longer the hike, the fewer the people.
Steve – About 10-11 miles. I tried to map it on Google, but couldn’t get all the trails to work on the map. Yeah, flowers are go!