Walk Berkeley up into the hills
Berkeley is flat by the bay and steep in the hills, and its hillside neighbourhoods are threaded with public stairways. FOG keeps the map dark until you walk it, which makes finding every path a proper game.
Campus and the flats
The UC Berkeley campus sits at the foot of the hills with Sather Tower, the Campanile, at its centre and Sather Gate opening onto Telegraph Avenue. Telegraph runs south through the student district of bookstores and cafes, past People's Park.
Downtown Berkeley sits along Shattuck Avenue on the west side of campus, with the BART station at its middle. North of campus, the Gourmet Ghetto on Shattuck and the quieter streets of Northside lead toward the hills. Fourth Street, by the freeway, is a short shopping strip near the bay.
The paths and steps
The Berkeley hills are crossed by more than a hundred public paths and stairways, many built in the early twentieth century so residents could walk down to the streetcar lines. They cut between houses, under oaks and redwoods, and link streets that wind for miles by road.
A good afternoon: start at the north edge of campus, climb through the Northside streets to the Rose Garden on Euclid Avenue, then follow the stairs up toward Grizzly Peak Boulevard for views across the bay to San Francisco and the Golden Gate. Coming down by different stairs fills a second strip of map.
Practical notes
The hills are steep, and some stairways have a hundred steps or more. The flats are easy. Mornings can be foggy, which suits the name of the app, and autumn is usually the clearest season.
The paths are what turn a Berkeley map from a grid into something intricate, and finding the last few becomes the challenge.
What the app adds to a walk
The ledger tracks the area you have unfogged, the distance you have covered and your share of the whole Earth. Ranks climb with area, from Fogbound and Wanderer up through Scout, Pathfinder and Explorer to Atlas. The collection fills with the countries, regions and cities you have actually stood in, and nothing else can add to it.
Everything stays on the phone: no account, no cloud, no app analytics, no ads. If you already have years of Google Timeline or GPX history, FOG Unlimited can import it, a single purchase rather than a subscription, so Berkeley walks you took before installing appear on the map the same day.
Questions people actually ask
Does Berkeley have public stairways?
Yes. The hills have more than a hundred public paths and steps linking the winding streets.
Is Berkeley walkable?
The flats, campus and downtown are very walkable. The hills are steep but crossed by public paths.
Is there a subscription?
No. Exploring is free and FOG Unlimited is a single purchase. There is never a subscription.
Start with a dark map.
FOG is free to explore. No account, no subscription, and your map never leaves your phone.
free to explore · one purchase unlocks everything · never a subscription