Last Wednesday was a clear, mild spring day and the nice weather brought out a strong showing of 20 members of the Piedmont Recreation Department's Walking on Wednesdays group and two K-9 best friends.
In addition to the group's goal of walking every Piedmont street each year, it intends to walk all of Piedmont's 21 pedestrian paths. Mt. Everest may be on the other side of the world, but there is a little bit of mountain climbing involved with some of these walks and paths. The walkers resembled a mini-parade as they headed from the Exedra for the top of Scenic Avenue for some inspiring view of the Bay. The group first went down Magnolia Avenue to check on the school construction at the high school, where footings for a foundation were being installed.
They walked to Hillside Avenue to see some examples of early architecture and the many rose gardens. The walkers turned up Park Way and went over to Pala Avenue where they found the first, hidden path and its set of stairs, the 161-foot Scenic Path. Once at Scenic, they turned left for a wonderful view of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, Oakland, Mountain View Cemetery, and the surrounding cities. From this viewing spot the group walked back down Scenic and found the second set of stairs that climbs to the higher portion of Scenic Avenue. This is a steep, 163-foot path with a set of stairs that proved to be the most difficult portion of the day's walk. Everyone was up to it, and emerged at the top of the stairs after the long climb. After catching their breaths, they went in search of the longest pedestrian path in Piedmont, a 281-foot set of stairs from Scenic to Blair Avenue, allowing them to walk down, rather than up.
At the bottom they continued on to Pacific and Mountain Avenues and one final, short path, foot path from Mountain top Piedmont Court. Two homes had gotten in the Warrior sprit, with windows full of the basketball team's shirts and banners. Last week's walk was distinctly not a stroll in the park, but the walkers agreed that the exercise, views, and companionship were worth it. Having beautiful weather also helped.