Stonehurst Creek isn’t really a creek, just a stormwater channel. But there it is on the watershed map, with a name and everything. Of the 13 named tributaries that feed San Leandro Creek, it’s the last one before the Bay. And it’s got potential.
I only discovered Stonehurst Creek because one day last June I set out to follow the Union Pacific track under the 880 freeway. (And pioneer a scenic route to the Cleophus Quealy tasting room.)
The tracks parallel 105th Avenue, and of course it’s private property. I advise you not to go there. If you choose to ignore my advice, however, the easiest access in Oakland is from Knight Street. You walk to the left of the tracks, near the drainage ditch that is Stonehurst Creek.
A maintenance road runs along the far side. This photo, from June 2016 at the height of the drought, shows there’s always water here.
This spring the area’s pretty lush in comparison. And if you look back, it’s not devoid of scenery.
On the other side of the freeway, the tracks cross San Leandro Creek. From there you can spot the mouth of Stonehurst Creek, looking almost creeklike.
I’m telling you all this because the route could become more of a destination under the newly released San Leandro Creek Trail Master Plan Study, a long-term vision of how we can get people back to Oakland’s largest and most important stream.
Because San Leandro Creek is very hard to access upstream from here, there would need to be a detour, and Stonehurst Creek would be handy for that. The Study mentions the “potential restoration of Stonehurst Creek,” which sounds funny because old maps don’t show any creek at all here to “restore.” Apparently the technical meaning of restoration includes building a natural creek from scratch.
You can continue down the tracks past Davis Street and turn right to get to Doolittle Drive, then go north to make your way to Cleophus Quealy — I mean, *I* can. The point is to arrive thirsty. But while we’re on the bridge, let’s look at San Leandro Creek.
Downstream, there’s a maintenance road on the left bank that could be opened up nicely to foot and bike traffic, and on the right bank a tidy, bare open space at the end of Empire Road that could become more of a park.
Upstream is more forbidding: there’s a maintenance road there too, but it’s down in the streambed, below the right bank, and couldn’t easily be opened to the public. Hence the need for a detour up Stonehurst Creek. Conceivably you could walk it in the dry season, but I would advise against that.
The San Leandro Creek Trail Master Plan Study says, “There is a large open space below I-880 that could be used creatively.”
And there are some visionaries hard at work doing that already.
Perhaps you would find their efforts as arresting as I do. Perhaps you would be dumbstruck, as I was. Perhaps you would exclaim, as people who explore Oakland often do, “There’s a there here!”
No matter where you go in Oakland, this town can excite some form of wordless delight.
Oakland Geology 
Leave a reply