Nimitz Way in Tilden Park: Swords into Ploughshares II From Richard Katz's

Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email

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Chapter tilden

Nimitz Way in Tilden Park: Swords into Ploughshares II

As you skate around the Bay on the paths in this Book, you may notice that some of them are marked with signs that say "Bayview Trail", with a little leaf icon. The little signs refer to the pathforming rapture that's coming soon, when Someday, maybe in the not too distant future, San Francisco Bay will be ringed by one continuous rollerskating path. It will no doubt be possible to navigate and even circumnavigate the Bay on this path, even without a book -- a veritable Macintosh of a skating trail.

Some indication that this nirvana may not arrive too soon has to do with the nature of signs. Generally, a sign has to be attached to something, like a signpost, and it has to be permanent. The official signpost for the trails bureau hereabouts seems to be a 4x4 with a mortised out section to hold the little metal leaf icon, and with the name of the trail carved into the wooden post itself. And of course a little arrow. But before this trail around the bay is anywhere near done, a lot of the 4x4 signposts out there are already bereft of their metal emblems, which in some cases makes them uninterpretable. Either the project took too long, or the signs didn't last long enough. (If it were up to me, I would carve all those little icons into big rocks and set them down with a chopper; probably cost about the same too.)

Also in that Future there is going to be another trail that goes around the Bay on the hilltops, called the Ridge Trail. Nimitz Way in the hills above Kensington and El Cerrito and Orinda is going to be part of that system. And if you think that labelling a trail is tough, wait until you get to the end of this little Defense Department project and see what these people were up against.

This is a difficult trail partly because of the cattle crossing grates, but mostly because of the grades. Don't attempt it unless you stop at the store first and get new brake shoes. If you are still on your first set of brake shoes, ever, then don't go at all. One day you will notice that you need new brakes, and instead of that being an unmitigated drag, it will be a tickler in your file that it's time to go skating at Inspiration Point.

How to Get There by Car from Interstate 80:

Take the University Avenue exit and stay in the left hand lanes going east on University Avenue. At the very end of University, at the T-shaped intersection with Oxford Street, make a left into the far right lane of Oxford, then go one block and turn right onto Hearst Avenue. Go east on Hearst to a stoplight at the top of a hill, and turn right on Gayley Road. Just before you get to the Cal Bears' memorial stadium on your left, turn left on the rimway, and then make the next left onto North Canyon Road. North Canyon Road winds around by one of the University's swimming pools and the University Botanical Garden, then it becomes Centennial Drive. Up, up, up on Centennial to Grizzly Peak Boulevard, right on Grizzly Peak, wind around a bit and keep an eye out for South Park Drive. Go left on South Park (this street is closed certain months to allow the newts to cross the road during mating season) to Wildcat Canyon Road. Take a right. It is 1.1 miles from South Park Drive to Inspiration Point; when you see a sign "Lakeview", Inspiration Point is 0.4 miles ahead, on your left.

Parking is usually a problem in the afternoons, approaching sundown.

Note: It's quicker to go up Marin Avenue, but it's just too steep for out of towners.

What It's Like:

If you parked over by the stone entrance to the trail, take a second to walk over to the other side of the lot and gaze at Orinda.

Start skating through the turnstile arrangement by the road. After shouldering your way past the pedestrians, you find out right away whether you can negotiate this trail because there is a steep downhill stretch near the beginning. If you make it to the bottom, fine. You are standing pretty close to the Hayward Fault, so there are some of those geology cracks so common hereabouts. There are some benches for admiring the view. You go through a woodsy part of the trail, very pleasant, then at approximately the 1.75 mile mark you come to the first cattle crossing. For all you newcomers to the West, these aren't just crosswalks for cattle, these are heavy metal grates that will grab either your skate or a cow's hoof and wrestle you to the ground. The idea is you go through the swing gate on the right. You have to stop and release the gate, then go through it, then close it up again. This isn't really fun to do. The last cattle guard is at three and a half miles out of a total of about four. There are a total of four of these grates and gates. That's the bad news.

The good news is the scenery is fantastic. The views are panoramic. The pavement isn't too bad, and if you can keep up your momentum on the downslopes, the hills are a good aerobic workout. Once you get past that second cattle crossing, there won't even be very many pedestrians. You and the bicyclists will have the trail to yourselves, and it is indeed a peaceful, quiet and beautiful place.

The end of the trail comes abruptly in a pile of dirt heaped up unceremoniously at about the four mile mark. When you get to the end, pause for a moment, look around you, and see if you can conjure up a Nike missile base. After Pearl Harbor, hilltops like this one were requisitioned for warfare. Look around, and imagine a ticky tacky little town with little boxes on the hillsides, with streets and street lights and the whole nine yards.

The industry of the little company town you are standing in was the war business. They were open for business here 24 hours a day, filling out forms, shipping and receiving, telephoning -- fulfilling their mission, which was to be ready to launch nuclear warheads. Right from here. Right from those concrete pads over to your right and up on the rise. When this place was really blowin' an goin', cresting on the flood of paranoia that deposited it on this Ararat forty years ago, those concrete pads over there were as smooth and hard and flat as a billiard table. Only the Defense Department had concrete like that. And look at it now. It's cracked, and uprooted, and the aggegate is poking out of the concrete. Look over at the wooden post standing up, a weathered barn-red 4x4, with a board attached to it crosswise, like a sign perhaps, or a place for posting a notice. Maybe it's all that's left of a sign that warned of the danger of radioactivity on the premises. The stuff they warehoused here was plutonium. It's hot for a hundred thousand years. What kind of a sign were they going to hang on it, to tell people to stay away, a sign that would last twenty times longer than recorded civilization? What sort of sign post were they going to nail that sign to? That one, over there, where a 4x4 is already all that's left?

Skate back just the way you skated in on Nimitz Way. It's the road they built to service the missiles.

Places to Eat:

Tilden Park doesn't offer a whole lot in the way of food. Maybe out here in the woods and fields one can imagine foraging for roots and berries, being a hunter and gatherer; but such thoughts are dispelled whenever one of the steers wanders by, or when you notice that there isn't a whole lot left of the native vegetation. If you want to grab a bite to eat on the way up here, stop in Berkeley's Northside area. Right there on Hearst, just after crossing Euclid Avenue, try the 3C's Cafe. Parking is a problem. If you are looking for a snack, there is a hot dog stand right in the park at the Merry Go Round, just off Wildcat Canyon Road. Go straight on Wildcat Canyon Road past South Park Drive, and follow the signs to Lake Anza and the Merry Go Round -- another magnificent old carousel.

Public Transportation:

None.

Ratings:

Path Surface = ***

Public Transit Access = NONE

Surroundings = *****

Level of Difficulty = Challenging

Overall Rating = ***

Length = four miles one way

Other trails to check out in the neighborhood:

Berkeley Marina

Berkeley BART

10/10/96

Note from the Author: Haven't put in links to the other chapters yet.

From Richard Katz's Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email

Back to Richard Katz's Homepage

If you want to go back to the Table of Contents of Skating Unrinked, Back to TOC