The 20 Most Amazing Peaks around Oakland

One of the wonderfull view from the park. Please discover this park. You will not regret it

475 feet (145 m) Bernal Hill provides visitors with a breathtaking 360-degree panorama and clear views of San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, downtown, San Bruno Mountain, and the hills of the East Bay. These windswept slopes are still sunny when Twin Peaks is shrouded in afternoon fog. As one of the few remaining natural refuges in San Francisco, Bernal Hill has many wildlife inhabitants. A paved limited-access road and a network of well-defined dirt trails wind around the hill’s flanks and provide access to the summit. Bernal Hill was originally part of a 4,446-acre land grant awarded to José Cornelio de Bernal, a soldier in Juan Bautista de Anza’s 1776 expedition. The grant extended south from current-day Cesar Chavez Street to Daly City. The Bernal region became a squatter’s paradise over the next several decades, until the Van Ness Ordinance of 1855 decreed that these illegitimate tenants were in fact bona fide landowners and citizens of the city. In the mid-1800s, as San Francisco began to outgrow the downtown district, the Bernal Heights neighborhood emerged. The streets were laid out and many small - to moderate-sized homes were built. A tight-knit community, including Irish, Scots, and Scandinavians, took up residence in the shadow of the hill, which residents used extensively for cattle and dairy ranching. In May of 1876, the Bernal Heights community caught the California gold rush fever after Frenchman Victor Resayre announced his discovery of gold on the Bernal summit, ore that he claimed would fetch $1 million per ton. Extensive mining began, until it was revealed that the original discovery consisted of the considerably less valuable quartz. During the 1906 earthquake, because of the hill’s stable rock, few homes here were damaged, compared to those on landfill or former sand dunes. Bernal Hill’s steep slopes support a thriving grassland community, how much of the northern San Francisco peninsula might have looked 250 years ago. In the summer and fall its grasslands are dry and parched, and Bernal appears from a distance to be a tawny, uninhabitable monolith. The native grasses and wildflowers have dropped their seeds, for the winter rains to awaken them. By early February, the hill is transformed into a palette of brilliant colors as a multitude of native wildflowers bloom, including footsteps of spring, sun cup, blue-eyed grass, checkerbloom, and shooting star. Native purple needlegrass and red fescue blow in waves from the almost constant ocean breeze. https://sfrecpark.org/Facilities/Facility/Details/Bernal-Heights-Park-151

Easy and fun hike for kids and adults, with spectacular views over the entire SF Bay, Golden Gate, Marin, Carquinez Straight, San Pablo Reservoir, and Briones Park.

The switchbacks of Centennial Drive open out to a parking lot and overlook. You are treated to sweeping views out across Berkely and San Francisco Bay all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge.

lbeautiful view of the island and the Bay Bridge

Bernal Heights is often the best place in the city for panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay Area. Twin Peaks, and the more westerly hills, can been covered in fog while Bernal Heights is still sunny and warm.

Gorgeous views of Berkeley and the SF Bay area from Wildcat Peak.

Incredible views over Berkeley and San Francisco Bay from the Grizzly Peak viewpoint.