Berkeley, CA: Northern California Chapter, Claremont Canyon Hike

Aug 15, 2021 10:00AM—2:00PM

Location

Peet's Coffee: 2916 Domingo Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

Event Contact Laurie Ferris | Email

Categories

We are pleased to invite you to a hike in the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve in Berkeley. This is a rigorous/hard hike (approx. 6.5 miles) with several steep, uneven and narrow trails in the first half of the hike. On the return, most of it will be along a fairly smooth and mostly flattish trail after the first mile.

We will meet at 10:00 AM at Peet’s Coffee on Domingo Avenue in Berkeley, across from the Claremont Club & Spa. (It is right next to Fournée Bakery so you can begin your morning with a coffee and pain au chocolat to help you along the ups and downs of the hike.)

We will walk from Peet’s down Claremont Avenue, through the Clark Kerr campus and up a short but steep slope to the top of Dwight Way where we will get on the Stonewall-Panoramic Trail with its “piano key” steps to some heavenly views of the East Bay. After a short jaunt through a wooded area, we will come to a fire trail in the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve and hike along trails and fire roads to Grizzly Peak Road close to the Tilden Steam Train area. This is a steady uphill with two very steep sections — but the views are magnificent.

We will break for a rest and lunch at the Tilden Steam Train area. After lunch, we will retrace our steps for about half a mile before we drop down to the Lower Jordan Trail, which will bring us to the Strawberry Canyon Recreation Area on Centennial Drive. From there, we will make our way past the Cal rugby and football fields to the Clark Kerr campus once again and back to Claremont Avenue. We plan to be back by 2:00 PM.

NOTE: There are no restrooms along the trail, but they are available at the Tilden Steam Train area where we will break for lunch.

RSVP Required: As we continue to ease out of COVID restrictions, this hike is limited to 20 participants. Please help us with planning by registering online by Thursday, August 12.

Getting to Peet’s Coffee on Domingo Avenue in Berkeley

If you drive, parking is unrestricted and should be available in the vicinity, especially on Claremont Avenue.

If you take BART, get off at the Rockridge station and take the 51B bus to the stop at College Avenue & Russell Street. Walk half a mile east along Russell till it dead-ends at the Claremont Hotel and turn right. Peet’s and Fournée are in the first block on the right.

What to Bring: A day pack with water, snacks and a bag lunch. Good hiking shoes are recommended and also hiking poles as there is quite a bit of uphill and downhill. Don’t forget your hat as some sections of the trail don’t offer tree cover.

Level of Difficulty: This is a difficult hike with lots of ups and downs, some uneven trails and some narrow trails. The total elevation gain is around 1,000 feet (according to the Runkeeper app).

Hike Leader: Merula Furtado

For insurance purposes, we are unable to welcome dogs, except service animals, at our events.