Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, Regional park in Richmond, California.

Wildcat Canyon Regional Park is a natural area in Richmond, California, that runs along Wildcat Creek and connects to Tilden and Alvarado Park. It includes a mix of dirt trails, wide fire roads, and the paved Nimitz Way path that crosses open grassland and wooded hillsides.

Native Americans lived in the Wildcat Canyon area until 1772, when a group of Catalan volunteers led by Pedro Fagas and Fray Juan Crespi passed through while seeking trade routes north beyond the Carquinez Strait. By 1840 the Spanish had parceled the land for missions and cattle raising, and Juan Jose and Victor Castro were granted rights to all vacant land, keeping some and giving much of the rest to municipal authorities for water use. The East Bay Regional Park District acquired the Tilden Park land in 1935 and kept buying north of it until 1976, when it had enough land to form Wildcat Canyon Regional Park.

The park takes its name from Wildcat Creek, which runs through the canyon. The Alvarado Area at the northern end is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Cattle graze the hills under a program managed by the East Bay Regional Park District, continuing the area's ranching tradition.

The park can be entered from several different access points, so it helps to know in advance which trailhead leads to the route you want. Cooler months tend to be more comfortable for longer walks, especially when the creek is running well.

The Belgum Trail climbs 0.85 miles from the Wildcat Creek Trail to the canyon meadows, and the ruins of the Belgum Sanitarium and the palm trees planted by its founder, Hendrick Belgum, can be seen from the path. The two-mile stretch of the park along the ridge was a Nike missile base, decommissioned in the 1970s, and few traces of the silos and military housing remain.