El Cerrito Trail Trekkers

The El Cerrito Trail Trekkers formed in order to build, maintain, publicize and use the little known urban trails of El Cerrito, California. You can support us by  joining or donating, or you can keep up with our progress by getting on our email list. Find out about our accomplishments in 2013 here.Follow us on Twitter @ECTrailTrekkers

Looking for information on the Madera Open Space? Do you want to make a tax-deductible donation?  Many people have, and we wish you would too. Either way, the page you want is here.

Follow us on Twitter @ECTrailTrekkers or Facebook .

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– Hiking the High Route –

The El Cerrito Trail Trekkers Annual Public Meeting

On January 11 the El Cerrito Trail Trekkers held their annual meeting. The current board was reelected with Dave Weinstein as president, Jenny Hammer as vice-president, Pam Austin as treasurer, Mark Miner as secretary and Tom Gehling and Maryann Pomegranate  as at large members

This coming Sunday, January 11, the El Cerrito Trail Trekkers will be having our annual public meeting to elect officers and plan for the coming year. Meet your fellow Trekkers, enjoy refreshments, and hear an illustrated talk by Brendan Moriarty of the Trust For Public Land. Brendan took a break from his efforts to help us buy the Madera Open Space this summer to get married. For their honeymoon the newlyweds hiked for three weeks along the Sierra High Route. All of it was off trail, roughly paralleling the Pacific Crest Trail. Brendan will also discuss the role and goals of Trust for Public Lands and its special and ongoing relationship with El Cerrito.

The meeting is open to all, but you must be a paid up member to vote.

2 PM in the Garden Room at the El Cerrito Community Center, 7007 Moeser Lane (at Ashbury), El Cerrito, CA 94530

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The Madera campaign nears its goal We made our goal!

But we aren’t there yet. Learn about the latest developments here.

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Friends of Five Creeks  leader and Trail Trekker  inspiration  Susan Schwartz was recently featured in the San Jose Mercury News. Read about her here.

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On Sunday, October 12 we held

Music for Madera

Pictures are here.

The informational page is here.

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The Trekkers and Motorcycle Hill in Bay Nature Magazine

The Motorcycle Hill Trail is featured on page 16 of the current issue of  Bay Nature magazine. And on their website is an article about the Trekkers. We hope you’ll take a look at them both, and then maybe go checkout Motorcycle Hill for yourself. And a big thanks to everyone at Bay Nature for the featuring us, and the wonderful trails of El Cerrito.

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Your name could be here! UPDATED!

[TJ Gehling]

The El Cerrito Trail Trekkers thank everyone who has already donated to the El Cerrito Open Space Campaign. Just this week a sign was placed on the northern side of Moeser Lane, across and just uphill from the intersection with Galvin Dr.  The sign is now next to the tennis courts on the south side of Moeser,  just west of Avis Dr,/Navellier St. This sign will include the name of everyone who has donated $500 or more. All the donors are listed here. The sign also shows where we are in the fundraising effort. And the short answer to that is not far enough. If you want to see this land added to the city park system, and at the same time make sure that there are funds available for all city parks in the future, then a contribution would be a great way to show it. Information about the campaign is here.

[Jenny Hammer]

[Jenny Hammer]

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The First Annual Hillside Festival

 

Madera Students with Jim McKissock [Dave Weinstein]

The first ever Hillside Festival in El Cerrito was held May 17th. It featured hikes, native plant tours, a temporary pop-up bike park demonstration, historical talks and tours, habitat restoration demonstrations, free garden club plants, kids events and more, in a 90-acre wildness area in the middle of the city. Some pictures are here. The original event page is here.

This free event was sponsored by the city’s Environmental Quality Committee, Tree Committee and Park and Rec Commission,and took place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday May 17, 2014 in the Hillside Natural Area.

Groups taking part included the El Cerrito Trail Trekkers, the El Cerrito Mountain Bike Team, Friends of Five Creeks, the California Native Plant Society, the El Cerrito Environmental Quality Committee, the El Cerrito Historical Society, the Community Garden Network, folks from Madera Elementary School, and Berkeley historian and author Richard Schwartz.

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Bay Trail News

There is a lot going on on the Bay Trail in Richmond. On Saturday, April 19, there is a grand reopening of Point Molate Beach Park. This comes just as the East Bay Regional Park District has announced that Chevron is donating an easement for a trail extension from the Richmond – San Rafael Bridge to Point Molate beach. There are articles about it on the SFGate Blog and in the Contra Costa Times.

And on April 22  there is a Ground Breaking for  the Breuner Marsh Restoraton & Bay Trail Project at Point Pinole. There is more information on the TRAC calendar of events.

Trail Trekkers interested in the Bay Trail should also check out this recent article about Bruce Beyaert in the Contra Costa Times. Bruce is the chairman of TRAC – Trails for Richmond Action Committee, and has been instrumental in the creation of the San Francisco Bay Trail in Richmond. Richmond has more coastline and more completed trail than any other city in the Bay Area. They have recently completed an important segment linking Point Potrero and Brickyard Cove, meaning you can now get from the Red Oak Victory to Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline without having to climb a hill.

The trail to Brickyard Cove [Photo by TJ Gehling]

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Earth Hour – March 29 –  8:30 to 9:30 PM

A small group of citizens from El Cerrito met on Motorcycle Hill tonight to commemorate Earth Hour, an annual event aimed at getting people to turn out there lights for one hour as a symbol of their commitment to the planet. Globally, Earth Hour is organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF, formerly the World Wildlife Fund). Locally, tonight’s gathering was organized by Friends of Five Creeks, the El Cerrito Environmental Quality Committee, and the Trekkers.

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El Cerrito Community Tree Planting Event 

A line of trees along Fast Food Way (#48)

A group of  civic-minded volunteers gathered on Avila St. to make the city just a little better. City arborist Stephen Prée and the members of the El Cerrito Tree Committee organized this event, which planted almost 30 trees on Avila, El Dorado St., and Carlson Blvd. These trees were planted to beautify our community, reduce run-off from storms, and help clean the air. They also add property value to adjacent homes. Although the trees are in the ground, they still need a lot of attention. They’ll need watering for the next couple of years while their roots developed the capacity to handle the job. If you can spare the time, perhaps as little as a couple of hours a month, your help would be welcomed. Contact the Tree Commitee  for more information.

Attendees included Mayor Janet Abelson (center) and Supervisor John Gioia (6th from the right)

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New! You can see a bigger version of our map on the “Resources” bulletin board at the El Cerrito library. There is also a trail list on the “Things to do” board.

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Want to take a hike? We’ve got directions for you. Descriptions of some of our older hikes are here. So far, we have two of Dave Weinstein’s past hikes: Storybook Homes and Sausalito. Check them out.

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El Cerrito Trails are featured in the February Contra Costa Marketplace. The article, by Trail Trekker President Dave Weinstein, runs on pages 50 to 52.

El Cerrito trails and in particularly the El Cerrito Open Space (Madera)  have been featured in recent articles in El Cerrito Patch and in the Contra Costa Times here and here.

 

 

© 2014 El Cerrito Trail Trekkers Contact