Trail of the Week 13: Highland Walk (#8)

On our original trail list, this weeks path was described as a “Block-long, wide grassy alley [that] runs parallel to Arlington, between Arlington and Highland. Ends at 2212 Scenic.” This is mistaken in describing it as between Arlington and Highland. It is, in fact, Highland Ave, and is proclaimed so by CommunityView, Google Maps(which shows it as a cul-de-sac), and other sources.

Photo by David Weinstein

Anyone looking at a map might think that a road connects the south end of Harvard St. with Scenic St. From Scenic you can just about see it, a bit of unpaved road overgrown with grass and weeds, but by the time you get to Harvard, 450 feet away, all pretense of road is gone and what is left is a narrow trail to a dead end street. Without Highland, the walk between Scenic and Harvard is barely 300 feet longer, by way of View Ave. So the point of Highland Walk, if it has a point, is not to ease transportation. Rather it is an historical curiosity, a bit of road that was never finished. And on a clear day, a great place for sightseeing.  Giving the streets names like View and Scenic was not an accident. Now if someone could explain the presence of that single palm tree.

By the way, continuing west on View past Harvard takes you to a dead end below Murrieta Rock, an historic but now well hidden high spot in El Cerrito. The rock is actually on private property but when people visit it, they usually go in from Cutting Blvd, near its intersection with Arlington, rather than View.