I discovered—really started—walking while living in New Hampshire a number of years ago, when my car was vandalized one snowy Christmas Eve. Instead of fixing it or buying another, I chose to see the incident as a metaphysical message to go on foot and skis for almost two years. Walking became more than my favorite pastime. It was how I got around.

I began to see and appreciate things that had been only a blur before. The pace of life slowed. I heard birds, smelled flowers, petted cats, fended off dogs, talked to neighbors, admired houses, listened to creeks, and sat by lakes. I could hear myself think, and so did more of it—that clear thinking that comes from a quieter mind. I could define and examine what I was feeling since the events of the day could age in my mind before the next day's events began. Walking allowed me perspective.

I eventually rejoined the world of the wheeled, came to California—the—world of the wheeled—and settled in the East Bay. Fortunately, I also kept my love of walking and soon found a network of lanes, paths, and steps, relatively hidden in the residential hills, inviting me to thread my way throughout and around. These pathways, along with trails in less developed areas, made this a walker's paradise.

The following walks and thoughts will open up an East Bay and Marin County you may not know. It is an area of waterfalls, creeks, parks, paths, distinctive houses, and midday quiet and hidden places far removed from the bustle of Telegraph and Bancroft or Shattuck and Center or Fourteenth and Broadway or Route 101.

All the walks described are accessible by public transportation, at all times of year, and are appropriate for most ages and physical conditions. Some take the walker quite close to homes, so I urge you to be sensitive to residents' needs for privacy and quiet. The pathways, for the most part, were laid out in the early twentieth century when large hillside tracts were subdivided and neighborhoods and towns developed. It was a time when streets were used more for walking than driving, when people needed an efficient way of getting to a neighbor's door or down to the Key (transportation) System to get to work. The recreational use I'm suggesting here must carry with it the spirit of that peaceful era.

When I discovered the hidden Keeler Path on the “High Parks and a Primitive Path” walk in Berkeley, for example, I felt like Drake or Muir—or Lewis and Clark. This magical path was omitted from local maps. I had charted an uncharted path of the West!

I hope you use and enjoy these walkways as much as I do. That way, you help to preserve them for future generations as well. They offer a safe, convenient, fun way to taste nature (with their creeks, waterfalls, and plant life), get good exercise (stairways provide one of the best aerobic exercises around), and appreciate local history (which comes alive when you see examples of it first hand). Make each outing an adventure, using public transportation or foot power, if possible, and on the way home, talking or thinking about everything you remember seeing, hearing, smelling, and learning.

I hope, too, you are stimulated to further thought and study by the short histories, along with the architectural and botanical references. To walk and muse is an old tradition honed by Thoreau, Muir, Leopold, Murie, and Dillard. To do so as you explore these pathways will help insure they will remain part of our northern California heritage. May they bring you not only closer to the towns and cities of this great region, but closer to yourself and your urban environment.