Welcome to Canyon
Located near the border of Contra Costa and Alameda counties, Canyon is an unincorporated area between Oakland and Moraga. The area used to be known as Sequoya, and it’s currently named for the location on the Upper Creek Canyon on the eastern slope of the Berkeley Hills. The homes in the community are hidden in the steep and narrow private roads and footpaths. The majority of homes in Canyon are nested along the creek, near ferns, redwood groves and madrone forests. All in all, Canyon real estate a centrally located town with lots to offer.
Lay of the Land
There are not a lot of public services in Canyon as most people rely on driving to and from work and different towns. There is a post office and small school for students attending kindergarten through 8th grade. To get an idea on the unconventional town of Canyon, one only has to look at the school lunch menu, which features organic milk and vegetables. Currently, residents work together and maintain their own water systems and roads, and people working for the Canyon Community Association provide meditation service and emergency planning. The great thing is, while Canyon provides for its residents things such as meditation, it also is a well-organized and run town.
Transportation
While it’s a beautiful and relaxing place to live, most residents have one disadvantage. There is no public transportation in Canyon. However, it’s not hard to get to Oakland, and it’s only a short drive. Or, one can drive down to Berkeley and hop on BART to get to get anywhere in the Bay Area quickly and safely. Once a commuter drives down the hill, he or she can get on the 80 or 580 with ease. Residents are pretty self-sufficient, and many hardly leave Canyon unless they have to.
Local highlights
Sitting at an elevation of 1138 feet, Canyon is often a place with respite from the summer heat. While the Bay Area is not known to be a blazing hot region, it’s certainly a lot cooler up in Canyon when the occasional heat wave hits. Due to its location in the foothills in the Bay area, this is a great place to hike, ride bikes or just relax. A lot of people in Canyon love to explore the rest of the canyons and foothills in the area. While fog does hit the town sometimes, it provides a nice background for visitors and residents alike.
Since it’s in the Bay Area, one can see why people are unconventional. Canyon is full of nonconformists who live in interesting and unconventional dwellings. In Canyon, residents recycle everything they can, and this makes the community a little more slow-paced and laid back as most people have small farms and share with their neighbors. Seeing as it’s a community full of nonconformists, there is a lot of protests, and while not the center of political change, people in Canyon are certainly politically active.
Without a doubt, anyone living in Canyon has to take advantage of the location. Just up the road from Berkeley, residents can easily head down to the college or even down to the bay. People looking for a city experience can get to downtown Oakland in less than 20 minutes, and one can get to downtown San Francisco in about 45 minutes, though that depends on traffic. Or, when looking to get out of Canyon but still enjoy nature, people from Canyon head down to Tilden Regional Park and hike, ride horses or bike. All in all, it’s a great, central location whether one wants to work in the big city or play outside in the woods all the time.
