Wildcat Peak Trail

Once a land ‘o plenty teeming with salmon, shellfish, grizzly bear, elk, bald eagle, and mountain lion, once home to Ohlone hunter gatherers for tens of thousands of years – in other words, Paradise on Earth — today, this open space, set on the ecotone of the urban and the wild, where East Bay metropolitan sprawl meets Mother Nature’s organic green blanket, covers more than 4500 acres of pretty valleys, modest peaks and ridges, attractive meadows and healthy woodlands, tropical-like riparian corridors, chaparral sage-scented hillsides, and a rich aquatic biota composed of ponds, marshes, lakes and creeks. In other words, it’s still Paradise on Earth.

Living as we do, so close to the “Berkeley hills”, has the psychological drawback of tending to take the beauty and ecological integrity of our local Tilden and Wildcat parks for granted. But the secret is, Tilden and Wildcat is wilderness right in our back yard! I’ve spotted more birds – ducks, hawks, golden eagles, hummingbirds, kingfishers, black phoebes, herons, egrets, wrens, sparrows, finches and flycatchers; I’ve encountered more amphibians – Pacific tree frogs, bullfrogs, California newts, salamanders; I’ve stopped in my tracks for more reptiles – Western fence lizards, skinks, rattlesnakes, gopher and garter snakes; and I’ve observed more species of mammals making their rounds — deer, fox, raccoon, bat, coyote, bobcat, feral cat, and skunk — in these two parks than seems possible in such a heavily populated / urbanized area.

Wildcat After the Rain

I’ve witnessed surreal sunsets atop the seemingly insignificant 1250 ft. Wildcat peak, a modest but stand-out eminence offering up nonpareil 360 degree views. I’ve hiked my butt off from Richmond to Orinda and still haven’t covered all the trails. In the rainy season, I’ve marveled at hard-flowing Wildcat Creek cutting deep bedrock channels, and sought out hidden, amazing waterfalls in secret ravines off South Park Drive, one of the busiest arteries in Tilden, when it’s not closed for seven months out of the year (November to May) to allow for the safe passage of migrating, sexually active newts. There is just so much to do in these two parks, for every walk of life — biking, horseback riding, swimming, exploring, picnicking, golfing, calliope and steam train rides, and, of course, aerobic hiking for superb views, west, of the Marin headlands and San Francisco’s glittering skyline, north to hills and glistening reservoirs of San Pablo and Briones, and east, twenty miles distant, to Mt. Diablo rising to 3849 ft. It just doesn’t get any better than this, for urban living / nature retreats / wild escapes on your doorstep.

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