Last time I did this was Dec 2017. At the moment, memory of how to do it is pretty foggy, but luckily I have my earlier blog posts on this to refresh my memory so printing them out to review. (look for Kindle label in this blog to find). This book is a little easier than the others - text and inline photos, a table of contents, but no index. Susan has promised it will be out in two and a half weeks, so will try to do that. My immediate issue is that I remember that I have to make some changes to the Indesign file before putting out the epub file that I will update for Kindle, but don't remember quite what they were. Pausing to read my prior posts, and to review Kindle code for Healing Miles . From my 2012 notes I saw that to get reliable chapter breaks, each chapter had to be a separate xhtml file. The default of Indesign is to put out one big xhtml file, but it will break on a style, so I need to be sure the current Indesign document (for Walk, Hike, Saunter ) has an appro...
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Oakland Hills Walk 3 - Merriewood Steps - Figure 8 - 1.1 miles
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This is longest stretch of interconnected steps that I know of in Oakland. About 400 steps and a climb/drop of two hundred plus feet in about a third of a mile. It makes a good workout, particularly when you do two steps at a time on the steep sections. These steps were restored in 2003, so they are in good shape.
View Oakland Hills - Merriewood Steps - the figure 8 in a larger map
Thirty to forty years ago, I lived on the top of Merriewood, and commuted to the city. A bus came down Upper Broadway Terrace and stopped right at Merriewood, so usually an easy trip down to Montclair Village and the express from there. However, one winter I had a different schedule, forcing me to catch the early express from Thornhill and Mountain, and the fast way down was the Merriewood stairs, in their unrestored condition. Broken steps, missing steps, fortunately the handrail was usually intact. That was a cold and wet winter, and there were several weeks where the steps were covered with ice. More than once my feet went out from under me and I was just hanging from the rail. Once I digitize all my old slides I may have a picture of those original steps. If so, will update this post.
Anyhow, the current walk I started at the bottom, at Thornhill and Merriewood. The steps initially go up steeply, but level for a while till the next pitch up to a little deadend street/driveway (Doncaster Place), and from there past a house which has integrated the steps landing into their entryway. Past that and then another climb. As you look up towards Valley View you see the steeply ascending stairs, but at the top just green hillside - no steps.
However, its not over yet. Go east on Valley View about 30 feet and you will see the final set of steps that go up to Merriewood. Go up these and right on Merriewood, unless....
If you really have to have more stairs, you can go left on Merriewood maybe five or six house lots, and you will see one more set of steps going up on the right to Abbott. If you take these and go straight till you hit Merriewood again. This is the brown alternate route on the Google Map.
If you didn't take that alternate, just go right on Merriewood and stay on it until Upper Broadway Terrace, where you turn right on Crown and loop back to Merriewood again. You could do this Crown loop either way. When I lived here, these were all small houses - maybe 20 to 40 years old, and nearly all had some remodeling. The different houses were known by their occupants, either recent or former. The doctor's house, brick and sturdy.
Peggy and Margaret's house, gradually deteriorating with its occupants. Chris and Kathy's house, quite a ways down off of Crown, John and Bonnie's house - he made skylights from scratch. Joe's house - best food and stiffest drinks on the block plus an endless supply of stories. Across Upper Broadway Terrace that big green house was the fireman's headquarters during the big Oakland fire. The fire was stopped there. It was one of the few on the west side of Upper Broadway Terrace to survive. The painter's house, known for the use of left over paint from house painting jobs. Over the years these small houses acquired character, as the quirks of the owners made themselves known. Now as I walk around, I notice that the square footage of the area has about tripled. The vacant lots now have buildings. The older homes have new additions. There are a few massive houses. The area still retains an individual character, but there are no longer household artifacts visible from the street. The things of interest are architectural. More fences, fewer yards visible.
After the Crown loop, you go back down Merriewood to the top of the stairs, but then just stay on Merriewood, walking downhill and keeping to the left at the next intersection. Imagine you are following the flow of water as it goes down the hill towards Thornhill. At the big five way intersection keep left. At the next one, Valley View, go right, downhill and then curve left on Merriewood till back at the starting point.
11 years and no comments to your post. April 2020. COVID -19 Crisis. I took a little virtual Field Trip to my old neighborhood. I was Born in the Bay area. my parents bought a house in Marriewood- valley view road. about 5 houses up the road from eh Merriewood Stairs. we moved in November 1960. I learned to walk the night JFK was elected president. long time ago.
I went to the Thornhill Elem School and remember taking the stairs you videoed walking along with my mom more than a few times from 64 to fall 65. we relocated to Upstate NY after I started 1st grade. came back several times to the bay area. my grandfather lived in the redwoods south of SF and we had several friends in Montclair. I had the chance to walk around on VVR and the stairs in subsequent years, while still a kid. your video is such a perfect “home movie” for me.
perhaps the version of stairs that existed When I first used them were an even earlier version than the ones you mention being in bad shape when you first used them 40 years back. our house was 6137 VVR. a short walk from the steps up or down. my parents held on to the lot adjacent, but when they died, we needed to sell. I see a monstrous place built on that once vacant site. complete with the anticipated very steep driveway that needed to be developed to create an off street parking space or 2.
indeed it was fun. as a kid, you dont really comprehend what is involved in a lot of things. just take them as the norm. to be expected. I was unfamiliar with the Merriewood name until we needed to sell the lot there in early 2000s. that Name showed up on the survey map. As I was trolling the web for sites that mentioned Montclair & Merriewood, I stumbled onto mention of the Merriewood stairs. Seems they were a bit unusual for having been built into the development when it was laid out. I also looked at streetviews on nearby Oakwood where we had friends. above their place, there were undeveloped areas on a sharp bend- probably too steep to build on- at least back in the 60s/early 70s. mostly remember the strong distinctive scent from the eucalyptus trees on those vacant slopes. My dad said these were a real problem in dry seasons. being so oil filled, the trees could explode in fires. guess the build-out over there has "solved" that issue.
I grew up on Abbott Drive, and my route down the hill to school began with the stairs from Abbott to Merriewood. Then I'd go left on Taurus (very steep), right on Valley View, and then right again at the fork to get back on Merriewood! A little further and there was a staircase between Merriewood and Marden Lane, and then another staircase down to Thornhill. Then it was just a few steps to the elementary school. This really was the quickest way down the hill, and it was the way all the kids in my neighborhood walked, rain or shine. Of course we didn't know most of the street names — I had to look them up just now.
Last time I did this was Dec 2017. At the moment, memory of how to do it is pretty foggy, but luckily I have my earlier blog posts on this to refresh my memory so printing them out to review. (look for Kindle label in this blog to find). This book is a little easier than the others - text and inline photos, a table of contents, but no index. Susan has promised it will be out in two and a half weeks, so will try to do that. My immediate issue is that I remember that I have to make some changes to the Indesign file before putting out the epub file that I will update for Kindle, but don't remember quite what they were. Pausing to read my prior posts, and to review Kindle code for Healing Miles . From my 2012 notes I saw that to get reliable chapter breaks, each chapter had to be a separate xhtml file. The default of Indesign is to put out one big xhtml file, but it will break on a style, so I need to be sure the current Indesign document (for Walk, Hike, Saunter ) has an appro...
Thought it might aid some future trekker if I just list things as we learn them. It is now early Dec 2008, and we have reservations into Santiago, Chile for March, and back home from Buenos Aires. Now we have to fill in the in between. We got the start and end locations from a friend who visited Chile and Argentina last year, though he wasn't trekking Torres del Paine. Some other friends did do the trek about 15 years ago, so we started by borrowing all their old guide books and maps. Since then we got our own Lonely Planet Trekking in Patagonia , and a recent Torres del Paine Trekking Map . Since I'm going to keep updating this post, to keep all the Patagonia info in one spot, and try to keep a change log here: Change log: 12/14/16 *** very important*** all campsites now require advance reservations, for example at this date, all of January is already reserved. See Campsite Reservations post below for more details. 12/2014 *** important *** Any US citizen entering...
This sock had elasticized top Chances are, you hot weather hikers have seen something like this. That's my leg you're looking at, yesterday's view, and not much of a concern to me since I knew what it was. The first encounter was a scare - on Susan's leg while hiking in France, and we had no idea what it was. Just it came on while hiking in very hot weather, and was right under the elasticized band of her sock, warm to the touch and puffy, but not painful. A wider, more brilliant band than you see here on my leg. A few days later, the whole foot started swelling in a major way, all the way from toes to half way up the shin, and extremely painful. That ended up with us going to emergency, where a severe infection was diagnosed, treatable with antibiotics, but we had to cancel the trip and it took two weeks for the swelling to subside. The doctors were unable to determine point of entry for the infection. They did x-rays for hairline fractures - none. Final though...
11 years and no comments to your post. April 2020. COVID -19 Crisis. I took a little virtual Field Trip to my old neighborhood. I was Born in the Bay area. my parents bought a house in Marriewood- valley view road. about 5 houses up the road from eh Merriewood Stairs. we moved in November 1960. I learned to walk the night JFK was elected president. long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI went to the Thornhill Elem School and remember taking the stairs you videoed walking along with my mom more than a few times from 64 to fall 65.
we relocated to Upstate NY after I started 1st grade. came back several times to the bay area. my grandfather lived in the redwoods south of SF and we had several friends in Montclair. I had the chance to walk around on VVR and the stairs in subsequent years, while still a kid. your video is such a perfect “home movie” for me.
perhaps the version of stairs that existed When I first used them were an even earlier version than the ones you mention being in bad shape when you first used them 40 years back. our house was 6137 VVR. a short walk from the steps up or down. my parents held on to the lot adjacent, but when they died, we needed to sell. I see a monstrous place built on that once vacant site. complete with the anticipated very steep driveway that needed to be developed to create an off street parking space or 2.
I'm glad you enjoyed the virtual visit. I've sort of ignored my blog for quite a few years. I enjoyed the reread myself.
Deleteindeed it was fun. as a kid, you dont really comprehend what is involved in a lot of things. just take them as the norm. to be expected. I was unfamiliar with the Merriewood name until we needed to sell the lot there in early 2000s. that Name showed up on the survey map. As I was trolling the web for sites that mentioned Montclair & Merriewood, I stumbled onto mention of the Merriewood stairs. Seems they were a bit unusual for having been built into the development when it was laid out. I also looked at streetviews on nearby Oakwood where we had friends. above their place, there were undeveloped areas on a sharp bend- probably too steep to build on- at least back in the 60s/early 70s. mostly remember the strong distinctive scent from the eucalyptus trees on those vacant slopes. My dad said these were a real problem in dry seasons. being so oil filled, the trees could explode in fires. guess the build-out over there has "solved" that issue.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on Abbott Drive, and my route down the hill to school began with the stairs from Abbott to Merriewood. Then I'd go left on Taurus (very steep), right on Valley View, and then right again at the fork to get back on Merriewood! A little further and there was a staircase between Merriewood and Marden Lane, and then another staircase down to Thornhill. Then it was just a few steps to the elementary school. This really was the quickest way down the hill, and it was the way all the kids in my neighborhood walked, rain or shine. Of course we didn't know most of the street names — I had to look them up just now.
ReplyDelete