#STEAM TRAIN FREE#

The track was built in 1952 by Erich Thomsen, an engineer with three patents to his name, who worked for the Western Pacific Railroad. Train engineer Jonathan Kruger, center, drives the Tilden Park steam train, known as the Redwood Valley Railway, through Tilden Park on July 18, 2021. Kids wave excitedly from the carts as the steam whistles through the engine passing by the 800 redwoods, exactly as it did more than 50 years ago. It's hard to describe how bucolic the scene is at the Redwood Valley Railroad, it feels frozen in time. If goat-feeding and merry-go-rounding hasn't satisfied your kids, Tilden has a bona fide miniature steam train that chugs a mile through the hills, as well as a tunnel that can scare preschoolers. Several golfers putt on a green at the Tilden Park Golf Course in Tilden Park on July 18, 2021. Deer and turkeys wander the course, and coyote howls can often be heard in trees, so be careful when you're rummaging around for a lost ball. But it's worth it for the views and the wildlife. The course's website, where you can book a tee time, even describes the layout as 'challenging.' It's also steep in places, so a cart is recommended. was opened in 1937 and is billed as 'one of the most beautiful and best laid courses in the West.' The 6,294-yard championship course designed by William Park Bell Jr. The course is stunning, undulating and really, really hard. The first time I played golf at Tilden, I felt like I was a character in 'Tiger Woods PGA Tour' on the Playstation, and not a very good one. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Tilden Park Golf Course While reservations are not required, they are recommended through the carousel's website.Д¬ustomers ride the merry-go-round in Tilden Park on July 18, 2021. From an amusement park in San Bernardino, down to San Diego and then to Griffith Park in Los Angeles, the circling hand-carved poplar animals and two band organs finally made their way up to Tilden in 1948.ДЇor this writer's kids, the carousel has become an annual Christmas tradition, when giant inflatable and illuminated Santas and snowmen surround the ride. Built by the Herschell-Spillman Company in 1911, the attraction has a storied history and made its way merrily around southern California for years. The antique merry-go-round on Central Park Drive is a beautiful, ornate menagerie that is now welcoming kids back onto its array of revolving mythical sea creatures, giraffes and wooden horses. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE The Merry-Go-Round (Remember to bring your own celery and lettuce.)ДЄ pig walks out of a barn at Tilden Nature Area Little Farm in Tilden Park on July 18, 2021.

#STEAM TRAIN FREE#

Herds often roam the steep grasslands to control vegetation for wildfire defense.ДЄfter months of almost-impossible-to-get reservations, the farm is now open again to walk-ins and is 100% free and fantastic. The Little Farm isn't the only place in Tilden where you may run across a goat or two. There's also a play park and field nearby for kids to get out some energy after feeding their new animal friends.ДЄ family walks outside the Tilden Nature Area Little Farm in Tilden Park on July 18, 2021. The Little Farm, opened in 1955 next to the Environmental Education Center, has been giving city kids the opportunity to interact with ducks, pigs, sheep, chickens and even cows for decades. There aren't many more delightful things to do with your kids in the Bay Area than watch a goat snaffle a stick of celery right out of a toddler's hand. HereвЂ™s a rundown of the most popular, and some of the lesser-known treasures of Tilden Park. But now just about everything, from the carousel to the steam train, is running again and open to visitors. While many of the park's attractions were shuttered through the pandemic, the hikes and meadows proved more popular than ever as East Bay residents' normal weekend activities were curtailed. Tilden's bust now looks out over the park near the Brazilian Room. The land was purchased by the East Bay Regional Park District in 1936 and named after Charles Lee Tilden, a San Francisco attorney and UC Berkeley grad who served on the first board of directors of the East Bay Regional Park District.