Wildcat Canyon Regional Park                                     MORE INFO AND MAP
Wildcat Parkway & Wildcat Creek Trail [McBryde St entrance] B & C; *** ; 4 miles; Rainy Weather Yes
Clark Boaz Trail [Clark Road entrance]
C; *** ; 4 miles; Rainy Weather No

For the first mile and half, Wildcat Canyon Parkway is an old paved road, now closed to cars, wide and mostly well graded, but with one steep rough climb near the start. Being quite wide and cut into the hillside, this first mile is not very interesting hiking. To avoid part of it, and the steepest stretch, drivers can continue on McBryde Avenue until it ends abutting the trail about a half mile south. Parking may be somewhat difficult there, but by starting your hike at that point you have only about a half mile of unappealing paved road to travel before reaching the much pleasanter Wildcat Creek Trail, narrower and winding, but hard gravel that should be usable year-round. The ups and downs may be tiring for those using manual chairs, but not too steep to manage safely. At first the trail goes along the side of the hill, passing through mixed woods and areas of brush and grass. After about a mile and a half it gets close to Wildcat Canyon Creek.

If you continue south for another couple of miles you will reach Tilden Park's Nature Area. But if you are up for rough going, at this point you can turn left on Mezue Trail, which climbs the hillside to join San Pablo Ridge Trail. We did not go all the way to the top, but it seems likely that it is possible to do so in dry weather. Rough, steep going made this a challenge. Views and wildflowers were spectacular.

Or, if you turn right (west) from Wildcat Creek Trail, crossing a footbridge, Rifle Range Road (not a road now, but a fairly muddy trail during rainy season) climbs about a half mile up the steep hill, to Vista Heights Road above the Arlington in El Cerrito. In dry weather, this trail is quite doable with sufficient assistance, but an adventure because of bad traction and rocky stretches.

Details: The trailhead parking area is about two blocks down the hill from McBryde and Park streets, and has two van-accessible disabled spaces and one accessible vault toilet. See suggestion above for one alternative. Another, if you want to tackle Rifle Range Trail, is AC Transit #7 on Arlington Ave, which comes within a few (steep) blocks of its west end at Vista Heights Rd. Last visit Fall 2002

Clark Boaz Trail, another entrance to Wildcat Canyon Park, is a dirt fire road giving a rough ride in places. It begins to climb immediately, but doesn't get very steep until you reach the gate into the park, at about 0.7 mile. From there to the junction with the San Pablo Ridge Trail, it is so steep I had to back down. Most people using manual chairs would need a lot of help for this.

We were there on a birdwatching outing, and went no further, but we could see that the San Pablo Ridge Trail is very steep indeed proceeding south, and judging by the contours on the Park map, the Belgum Trail goes down just as steeply on its way to Wildcat Canyon Trail. These are routes for real adventurers! But the first stretch, say about a half-mile out from the Clark Road entrance, was doable if not comfortable in my power chair (and in dry weather) and our group saw crowds of bluebirds attracted to the ripe fruit of elderberry trees growing near the trail