‘Feast your eyes on nature’ this Thanksgiving week in East Bay Parks

SAN FRANCISCO EAST BAY, CA (Nov. 19, 2021) — We are nearing the time of year when our caloric intake can exceed the amount needed for physical activity – specifically at Thanksgiving.

In anticipation, East Bay Regional Park District has thoughtfully scheduled a couple of post-holiday programs to address this situation.

One opportunity is “Feast Your Eyes on Nature,” a moderate, two-mile hike from 9 to 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 26 at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch.

Naturalist Ashley Adams will lead a walk over sometimes steep and uneven terrain. Meet in the park’s upper parking lot at the end of Somersville Road, 3½ miles south of Highway 4.

Black Diamond Mines has a parking fee of $5 per vehicle when the kiosk is staffed. The hike itself is free of charge, but registration is required. To register, call 888-327-2757 and select option 2.

Hike it off

Or you can join a naturalist for “Post Thanksgiving: Hike It Off” from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday, Nov. 26 at Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland. This one is a hilly five-miler through redwoods and grasslands. Heavy rain/wind cancels.

Hike It Off is free and does not require registration. Just meet at the Trudeau Training Center at 11500 Skyline Boulevard in Oakland. It’s near the intersection with Joaquin Miller Road. For information, call Crab Cove at 510-544-3187.

If you’d rather work off Thanksgiving calories at your own time, place and pace, the regional parks and trails will all be open during Thanksgiving week, though the visitor centers are generally closed on Thanksgiving Day. For maps and other information, visit the district web site, www.ebparks.org.

And by the way, in an effort to encourage the public to spend quality family time in nature rather than “Black Friday” shopping, East Bay Regional Park District is turning Black Friday green. All fees in the regional parks will be waived on Friday, Nov. 26 for parking, dogs, horses, boat launching and fishing, including entrance to Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont.

The fee waiver doesn’t apply to state fees, including fishing licenses and watercraft inspections for invasive mussels, or district concessions such as the Tilden Merry-Go-Round and Steam Train.

Leona Canyon

Speaking of walking, there’s another in the series of naturalist-guided Saturday Strolls from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Nov. 20 at Leona Canyon Regional Open Space in the Oakland Hills.

This walk is about three miles long, through a wooded canyon that is habitat for a variety of plants and animals.

No registration is necessary and the hike is free. Meet at the Canyon Oak Staging Area, which is off Campus Drive, a short distance from the intersection with Keller Avenue. Advisory: there are no restrooms available at Leona Canyon. For information on the stroll, call 510-544-3187.

Ardenwood Farm

There’s always something interesting going on at Ardenwood Historic Farm.

For example, “Rope Making and Hay Hoisting” is on the agenda from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Nov. 20. You can make rope with the farm’s antique machine, then find out how ropes and a pulley are used to get the hay bales high up into the barn loft.

And stroll the grounds with naturalist Christina Garcia from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. the same day, see some of the farm’s beautiful specimen trees and learn more about them.

You can make some woolly, felted pumpkin decorations for your Thanksgiving table in a craft session from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 21.

All three programs are drop-in; no reservations are required. Parking is free, but Ardenwood’s entry fees apply. For information, call 510-544-2797.

Ardenwood Historic Farm is located at 34600 Ardenwood Boulevard, just north of Highway 84. For information, call 510-544-2797.

This is just a sample of programs available in the regional parks. For a full calendar of events, visit the website, www.ebparks.org.