Leona Heights

I took a 6.46 mile walk on Sunday morning:

View Leona Heights in a larger map

I decided to check out the Leona Heights neighborhood, which is a historic area of Oakland. Back at the turn of the prior century, it had a hotel, a quarry and a separate railroad line that served the area. Leona Canyon also has one of two remaining old growth redwood trees in Oakland. Due to its location in the hills, the neighborhood has been prone to wildfires over the years.  

I came across a couple of interesting things, as noted on the map.  First, I was trying to get up to Leona Heights without taking Seminary, a busy road that skirts Mills College on the way to the freeway.  Using my Oakland walking map, I determined that I would use Nairobi Street to cut between Delmont and Hillmont, but when I got there, Nairobi turned out to be a dead-end street off of Delmont.  I've alerted the Oakland Public Works department that they need to update their map to note that.

Once I reached Leona Heights, I took an unmarked path into the park, and I came across this giant concrete thing, that stretched for maybe 500 feet up the hill.  Maybe it was some sort of sluice for the old quarry?

Here's where it ended:



Finally, I had set out early in the morning, not knowing how long the walk would take and not bringing any water for me or my dog.  After several hours of walking up hill in increasingly hot temperatures, Morgan was getting quite thirsty.  So it was a nice surprise to come across a bowl of water put out by a neighbor for any passing dog.  Morgan took a deep drink, and we continued on our way home.