Directions to Inspiration Point In Tilden Park
What To Google
The parking lot is easily found by typing Inspiration Point.
Directions From Berkeley’s Fire Station No. 7
This Fire Station is located at 3000 Shasta Rd. and is the perfect place from which to come if you live in Berkeley, Richmond, Albany or El Cerrito. Continue into Tilden Park on Shasta Rd, which becomes Wildcat Canyon Rd fairly soon. Pass the Regional Park’s Botanical Garden’s entrance and do not veer into South Park Dr., stay to the left. Pass the Mineral Springs trailhead and picnic area. After you pass the Lakeview and Quarry picnic areas, Wildcat Canyon Rd straightens out. Watch your left for the entrance to the Inspiration Point parking lot. If the road gets curvy again, you’ve gone too far.
Directions From Alameda, Emeryville and Oakland
Take highway 24 going west and get off at the Orinda Village exit. You will end up on Camino Pablo, which turns into San Pablo Dam Rd. Pass downtown Orinda and its water treatment plant to your right. Continue on San Pablo Dam Rd for a few more minutes until you see a stop light and a sign: Wildcat Canyon Rd. Make a left and spend about 15 minutes going up a series of switchbacks, until you see the parking lot to your right.
Description
As its name indicates, Inspiration Point offers extraordinary views of San Pablo Reservoir and the surrounding topography. The views begin at the parking lot perched atop the San Pablo Ridge and continue as you walk on its paved trail along the ridge and peek west through the few trees bordering the trail. You will be able to see not just Mount Diablo but the Golden Gate Bridge as well. The trail becomes mostly scrub and at about three-quarters of a mile the trail passes a sequoia grove planted by the Berkeley Hiking Club. As with any location at high altitude, come prepared for the wind to pick up in the afternoon.
Inspiration Point has bathrooms and water. It is a good summer location because it has plenty of shade trees. Watch out for ticks. Always inspect yourself before you get in your car.
History
These were the ancestral lands of Ohlone Indians. Spanish land grabbers and Mexican rancheros kicked the Ohlone off the land as ranching became the dominant activity in Wildcat Canyon. The first parkland was purchased by the East Bay Regional Park District from the East Bay Municipal Utility District on June 4, 1936. From 1935 to 1941 a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built much of the park's earlier infrastructure and features including roads, trails, bridges, picnic areas, and golf course. The trail following San Pablo Ridge was named after Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, former U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander. Nimitz begins at Inspiration Point and crosses two anti-aircraft installations at the two-mile section that is in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. They were part of a Nike missile base which was decommissioned in the 1970s. Today there are few signs of the silos (they were covered) and military housing, which has been dismantled.