Richmond, Cutting Blvd. - April 9, '11

Walking Distance: 5.2 mi.
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 34 min. (4:35 - 7:09 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Street parking, near Historic Ford Point, Harbour Way South, Richmond, CA

Beautiful Saturday late afternoon-to- early evening for a walk in Richmond. Even though most of today's walk was along surface streets (double yellow and double red lines on map), it was still interesting. The sky was blue and the temperature was just about right for walking. The shadows started to creep into the picture toward the end, but the spring days are also getting a few minutes longer each week.

I started my walk by revisiting Sheridan Point (near the end of Harbour Way South), and then walking back up Harbour Way South toward Cutting Blvd. This mixed commercial and industrial area is also a transit corridor for railroad traffic. I watched a few trains to go by near Wright Ave. before I reached Cutting.

Along Cutting Blvd. there were several boat, yacht, and marine-related businesses on the bay side of the road. A bit before I reached Canal Blvd., there was a very small park (on the south/bay side of Cutting) accessible via a small cut-through. The park is visible from Cutting if you're on foot, but you may miss it if you're traveling by car.  I then walked part-way down Canal Blvd., before walking back.

After stopping for a quick bite to eat, I walked down Marina Way, and east on Hall Ave., to the Harbor Master's at Marina Bay and watched a few boats coming back into the harbor area before sundown.

Wildlife Sightings:
1 orange tabby cat (same one I saw before); 26 sea gulls; 7 pigeons; 16 little brown jobs (LBJs); 4 crows; 1 small black beetle; 1 pillbug; 2 cormorants; 3 mockingbirds; 4 Canada geese; 1 snail; 3 fabric kites; 1 rusty screw

Richmond, Marina Bay - April 6, '11

Walking Distance: 3.12 mi.
Walking Time: 1 hr., 41 min. (5:05 - 6:46 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Lucretia Edwards Park, Richmond, CA

Today's early evening walk in the Marina Bay area of Richmond first took me out to Sheridan Point - near what had been an old Ford Motor Co. assembly plant building, located at the end of Harbor Way. The renovated space housed the Craneway Pavilion event space and Boilerhouse Restaurant, and commercial space for a solar company. (And it looked also to be the future site of a planned Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historic Park Visitor Center.)

After this walk by the waterfront with a view of the San Francisco skyline in the distance across the Bay, I headed east toward Marina Bay, and followed the broad, paved path around the harbor area. I passed two more places to stop and get something to eat: Salute, and Amini's By the Bay: Groceries and Delicatessen. I would have liked to have stopped to try one of these places, but it was starting to get dark.

As I continued around the harbor, I overlapped a bit with yesterday's walk. I stopped to spend a bit more time looking at the Rosie the Riveter Memorial, and then I "re-walked" the east side of the harbor to  a short segment connecting the harbor with Shimada Peace/Friendship Park. (I had missed this cut-through yesterday when I chose to walk out to Barbara and Jay Vincent Park.)

I then re-traced my steps, back through the Rosie the Riveter Memorial area to Marina Bay Park, to walk a loop on Regatta Boulevard. I walked west on Regatta until I reached Marina Way South, where I turned left and returned to my car, parked in a public space at Lucretia Edwards Park. By the end of the walk, sunny skies had turned dark, cloudy and very windy.


The above description will sound quite confusing unless you have a map. Fortunately, there were some Marina Bay Trail Guide maps near the Ford Assembly Building. I recommend picking one up if you're in the area.

Wildlife Sightings:
19 sea gulls; 1 crow; 7 pigeons; 5 Western grebes; 5 other UFO grebes, divers; 37 coots; 3 cormorants + lighter one; 3 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 spider; 1 snail, 1 (fabric) kite; 1 domestic cat

Marina Bay, Richmond - Apr. 5, '11

Walking Distance: 3.75 mi. (estimate)
Walking Time: 1 hr., 30 min. (4:08 - 6:38 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking lot, Shimada Friendship Park, Richmond, CA

The Marina Bay loop trail I walked late this afternoon included Shimada Friendship Park, Meeker Slough, Marina Bay, and Vincent Park. This paved, asphalt/cement trail (solid red line on Bay Trail map) is well suited for  walking, bird-watching, jogging, bicycling or dog-walking.


I started my walk at Shimada Friendship Park (located near Peninsula Dr. and Marina Bay Parkway). Richmond's sister city, is Shimada, Japan. (In Marina Bay, there were also tributes to Japanese American citizens and the challenges they faced during World War II.) When I arrived at the Park there was a group barbequeing and a few individuals fishing, and several other walkers, some with dogs. I walked east toward Meeker Slough and continued the loop back up toward Regatta Blvd. and eventually made my way over to Marina Bay.

On all sides of this loop facing the Bay, there were wonderful Bay views, and lots of birds. In particular, there were great views of Brooks Island (seen at the horizon line above flowers at right). Brooks Island, in San Francisco Bay off the coast of Richmond, is maintained as a preserve. Advanced permission is required to visit this island.

An extension of this loop took me out to a point that also formed the south entrance point of Marina Bay. At the end of this point was Vincent Park. I enjoyed taking pictures of a bumblebee collecting pollen, as well as watching a few happy dogs stroll by with their owners. Wide vistas of the harbor and boats in Marina Bay and the San Francisco Bay are visible from this park/point.

Wildlife Sightings:

14 little brown jobs (LBJs); 20 sea gulls; 24 ducks; 3 ground squirrels; 5 Western grebes; 1 hummingbird; 24 Canada geese; 4 willets; 3 bumblebees; 9 unidentified brownish shorebirds; 1 snowy egret; 32 coots; 1 tennis ball; 1 domestic cat; 4 crows; 2 horned grebes; 5 cormorants; 2 tiny little unidentified brownish shorebirds