Walking To The Water
When in doubt, walk to the water. In the Bay Area, there is probably no more obvious walk than to head to that which binds all together here. This seemed like a good place to start for Hike #1 of my 50 hikes in my 5th year.I would literally start from our front door and head down to the Berkeley Pier and adjacent parklands. Here’s the approximate 7 mile round trip from the house. I couldn’t get Google maps to add the pier, which is to the lower left. (This hike was actually done twice, the first time exploring the park, the second the pier.)
It is an ancient desire, to head down to the water, or down to the river, or down to the the lake. In other times, this might be to greet arrivals, send off loved ones, catch dinner. These topographical features define the places many of us inhabit, and so this desire is partly a rite of passage, and the procession has been routinely enobled in verse, spoken or sung.But I was quickly ahead of myself as usual. I was a block from home for crissakes, still on our humble little street.
As I have already touched on, our new neighborhood sits in old West Berkeley. The city was founded, not surprisingly, near the water’s edge. All roads east lead to the water here, and any one will do. The many small wood buildings en route testify to history of this place.
urban ambles 