Traveling to the San Francisco Bay Area starting in 1995 began years of exploring the more than 130 paths in the Berkeley Hills. As the age clock continues to advance, I still walk a two-mile path with a halfway Peet’s Coffee stop whenever we visit the Bay Area, an old-age endurance test. Near the former Jackson family home on Vermont Avenue, from the top of Maryland Walk, the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen across the bay on a clear day. This famous bridge, fabricated and erected in the 1930s with millions of shop-driven and field-driven rivets, continues to impress those who drive across it or walk its pedestrian access.
From the top of Maryland Walk a steep set of concrete stairs leads down to Boynton Avenue and then a jog over to Boynton Walk down to Arlington Avenue, a winding separated two lane street extending six miles through several communities in the Berkeley Hills with a high volume of traffic. Toyota Priuses at one time were the dominant car I saw along Arlington Avenue; today Teslas literally saturate the Arlington Avenue traffic. After nearly a mile walk along Arlington Avenue, then down Indian Rock Path, I reach the halfway break at Peet’s Coffee on Solano Avenue. After the Peet’s coffee break, the return back to top of Maryland Walk is long and ascending, sidewalks dip and rise, sharp turns, a straight steady uphill climb back to Vermont Avenue. Another old-age endurance test completed.
