Tilden is a
regional park in the hills of
Berkeley,
California covering 2,077 acres of
preserved land. It was named for
Charles Lee Tilden, first president of the Park District
Board of Directors. It's open everyday from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. Parking is free.
There are miles and miles of trails for
hiking,
biking and
horseback riding, several
lakes, a ton of recreational and
picnic areas,
campsites and
playgrounds. I've been going to this park since I was born. It is a pretty
neat place.
Some interesting places to visit at Tilden:
The Little Farm - I spent a lot of time here as a
young kid. The farm has
cows,
pigs,
goats,
ducks,
geese,
sheep and
donkeys which you can pet and feed. Be careful with the cows though; they
slobber quite a bit. There's a
rabbit hutch, but the bunnies are unpettable. Every now and then I see a
chinchilla in one of the hutches. They've got
chickens as well, which is really cool because they hatch them in an
incubator inside the little red barn where you can see all the eggs in their heated nests. If you come along at the right time, you can watch a chick poking its way out into the world.
Environmental Education Center - This is down the hill from the little farm. It's a little
museum designed to teach stuff about the
natural history of the area. There are interactive
exhibits. Sometimes instructors bring out
fossils or
snakes and other
indigenous creatures for children to touch and learn about. There's a huge stuffed
Komodo Dragon in here that used to scare the
bejeezus out of me as a kid. There used to be a
beehive that opened into a field in back of the museum. On the inside, a wall of the hive was made of a glass window so you could see the inside of the
honeycomb and witness all the
inner workings of bee life. I'm not sure if the hive is still there.
Pony Rides - If I remember correctly, the pony rides cost a dollar. The ponies are hooked up to a
turnstile and they walk about in a circle
all day long. Its quite depressing actually, if you think about it. I used to
fantasize about breaking the ponies loose from their pens and freeing them all from
oppression.
Lake Anza - A semi-clear lake where you can
swim and
fish or just
sun on the
sand. There's a
snack bar and '
bath house.' This one's a popular spot for school field trips. There is also a separate area for adults to swim in.
Botanical Gardens - This houses the largest collection of California native plants. Many of them rare or endangered.
Steer clear of here if you've got
allergies.
Other
attractions at Tilden include an
antique hand-carved
carousel (it still works, too), 18 hole
golf course, the Brazil building (from the Brazilian exhibit at the 1939
World's Fair), and a little
steam train that'll tote people around some
scenic areas.
More info (phone numbers, programs, driving directions, etc.) can be found at www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden.htm