Just two blocks from the heart of the Dimond Business District (at Fruitvale Ave & MacArthur Blvd), the Dimond Canyon Trail System consists of approximately 2.5 miles of nature trails that stretch, twist, and roll from Dimond Park at the bottom, to Monterey Blvd at the top. There, a tunnel under Hwy 13 connects Dimond Canyon to Joaquin Miller Park.
Join this lush, wooded trail system from Dimond Park or at four distinct trailheads: at the bottom of El Centro Ave (across from Dimond Park), at the end of Benevides Ave (off El Centro Ave), at the end of Bridgeview Drive (off Leimert Blvd in Oakmore), and at Monterey Blvd (between Park Blvd and Leimert Blvd).
Since May of 2011, the Dimond Business & Professional Association (DB&PA) has partnered with the Dimond Improvement Association (DIA) and Friends of Sausal Creek (FOSC) to restore, enhance, and promote the trail system. Trails have been widened and shored, brush has been cut back and cleared, and DB&PA Co-chair Stan Dodson has led over 200 people in a series of hiking tours. Stan boasts, “The Dimond Canyon Trail System is an amazing resource for our business district, literally connecting us to hundreds of miles of trails via Joaquin Miller Park and the Bay Area Ridge Trail.” In fact, Stan led a thirteen mile hike all the way from Dimond Park to the Steam Trains in Berkeley’s Tilden Park!
To finish the project we started over one year ago, the non-profit DIA has established a special fund. Trail maintenance is on-going, but we plan to produce a Dimond Canyon specific trail map that will highlight the trailheads mentioned above and will include details such as trail names, preferred routes, and trail-segment distances. We also hope to install special signage at each trailhead to educate trail-users about Sudden Oak Death (SOD), so we all can help prevent its spread. To learn more or to contribute to this fund, please email dimondhikes@yahoo.com, or DONATE TODAY AT LA FARINE BAKERY in DIMOND: 3411 Fruitvale Ave (100% of the proceeds collected will be transferred to the DIA’s fund).
See the Montclarion article from September 20, 2012 here.
Visit FOSC’s website – sausalcreek.org – to learn more about this amazing natural resource; download their pdf map here.
See you on the trails!