Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, Regional park in Richmond, California.
Wildcat Canyon Regional Park is a large natural area in Richmond that covers more than 2,000 acres along Wildcat Creek, connecting areas from Tilden to Alvarado Park. The land includes diverse trails, wide fire roads, and a paved pathway on Nimitz Way that pass through different landscapes.
Spanish explorers first visited the area around 1772, and later the Castro brothers received land grants in the 1840s for mission and ranching work. The park's infrastructure was further developed through work programs in the 1930s.
The stone buildings at Alvarado Park show the skilled craftsmanship of workers from the 1930s, when the government hired people to build public structures during hard economic times. Walking through this area, you can see how those efforts created lasting community spaces that people still use today.
You can enter the park from multiple access points, and trails vary in difficulty from flat paved paths to steeper hikes. The best time to visit is during cooler months when the creek has more water flow and temperatures are more comfortable.
The park contains the ruins of the former Belgum Sanitarium, a medical facility that operated decades ago and was later abandoned. These hidden remains tell a different story about the region's past and offer an unexpected discovery for curious visitors.
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