Meet the BPWA Team

Meet the BPWA Team

For many, Berkeley’s 136 paths and stairways are a local resource and historical treasure that seem to be maintained and improved by an invisible hand. Overgrown paths are magically weeded overnight. Decaying steps replaced after decades of wear. Much-needed handrails appear out of nowhere. Group walks are organized. 

In fact, all these benefits are planned and executed by a hardworking team of BPWA board members working quietly behind the scenes. We meet monthly, either in person or over Zoom, to review and discuss BPWA activities, financials, and our collaboration with the City of Berkeley. In case you ever wondered about the folks who make BPWA a vital organization, here’s a brief rundown on who we are and what we do. And if you’re ever tempted to join our efforts, we’re always looking for new board members!

Betty Olds: A Beloved Activist

Betty Olds: A Beloved Activist

When, in 2008, Betty Olds retired from serving District 6 on the Berkeley City Council after 16 years, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the council “will lose its crankiest, wittiest, and often most rational member.” Six years later, the path that connects Sterling and Whitaker avenues in North Berkeley (previously known as Twain Path, #68 on the BPWA map) was renamed the Betty Olds Path in her honor. The children’s room at the North Branch of the Berkeley Public Library also bears her name.

Thank You, Path Builders!

As you walk or hike along Berkeley’s paths, consider the terrain: if you’re using concrete steps or walkways, they were probably part of the path’s original construction. If you see wooden steps, however, it’s likely that the pathway has been built by BPWA’s devoted path-building crew, which has worked for more than 20 years to bring Berkeley’s paths to a high level of safety.

Indian Rock Path: A Centuries-Old History

Indian Rock Path: A Centuries-Old History

Indian Rock is one of many volcanic rhyolite rock outcroppings found across the Bay Area that are estimated to have occurred between nine and eleven million years ago. Anyone who has climbed the steep steps in its face has also seen the depressions of mortar holes still evident here, especially in the aptly named Mortar Rock, where the Ohlone people used the bedrock as a grinding surface for food and medicine.

Introducing New BPWA Board Members

BPWA welcomes two new board members: Nancy Graham, treasurer, and Jen English, walks co-coordinator. Three days a week Nancy, her husband, and dog, Dinky, get their aerobic exercise by walking uphill and hitting as many paths as possible. Jen joined the board in 2008 for her first term. Jen’s also been learning the ropes of emergency response, taking community emergency management (CERT) courses and other preparedness training and is excited to be involved with BPWA again because Berkeley's public paths and stairways are a key component of the city's emergency response network.

A picture’s worth a thousand words

John Ewing began recording on-the-ground 360-degree videos of walking and bicycling facilities in the East Bay and uploading them to Google Maps Street View. To date, he’s submitted nearly 100 miles of trails with about 250,000 views. His hope is that, by being able to see the actual appearance of these trails and paths, more people will choose to experience the world around them on foot or by bicycle. 

Love Berkeley’s paths? Your donations help make them even better!

Love Berkeley’s paths? Your donations help make them even better!

Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association is going strong. 2023 was our 25th anniversary year, and we commemorated it in style! In addition to receiving a proclamation from the city council, we led a walk series traversing every path in Berkeley and hosted a celebration (below) at Live Oak Park for all of our friends and supporters. 

A poetic path

A poetic path

On October 14, about 20 people gathered at the Berkeley Rose Garden to experience one of our most popular paths in a new way: listening to “graffiti poet” Leslie Reed read some of the 60+ original poems she’s inscribed on the “Running Fence” of Tamalpais Path. Reed has been writing on the redwood fence since 2019, transcribing verse that she channels from a higher source.