Oakland Urban Paths: Exploring the Hayward Fault

On Saturday, local historian and author Dennis Evanosky led Oakland Urban Paths on a walk exploring the Hayward Fault, as well as some other interesting bits of geology between the Redwood Heights Recreation Center and the Mormon Temple. We're in the early stages of using a registration system to get a better handle on the size of the walks, so instead of 125 people like we had a couple years ago when Dennis last led this walk for us, we were closed to a much more manageable 60 people (and 2 dogs).

We started at the rec center, then went past the nearby Redwood Heights Elementary School. Unfortunately, after the school was built, a trace of the fault was found to be very close by. To comply with a state law that wasn't yet in effect regarding the minimum distance between fault lines and schools, they tore down the multi-purpose building and removed part of the main building that was too close.

We also looked at a sag pond which is now an EBMUD reservoir, learned about 35th Avenue's role as a way to transport redwoods from the hills down to the harbor, and talked about the Gold Star Streets which were named for locals who died in WWI.

Along Rettig, we walked a peaceful stretch of road beside a stretch of Peralta Creek. It's peaceful because a landslide shut off access to the road, and it was decided to keep it closed after the cleanup.

After some climbing, we came to the site of the London Road Slide. This slow-moving slide in 1970 destroyed a section of London Road, along with 14 houses, but it could have been a lot more spectuclar because of the jet fuel pipeline that used to run through the area.

More climbing took us to the Mormon Temple, where we saw groups from several quinceañeras (a Latina celebration of a girl's 15th birthday) getting their pictures taken, and the beautiful gardens and fountain on the temple grounds.

Thanks to Dennis for leading the walk, and to everyone who came out for it. And thank you for your patience as we figure out the registration system. November's walk will be "Buffers and Boundaries," led by Ruth Miller. See the walk calendar for more information, and hope to see you on the paths!

Links

• Active Traces of the Hayward Fault USGS maps, plus a Google Earth tour of the fault
• Oakland Geology
• The Hayward fault in Redwood Heights
• 39th Avenue fault gauge revisited
• Rettig Canyon
• Oakland Underfoot
• Oakland Wiki

See the pictures individually here.

Oakland Urban Paths: Rock and Walk

Saturday morning there was a great turnout for the Oakland Urban Paths "Rock and Walk", led by Oakland geologist and blogger Andrew Alden. Forty people (and two dogs) gathered to learn about four former quarries in Oakland and Piedmont over the course of a 5 mile walk.

To begin the walk we met at the first quarry, which is now the Rockridge Shopping Center. It was the former Bilger quarry, which produced crushed stone for use in construction. One interesting thing is that the neighboring Treadwell estate didn't sell their land to the quarry, but later sold it to the California College of the Arts, which explains why there's an unusually steep hill between the campus at one level and the shopping center below. Another nearby estate became the Claremont Country Club. The Rockridge branch of Glen Echo Creek traverses the country club, and brings most of the water that fills the quarry pit. Read more about the quarry in Andrew's post from a couple years ago.

From there, we walked around the end of Mountain View Cemetery into Piedmont for quarry #2. It's now Dracena Quarry Park, which is tucked away in a man-made canyon between Moraga Avenue and Oakland Avenue. It also was used to produce crushed stone and aggregate for construction. It's a beautiful little park, surrounded with large redwoods and with play structures for kids. But the hillsides have been left in a somewhat unstable condition—fences around the edge keep park users away from the fallen rock at the base of hills. Read more about Dracena Park in Andrew's post.

Then it was a winding walk over to quarry #3, Davie Tennis Stadium. Unfortunately the park was closed because of a furlough day, but Andrew told us some of the history and geology. The Davie Recreation Stadium was a "gift of the Davie family to the children of Oakland and the East Bay" in 1931. John Davie was a five term mayor of Oakland, first in 1895 then again from 1915-1931. William Davie was a treasurer, and Fred Davie a secretary to the mayor. The quarry provided aggregate for the Alameda Macadam Company and later the Piedmont Paving Company for road paving. You can see an aerial photo of the tennis courts at the park in Google maps.

Morcom Rose Garden

From there we walked across Grand Avenue over to quarry #4, the Morcom Rose Garden. Unlike the other three, Andrew hasn't yet found a record of its history as a quarry, but the geological / topographical features strongly indicate that it was. The land was acquired by the city around 1911-1915, but the first rose wasn't planted until 1933, by then former Mayor Frank Morcom.

We cut back across part of Piedmont, crossed Piedmont Avenue, and returned to our starting point. By this point a few people had dropped out (5 miles is a long walk if you're not used to it), but a few of the remaining folks joined Andrew for a brief walk around the shipping center to view the rocks of quarry #1. Another great urban paths walk, with some stairways that were new to me, and some interesting history and geology to learn about along the way.

Lots more pictures:


For more about Saturday's walk, check out Andrew's post about the walk.

more links:

• Oakland Urban Paths website
• Google map of our route
• Oakland Geology blog
• Oakland Sidewalk Stamps blog
• About.com Geology website

• Dracena Quarry Park
• Davie Tennis Stadium
• Morcom Rose Garden
• Morcom Dedicated Dead Headers

exploring the Sausal Creek watershed

Sometimes I think I've explored other parts of Oakland better than I've explored the hills where K and I live. When I'm elsewhere in Oakland, I tend to try new routes, go through different neighborhoods, seek out new things. Closer to home, we tend to stick to the same places—I don't know how many times we've hiked the same trails in Huckleberry and Redwood regional parks, or taken the same routes to Montclair Village. So yesterday, K and I decided to hike someplace new.

Many Oaklanders are probably more familiar with the middle stretch of Sausal Creek, where it passes through the Dimond and the topographically named Sausal Creek neighborhood, roughly parallel to Fruitvale Ave. The Dimond has some awesome wayfinding mosaics (featured on Oaktown Art) to point people towards it. But the upper part is fed by Shepherd Creek and Palo Seco Creek, then cuts the Dimond Canyon through Oakmore, draining a large section of the Oakland hills.

We headed to the western part of Joaquin Miller Park, just off highway 13, to one of the upper parts of the Sausal Creek watershed. Looking at some very helpful maps from the Friends of Sausal Creek, it turns out we're actually in the watershed at home. We're on the Shepherd Canyon side of a largish ridge, and Shepherd Creek feeds into Sausal Creek. (Also check out great info on the geology of the area on Oakland Geology.) We started with a short, steep hike up to Visionary Ridge, to a viewpoint favored by Joaquin Miller himself. We hung out there for a while, admiring the sweeping view of Oakland.

redwoods

Then we headed further up Palo Seco creek. There are gorgeous redwoods, which while not as old as the ones in Muir Woods, are every bit as beautiful. The area was heavily logged in Oakland's history, with redwoods being used for ship's masts and building construction, but new trees have grown up since then. We crossed the creek and walked down a narrow trail on the other side.

Eventually we reached highway 13, where the creek temporarily dives underground and under the freeway, and so did we -- there's a pedestrian underpass linking Mountain Blvd. and Monterey Blvd. A short walk took us back into redwoods and a trail following the creek. Near the Montclair Golf Course, Palo Seco Creek joins with Shepherd Creek to form Sausal Creek. From there it flows down Dimond Canyon. We ended our exploration at the Liemert Bridge over Dimond Canyon, but the creek continues through Oakmore, the Dimond and along Fruitvale Ave., with various parks providing access to it.

Sausal Creek joins the estuary

The lower part of the Sausal Creek watershed is considerably less glamorous than the upper part. Just before the creek reaches International Blvd., it goes underground, resurfacing where it drains into the estuary. There's a very small park near the Fruitvale Bridge, and a marker embedded in the concrete to note it's Sausal Creek.

More pictures in my Sausal Creek watershed album:

Sausal Creek watershed