Broadway/Highway 29, cont. - Sept. 22, 2010

Walking Distance: 3.2 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 1 hr., 29 min. (5:36 - 7:05 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Safeway parking lot, American Canyon, CA

After a nice Tsunami sushi lunch at Safeway, I walked East to walk down the other side of Broadway. This side of Broadway is part of historic Highway 40; and I walked through Veterans Memorial Park along the way and passed a dog park. The Eastern side of Broadway is a little more pedestrian friendly than the busier West side.

As sundown approached, a very large flock of songbird sized birds circled overhead.

Wildlife:
1 unidentified bird
2 blurs in the bushes
15 doves
16 red-winged blackbirds - singing like mad
1 turkey vulture
1 black beetle
282 little brown jobs (LBJs)
41 pigeons
1 crow

Broadway/Highway 29 - Sept. 18, 2010

Walking Distance: 2.0 miles
Walking Time: 34 min. (4:32 - 5:06 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Shopping Center parking lot, American Canyon Rd. and Broadway, American Canyon, CA

Occasionally I will finish a short segment of Bay Trail, and realize I have some time and energy left to walk a bit further. Today was one of those days. The prospect of crossing over into a new county (from Napa into Solano) and city (from American Canyon into Vallejo) was also a draw.

After walking Wetlands Edge with Alec earlier today, we drove to the large shopping center at the intersection of American Canyon Rd. and Broadway (also known as Highway 29 - and shown as double yellow lines on map, above right), to buy something to eat and drink at Safeway. Alec stayed in the car while I decided to hike down Broadway to Mini Drive and back.

Fortunately, this stretch of Broadway/Highway 29 had a wider, more generous shoulder to walk along than other areas of Highway 29 further North. The wildlife sightings (below) revealed a more industrialized, gritty environment. Not as many graceful shorebirds, and more tough characters: i.e. pigeons, rats, rusty screws, etc. But, even in the toughest areas, beauty can be found, such as these roadside Lantanas (flowers) growing over sidewalk (pictured at right).

Wildlife Sightings:
2 turkey vultures, 1 dragonfly, 1 rusty screw, 3 pigeons, 10 little brown jobs (LBJs), 2 crows, 1 dead rat (side of road)

Wetlands Edge, Am. Canyon - Sept. 18, 2010

Walking Distance: 3.35 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 35 min. (2:30 - 4:05 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Parking lot, at Eucalyptus and Wetlands Edge, American Canyon, CA

American Canyon is located between Napa and Vallejo, where the Napa River starts to merge with San Francisco Bay. Today I enjoyed getting my Bay Trail walking feet back, after a month's break (spent traveling and investigating other Bay Trails). Previously, last month, I had walked the newly opened section of Napa River/Bay Trail from this same parking lot in American Canyon with a friend.

Thank you to Alec for joining me on today's walk along Wetlands Edge (road).  As we got out of the car in the parking lot, we enjoyed briefly watching a group of young girls flying kites made out of paper bags. What the kites lacked in terms of aerodynamic prowess, the girls made up for in terms energetic kitesmanship. From there we turned the corner to Wetlands Edge to start our walk.

The Wetlands Edge stretch of Bay Trail allows pedestrians (and leashed dogs) to walk on a wide sidewalk, on the River/Bay side of the road. On the East side of the trail is a suburban neighborhood. To the West, is open space and water. We walked the complete length of Wetlands Edge, plus a small stretch of W. American Canyon Rd. (as far as Hummingbird Way), before returning to the car.  

It was a great day for seeing birds. To the West, in the distance, we could see a solid strip of shorebirds huddled against the water's edge, and a kite (bird) perched on a dead tree limb. (Photo of curious, low flying turkey vulture, at right, courtesy of Alec Proudfoot.)

Wildlife Sightings:
7 unidentified flying bugs; 65 ducks; 520 medium-sized unidentified brownish shorebirds; 15 small unidentified brownish shorebirds; 4 American Avocets; 3 sea gulls; 3 turkey vultures; 1 white swan; 1 tiny brown lizard (or skink?); 21 pigeons; 1 brown and orange butterfly; 4 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 black beetle; 2 crows; 1 kite (bird); 1 tiny pillbug; 1 dragonfly; 1 cat (feral? domestic? -- hard to tell, maybe half and half).

Wetlands View, Napa - Bay Trail - Aug. 19, 2010

Walking Distance: 2.5 miles
Walking Time: Time: 1 hr., 35 min. (1:25 - 3:00 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Wetlands View, Napa River and Bay Trail, City of American Canyon, Parking Lot, American Canyon, CA

Part of the fun of walking a large trail like the Bay Trail is that there are additions and changes constantly underway. Today's walk took place on a wonderful new stretch of trail that extended (from a parking lot at the end of Eucalyptus) out to the Napa River.

The new trail was located in the gray area on the map shown at right; and it was not yet in existence when this Bay Trail map was created. My understanding is, in the future, new segments of trail (also not shown) will join other segments further north.

This new area was beautiful. After walking along rural highways and grapevines (as beautiful as they can be) for the past few months, I was delighted to walk near the water again. And there was a great deal of wildlife to see on this walk.

In addition to areas of water (ponds, Napa River - Bay),  interesting sights included: lots of large birds, including some white pelicans, hawks, and vultures; some large agave (century) plants in bloom (pictured at right); and a boat that had apparently worked its way loose of its moorings and washed ashore (also pictured, right). We also saw a colorful lizard (with some blue coloring) on a tree (bottom right).

I had too many photos from this walk to post here, which is usually a nice problem to have.

Thank you to Margaret and Albert for joining me on today's walk, and to Johnny and Tony who gave us some additional helpful information on the new trail as we walked in.

Wildlife Sightings:
7 butterflies (5 white, 2 yellow and black); 5 snowy egrets; 3 hawks; 6 turkey vultures; 3 lizards; 36 red-winged blackbirds; 24 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 ground squirrel; 9 dragonflies; 2 great egrets; 6 swallows; 2 killdeer; 4 unidentified brownish shorebirds (UBBs); 2 white pelicans; 15 ducks; 20+ sheep (in distance - "mowing" grass). 

Highway 29 - North from Broadway Market - Aug. 9, 2010

Walking Distance: 5.8 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 33 min. (6:42 - 8:15 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Parking lot in front of Broadway Market, 3915 Broadway Street, American Canyon, CA

This evening I fueled up at the Broadway Market (cheddar cheese and Fritos -- a childhood favorite combination, and water) before walking North on Broadway/Highway 29 (double yellow lines on map at right). I breezed past the big Walmart Supercenter on Napa Junction Road, and walked over the bridge/overpass, stopping only to examine, and step over, the remnants of several little (six-inch long) blue plastic bicycles with tiny black tires , strewn around on the side of the road. (I could write a book about all the interesting items that end up on the side of the road, but I digress.)

I turned around at 5455 Highway 29 (a waterfall and pond supplies outfit). As I walked back, still feeling energetic, I took what I thought would be a shortcut. I turned Right on Green Island Rd. and then left onto a frontage road (Paoli Loop) that paralleled the highway. I thought it might lead me past a place I'd spotted earlier that had a sign advertising "honey for sale."

Well, you know the rest...Never take a shortcut (especially a road with "loop" in the name), unless you have a detailed map with you, or you've researched this in advance. I walked about a mile more than I needed to by taking this loop road, but it was pleasant and scenic. It eventually took me under the overpass (picture lower right) that I'd walked on earlier (pictured above right), and then looped back to where I started before I took the shortcut - so I got to go over the overpass one more time, on the other side.

Walking by the Napa Junction/Walmart more closely this time, I noticed that they had a nice broad asphalt strip (shown below right) for walking and biking in front of this development. Nice. 

Note: the gray dotted line (on map) was not the route that I took when I got "lost." (Please, people, give me some credit.) Instead the dotted line is a planned/proposed right-of-way, that may be approved as part of the trail system at a future date.

Wildlife Sightings:
33 little brown jobs (LBJs)/songbirds; 3 blurs in the bushes; 1 snail (brown shell) hanging out near the highway; 4 sea gulls; 8 doves; and 2 swallows.

Broadway St./Highway 29 - American Canyon - Aug. 8, 2010

Walking Distance: 1.7 miles
Walking Time: 46 min. (8:45 - 9:31 p.m.)
Start and End Point: American Canyon Marketplace shopping center parking lot, American Canyon, CA

It was dark, but I still wanted to walk further this evening before making the long drive back to the South Bay. So, instead of finishing up Highway 221 in Napa, I skipped a few segments, and I drove further south to American Canyon -- to an area where there were enough lights to walk along the highway. Not perfect, but not pitch black either. (My apologies for the blurry night shots.)

From American Canyon Road (where double red lines meet double yellow lines on the map above right), I walked North on Broadway Street (Highway 29), crossing Donaldson. I turned around just North of the intersection of Broadway and Poco Way, near the Broadway Market and Caffino coffee stand.

As I turned around to walk back, I thought to myself: Am I really seeing a very large gorilla over there? The answer was yes....And a bit further, there was a T-Rex too.

If you squint very hard, you might be able to see these figures looming out of the darkness too.

Wildlife Sightings:
It was too dark to see anything; I saw the dim silhouettes of a large gorilla and a T-Rex dinosaur (large metal sculptures at a garden center). I listened to the sounds of a few birds and then crickets, along with lots of cars whooshing by me.