Walking Berkeley

Photo by Joe Reifer

Walks in the Berkeley hills seem to be generating quite a few research questions of the scientific sort. One of the highlights of walking in the Berkeley hills is the rock parks — such as Indian Rock Park and Great Stoneface Park — which are city parks that feature rock outcrops that are popular with climbers who want to practice their skills without the cost of going to a climbing gym, and with others who enjoy views across the Bay. I had already visited some of the rock parks in the past, but was surprised to find big rocks in other places in the Thousand Oaks area beyond the parks. Like right in people’s front yards.

As luck would have it, a book about these rocks (which are called Northbrae rhyolite) is due out later this year. It is aptly called Berkeley Rocks. Needless to say, I am pretty excited to see the book, and you can expect a review here when it comes out. In the meantime, a little more about these rocks can be found in a San Francisco Chronicle article from last year, which notes the incorporation of the rocks with architecture of the surrounding houses. Apparently hundreds of homes in the area have rock in their yards. The Berkeley Path Wanderers route sheet for a walk of the rock parks also contains more details about area’s geology.