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March 20, 2009
Taking it easy on the Bay Area Ridge Trail: Skyline Trail, Segment 1
Trailhead: Alvarado Staging Area, Alvarado Park, El Cerrito
Trail end: Inspiration point, Tilden Park, Berkeley
Lazy Hiker's Grade: C
There are well over 1000 trails in the National ScenicTrail system including such luminaries as Pacific Crest Trail, Apalachian Trail and Rocky Mountain Trail, but this the grandaddy of them all - in 1971, this was the very fist trail in the nation to be included in the National Scenic Trail system. It's a beautiful day outside - get away from the stupid computer you're staring at and drive to the trailhead ...
OK, now that you're at the trailhead, I've got some bad news for you: this Skyline National Scenic Trail (SNST) is actually a trail for cows, not people - a more accurate name for it would be the Bovine National Scenic Trail. That's right, thanks to our ruminator loving friends at the East Bay Regional Park District, most of the Skyline Trail is a cow ridden nightmare.
This trail can't help but benefit from the naturally stunning geography of the Bay Area, and there's lots of green grass and oaks and rolling hills and all the usual blah blah blah, but if you know anything about wild plants, you'll see this for what it is - a decimated, munched-to-the-ground cow byre.
In the foreground we see the usual clutch of invasive, weedy survivors - milk thistle, cardoon, yuck yuck yuck. Look, I'm really not as bitter as I sound. I had a nice day out here. I took a nap in the sun, it smelled good, the views were gorgeous, I felt the lifeblood flowing in my veins, it was all groovy. But the Lazy Hiker is a staunch defender of wild habitat and public lands, and this is just unacceptable. It would be one thing if it was just a couple of miles of this kind of business, but the vast majority of the 31 mile of the Skyline ScenicTrail are cattle ridden and highly degraded habitat. I'm going to move on in a second here, I really am, but first I need to ask this question: why are the public lands adjacent too the bay area being managed for the benefit of a few cattle ranchers and with cynical disregard to the 7 million people who own these lands and actually live here? Anyone, anyone, Bueller, anyone?
Stay tuned for a description of segment 2 of the SNST - Inspiration Point to Redwood Park, with less cows and more native plants, this is my favorite segment of the SNST. Until then, see you out on the trail!
The Lazy Hiker
Posted by Hall in The Lazy Hiker
