Each walk lasts 2 ½ hours
Horsetail busting through asphalt (Equisetum sp.)
Learn to identify and use many edible and medicinal plants that grow wild in the Bay Area. These herb walks introduce wildcrafting, plant lore, botanical pharmacology, and recipes for teas and wild foods. Learn the basics of holistic healing where nature is the classroom. These plant walks emphasize understanding the medicinal actions of plants through taste and smell, as well as through traditional and clinical indications.
If it is raining, the herb walk will be cancelled.
Private group walks can be arranged
$6 to $20 sliding scale
(no one turned away for lack of funds)
Each walk lasts 2 ½ hours
Offers beautiful and diverse flora typical of the western states coastal range. Meet at the Strawberry Canyon Fire Trail head, below the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens on Centennial Drive. Directions: Go east on University Avenue in Berkeley until it ends at campus. Make a left turn onto Oxford street and go one block. Make a right turn at the stoplight onto Hearst. At the second stoplight turn right onto Galey road. Make a left turn at the first stop sign. Go up hill and make another left turn at the first stop sign. Continue uphill past playing fields, tennis courts, and pools. Pull into the first mixed paved and gravel parking area on your right. There will be a sign marked "Ecological Study area" at the parking lot entrance.
A lush bay forest and chaparral ecosystem brimming with less common plants. Walk starts at the Preserve's parking lot on Skyline Drive in Oakland. Directions: From Oakland or Berkeley drive uphill or eastward on Claremont Avenue until you come to the top at Grizzly Peak. Turn right onto Grizzly Peak Blvd. Proceed for .24 miles until the road ends at Skyline Blvd. Turn left onto Skyline Blvd. and proceed for approximately one half mile. The park entrance will be on your left. You will pass Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve en route. Here's link to a PDF map of the area:Map
A slightly different selection of plants than those in the East Bay, and offers city-dwellers an opportunity to learn about the edible and medicinal plants that grow around them.
Meets at Roosevelt Way and Museum Way, near Randall Junior Museum. Dress warmly. Directions: Take 14th Street uphill from Market or Castro Street. Two blocks uphill from Castro make a left hand turn onto Roosevelt Way. Continue uphill on Roosevelt Way until it meets Museum Way. We meet at this corner at the entrance to the park on the left. Here's link to a map of the area: Map
Offers the greatest variety of plants of the San Francisco herb walks. Meets at Inspiration Point on Arguello Blvd. This is across the street from the golf course. Directions: Go north on Arguello Blvd. from Golden Gate Park. Arguello is the same street that would be 1st Avenue. As you enter the Presidio, Arguello Blvd. curves to the right, then to the left. Within 100 yards there is a large parking area to the right where we will meet. Here's link to a map of the area: Map
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