Stonewall-Panoramic Trail
An exceptionally scenic viewpoint in the Berkeley Hills is from the Stonewall-Panoramic Trail in the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve. This hike is in the hills above the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. Many consider it to have some of the best scenic views in the San Francisco Bay Area. The views from this trail rival in majesty those from Grizzly Peak Boulevard.
The trail itself is fairly short at 0.75 miles (one-way), but the steepness of the trail (especially the upper parts) leads to an elevation gain of over 700 feet, providing some dramatic views of Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond in the foreground and San Francisco, Marin County, and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges in the background.
Photograph by the author.
See this blog post by Dave Baselt for some great photos. In particular, especially see this photo. In my opinion, this blog article is the best of the several good online reviews of this trail I've seen.
The photo below of the trail is an especially nice one that was taken on a clear day by Trevor Cheitlin.1
The Claremont Canyon Conservancy website has some further interesting information (history, flora and fauna, maps, etc).
Another review of this trail is here. You'll see many dogs on the trail, and that's the focus of this article.
1For additional East Bay trail reviews by Trevor Cheitlin, see this link.