Cool Oakland and Berkeley Trails for Hot Weather
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Here are a few cool spots to walk dogs in hot weather. They’re also great because they don’t have tons of foxtails, which can be very dangerous to pets.
Sausal Creek in Oakland: Go to El Centro between Benvenides and the entrance to the Dimond Recreation Center—look for the pedestrian crosswalk and the trail head is right there. This isn’t a very long trail but it is beautiful and cool since it’s beside a creek and goes up a canyon. It’s a flat trail so it’s great for senior/disabled pups and people. You’re not supposed to let dogs in the water so the rainbow trout population can flourish, so I don’t usually let dogs off leash, or I go there with dogs who aren’t water dogs. There are a couple “swimming holes” where some people let their dogs swim, but if you get caught with a dog in the creek, you could get fined. It’s a little gem of a trail.
The Bridgeview Trail in Oakland: Go to Monterey Blvd. between Leimert Blvd. and the Montclair Golf Course—look for a trash can and a trailhead sign. This is actually the trail up above Sausal Creek and it crosses the creek. Go in and head down, down, down the trail. You’ll cross Sausal Creek and then to the right the trail will take you back up, up, up via a series of switchbacks. At the top of the switchbacks and the cement stairs, go to the right and keep following the path. Some poison oak. Shady and cool. Dogs are supposed to be on leash here, although many people walk their dogs off leash. It seems as if I hear that occasionally OPD does a “sting” and writes a bunch of tickets. They write a ticket for each off-leash dog, so it can get expensive for a dog walker walking a group—for that reason I rarely do this trail with dogs off leash.
There are two places to turn around:
—Turn around after you cross over a little wooden bridge with metal handrails, after that (3 mins walk) you will see a trail head sign on the right. Just after that, the foxtails get horrendous. Don’t go any further if you want to avoid them.
—You can also go down the trail to the right as you see the trailhead sign. There are lots of switchbacks that will take you down to Sausal Creek again. You’ll be above where the official trail ends when you enter from El Centro. When you get down to just above the water, take a left. When the trail forks soon—take a left again into some ivy-covered green areas. The creek is underground but will appear again soon. As you go down the switchbacks, you might want to put your dog on leash. I try really hard to keep dogs on the trail because there are intense erosion problems here. The same goes for the switchbacks at the beginning of the trail.
There is another entrance at the end of Bridgeview Dr. (other end of block is at Leimert) but that end is full of foxtails so I avoid it in the summer and fall. In the spring it is super nice—there’s a big meadow and it’s a neighborhood dog-people gathering spot.
Strawberry Canyon in the Berkeley hills above Cal: There are two cool spots without too many foxtails—the green, shady hillside (no particular name that I know of) and thedeeply shady, moist Woodbridge Metcalfe Grove. These are on either side of the fire trail. There is not a water feature without foxtails, although if you enter SC from Stadium Way (parking lot on right after you pass the Cal swimming pool), there is a great spot to swim in. There’s a also mud along the trail that I’m a little freaked about letting dogs in—possible problems with mud: leptospirosis and guardia (sp?)—but sometimes they get in some mud despite my best efforts at avoiding it. I’m going to give you a spot to start, but possibly I should show you around up there if we can figure out a time that works for us both. I enter from the intersection of Panoramic Place and Panoramic Way, just a little bit to the right on Panoramic Way (minimizes time in foxtail-land before getting to green hilly area).
The Albany Bulb beach (part of the Eastshore Park) in Albany is also great when it’s hot. I always bring my own fresh water to minimize dogs’ drinking salt water.
The Lone Oak Trail at Tilden Park in Berkeley is cool and lovely but you have to keep your pup on leash while you’re on that trail if he or she is likely to go in the stream. (That’s to protect the endangered rainbow trout and California newts.)
You can also skip that trail and just drive to the parking lot by Lake Anza, where your pup is legal to swim. You can walk all the way around the lake (you have to do a bit of climbing in one spot).
Happy trails!