Type: Road/Trail, Point-to-point
Difficulty: 6 / 10
Altitude: 500 ft
Dog Friendly: Yes, with leash
Jog-Stroller Friendly: Unknown
Filed Under: Running
This is a beautiful and challenging run that goes up about 1500 - 2000 feet in altitude, a real rave run. Next time you are in the Bay Area, go to the Sather tower (you can't miss it) in the center of the UC Berkeley campus. Run east uphill about 1/4 mi, until you reach and pass the football stadium on Stadium Rim Road. At the top of the stadium you'll find Centennial Road, and take it east, running on the dirt path beside the road. After about 1/4 mi more you will pass the swimming pools and a small parking lot, where the trail through the hills begins (if you come to the arboretum then you missed the trail). The dirt fire trail climbs and winds up the foothills. After about 1 mile you will encounter the "connector", where the trail turns left and goes steeply uphill for about 200 yds. Take a left at the top of the connector and then follow the trail another 2 miles up, winding through eucalyptus trees until you come to the top of the canyon. The whole panorama of the SF Bay will unfold in front of you, as you run another 2.5 miles along the rim of the canyon. At the end you will come to several campus buildings on Grizzly Peak Blvd. Here you have the option of turning around and running back down, or descending along Grizzley Peak to the Lawrence Hall of Science, where you can catch a bus back down to campus (run every 10-15 min, $0.50). But the run back downhill is great too, quite a bit lighter than the ascent. In the summer the trail through the hills is completely shaded, and the sweat you worked up going to the top is like a cool breeze on the way down. When the rains come in mid-winter this run becomes too muddy, then switch over to rhe Grizzly Peak Run
From anywhere in the Bay Area, take I80 to Berkeley and then University avenue to the UCB campus. Park anywhere you can and go to the Sather tower.
Posted by: peklebba and last modified on Feb 02, 2006 by thoos
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