THE PATHS

Path list

Path photographs

Path locations

Path building

Path maintenance

Path stories

Glendale Path -- Lower (Path #84)

Path data:

Photos (click on thumbnail to display photo):

.....

Gorgeous Glendale Path Worth the Effort by Charlie Bowen
Berkeley Path Wanderers Association Newsletter -- Summer 2007 --
Vol. 10 No. 2

The recently completed Glendale Path was one of BPWA’s most ambitious projects and represented a key partnership between the City, BPWA, and Boy Scouts Troops 4 and 19. Berkeley won a FEMA grant to improve Glendale Path because it is an important access and egress route in case of a !re or other emergency.

Glendale Path is serene and practical as well as strategically located. It extends from the intersection of Glendale Ave and Campus Dr to the intersection of Fairlawn Dr and Arcade Ave, rising 160 feet along the way. Queens Rd and lower part of Fairlawn Dr divide it into three distinct sections.

Lower Glendale Path begins with a 33- step cement stairway with a handrail, both built by the City of Berkeley in 2004. Then comes a fairly gentle section with several sets of wooden steps stepping stones and a low boardwalk, constructed as part of three Eagle Scout projects. The steep pitch of the top third of this section posed quite a challenge, requiring several BPWA work parties to lay 63 wooden steps where the City installed a handrail

Middle Glendale Path starts with a short, steep section by a !re hydrant, which required a complicated switchback stairway that is both beautiful and functional. A gradually sloped section of the path has lovely landscaping completed by a neighbor and leads to Fairlawn Drive

Upper Glendale Path features an impressive stairway beside a rocky drop-off that required professional design and construction. BPWA arranged for the architect, and the City Berkeley hired the contractor. Next come a few of BPWA’s trademark wood-tie steps, followed by a level section leading to a flight of older cement stairs with native stone trim with an axe head embedded on one corner. At this point you’re only a short block from Grizzly Peak Blvd.