Bayfront Park - Dec. 31, '11

Walking Distance: 3.91 mi.
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 9 min. (9:06 - 11:15 a.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking area (unpaved) in Bayfront Park, Menlo Park, CA

What a great sunny, crisp morning for a walk on this last day of 2011. And thank you to Laura for joining me on this walk and for providing some great conversation. We walked around the perimeter of Bayfront Park and stopped to talk for a bit, and also walked up the small hill toward the center of the park area.

A few years ago, when I ambled around here (on my first walk around SF Bay), I remember seeing a large number of ground squirrels in Bayfront Park. I also remember reading that these squirrels had been exterminated shortly after that (in a somewhat controversial move). And, consistent with that news -- I saw not one this time. The only small creature that was similar was one small brown mouse who darted out onto the packed dirt trail, briefly in front of us, to look for some food, and then disappeared back into the grass. Good thing for the mouse that there were no birds of prey flying overhead.


After we finished our walk in the park, I continued my walk on a paved (asphalt) bicycle/pedestrian path along Bayfront Expressway/Highway 84 heading east toward the Dumbarton Bridge, and shown as a solid red line on the Bay Trail map. Along the way, I enjoyed seeing the strange, bright colors that accompany areas of accumulated salts -- purples and oranges along with the whites and the blues.

I walked as far as the relatively new Facebook corporate headquarters (old Sun Microsystems campus) at the end of Willow Road and Bayfront Expressway/Highway 84, before turning around and heading back to Bayfront Park where I'd left the car.

Lots of interesting ducks and other birds out this time of year (winter). A few ducks even found good perching spots in the water (on submerged tires).

Wildlife Sightings:
2 killdeer; 1 kite (bird); 51 little brown jobs (LBJs); 24 coots; 15 American avocets; 12 black-necked stilts; 1 mouse; 1 whiffle ball; 1 blackbird; 18 unidentified brownish shorebirds (UBBs); 2 great egrets, 3 snowy egrets; 40 sea gulls; 50 ducks; 6 Canada geese; 2 UFO grebes/divers; 17 pigeons; 7 crows; 1 small cloud of eye-level gnats.

Menlo Park - Dec. 30, '11

Walking Distance: 3.9 mi. (estimate)
Walking Time: 1 hr., 59 min. (2:05 - 4:04 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Parking space, west end of Dumbarton Bridge, Menlo Park, CA

I parked at the same parking area that I did a few days ago -- at the foot of the Dumbarton Bridge (Menlo Park side) in an area marked by a "P" on the Bay Trail map. This time I walked southwest on a combined bike path/trail (shown as a solid, red line on the Bay Trail Map), along Highway 84, enjoying views of the new and old Dumbarton Bridges, and American avocets, egrets, little sandpipers, and other birds wading in the shallows of the Bay.

Note: part of the trail on today's walk was close to car and truck traffic that was hurtling forward at a good speed; so, know your route, and plan accordingly.

I turned right when I reached University Avenue -- a short section of trail that was little more than a packed dirt path/shoulder (depicted as red parallel lines on map). I turned around after passing a set of old train tracks. After walking back to Highway 84/Bayfront Expressway, I continued west on an asphalt bike/pedestrian path along Highway 84/Bayfront Expressway to the intersection with Willow Road. I crossed the road at the light, toward what recently became Facebook's corporate headquarters (the old Sun Microsystems campus).

I decided to walk the paved (asphalt) loop trail around the Facebook campus (not part of the Bay Trail, and not shown on the Bay Trail map). I passed a black cat, hunting for food in the grasses by the water. This trail, adorned by pine trees along the way, went out toward the baylands, and came back around to Highway 84/Bayfront Expressway.


I walked through a small public parking lot (10+ spots) at the east end of the Facebook campus (not shown on Bay Trail map), and nearby I crossed Highway 84 at a stoplight/intersection with University Avenue, then walked east, back to the car.

Wildlife Sightings:
33 little brown jobs (LBJs); 6 cormorants; 67 sea gulls; 2 great egrets, 1 snowy egret; 63 ducks; 7 coots; 116 unidentified brownish shorebirds (UBBs); 18 little (sandpipers); 20 black-necked stilts; 1 great blue heron; 90 American Avocets; 2 ground squirrels; 1 black cat (feral); 1 dead wild cat; 10 Canada geese; 1 bumblebee (very slowly ambling along on asphalt trail).