Dipsea Trail Re-Opens: How Lucky Are We?

A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of hiking along the 680 Trail, which we reached from the end of Freitas Parkway and a 40-minute amble along the Terra Linda/Sleepy Hollow Divide.  The 680 is truly a gorgeous trail.  There were points when we’d emerge from the trees and look back and be struck dumb by the vista – views all the way to the San Francisco skyline, hills and skyscrapers and sky.  Gorgeous.  It was everything the best about where we live.

It was especially pleasing for me since I’ve been hearing about this trail for so long, and so up-close, too – as an employee of the Conservation Corps North Bay, which had a hand in building the 680, it was really wonderful to get outside and walk on a vision realized by so many hands working together.  My work is indoors, so I seldom get to see the end-result, the end-result that’s out there for all of us to benefit from. 

What an amazingly beautiful place we live in, right?  We are so lucky to have so many opportunities, so close at hand, to get out and revel in our natural resources.  And so many great organizations and people collaborating to conserve the environment and preserve our access to open space.

So it’s with equal eagerness that I’m looking forward to checking out a freshly re-opened piece of the Dipsea Trail, a section that’s been closed for five years, that had its ribbon-cutting last Friday, Jan. 27.

With support from the Emig Trust, the California State Parks, and two local volunteer groups, a crew from the Conservation Corps constructed an 85-foot long boardwalk across an area of slide that closed the trail.  It’s a truly remarkable piece of work, one that restores to us full access to the Dipsea, one that blows my mind when I consider the complexity of the work and that the crew were learning as they went, both the construction skills required to complete the project and the school-skills to help them earn their high school diplomas and go on to college and/or jobs.  Remarkable.  And fantastic.

Get out there.  Check it out!