Shoreline Kickoff, Walk #2 - Dec. 17, '11

Walking Distance: 4 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 5 min. (10:07 a.m. - 12:12 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking lot, Shoreline Park, Mountain View, CA

Today I embarked on my second walk around San Francisco Bay. It was a beautiful, sunny day, a few days away from the start of winter.

I started my walk at the Lakeside Cafe, in Shoreline Park. Thank you

to Javier Rojo for fixing me a decaf cappuccino at the cafe. After that, it was time to grab the camera, break open the logbook and get going.

I walked past the boathouse/dock area on the lake, within view of paddleboats, windsurfing boards, small sailboats, and kayaks: all stacked up and ready to go. And from there I made my way along the paved (asphalt) walk (heading roughly east) to the Bay Trail.

In the distance, to the south were the large hangars at Moffett Field in Sunnyvale and a blimp in the same area.

I stopped to talk with a photographer, Ming W., who showed me a fantastic shot of a harrier she had taken. Part of the fun of walking the trail is to meet other people along the way.

I walked north on the Bay Trail (red line on the Bay Trail map), and crossed my first city boundary -- from Mountain View into the Palo Alto baylands,
passing through the Charleston Slough area.

Due to a prior engagement this afternoon, I had to turn around at the "Interrelationships" interpretive sign/plaque on the packed dirt portion of the trail, in between Shoreline Park in Mountain View and the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center in Palo Alto.

On the way back, when I crossed back over into Shoreline Park, I walked along the lake, back to the Lakeside Cafe, and the adjacent lot where my car was parked.

It was a great day to see lots of different kinds of birds, including
several species of ducks. Given that it was hunting season, and that I could hear the faint sound of guns being fired a few miles off during the walk this morning, I'd say these ducks had picked the right spot
to hang out.

My favorite bird was the sea gull who was trying to carry an overly large shellfish in its beak. A bird after my own heart.

Wildlife Sightings:
38 cormorants; 7 snowy egrets, 5 great egrets; 26 Canada geese; 40 sea gulls; 15 coots; 2 kite birds; 156 ducks; 2 brown pelicans; 5 little brown jobs (LBJs); 2 hummingbirds; 1 cute grebe/diver; 2 crows; 5 pigeons; 1 hawk/kestrel/falcon; 88 American avocets; 8 black-necked stilts; 67 unidentified brownish shorebirds (UBBs); 1 great blue heron; 2 jackrabbits

Home Stretch Walk - Sept. 11, '11

Walking Distance: N/A
Walking Time: 1 hr., 5 min. (11:25 a.m. - 12:41 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Michael's at Shoreline/Michael's Restaurant, Mountain View, CA

Today I celebrated walking around the San Francisco Bay with a group of family and friends. Thank you to all who joined in the fun. After meeting in front of Michael's at Shoreline, we followed the same paved (asphalt) bicycle and pedestrian path (solid red line on Bay Trail map) that I had scouted yesterday, with one small shortcut (we crossed over Whisman Slough on the first bridge vs. the second one.)

After walking a loop back to Michael's Restaurant, we had a bite to eat (I recommend the chopped cobb salad), and sampled some chocolates (since I was also celebrating five years of eating a different type of chocolate every day). Life is good, and thank you to Dan, Teri, Ashish, Ken, Alec, Sueling, Tom, Elle, Toni, Susan, and Elise for being part of the home stretch celebratory walk.

I'm sure I missed some wildlife today, as I was enjoying talking with people along the way. So, what I saw out of the corner of my eye, is listed below. I'm already planning to extend this Bay walk a bit; e.g. I will walk a few "new" or newly re-opened segments of trail in the next few months. At that time, I anticipate I will arrive at the 1,000 mile mark, after walking a few Bay Trail connector trails (purple lines on Bay Trail map).

Wildlife:
5 white pelicans; 5 terns; 6 sea gulls; 7 ducks; 2 red-tailed hawks; 7 swallows; 1 little brown job (LBJ).

Home Stretch Walk - Sept. 10, '11

Walking Distance: 3 miles (estimate) (2.5 "new" miles)
Walking Time: 1 hr., 46 min. (8:25 - 10:11 a.m.)
Start and End Point: Michael's at Shoreline/Michael's Restaurant, Mountain View, CA

Today was a practice run for my "home stretch" walk back into Shoreline Park -- my starting point for this round-the-Bay walk 2 years ago. I am looking forward to doing this walk again tomorrow with a group of great people who have joined me on Bay Trail walks.

From Michael's at Shoreline/Michael's Restaurant (near the Shoreline Golf Links golf course), I walked across the street (N. Shoreline Blvd.) out toward San Francisco Bay, and followed the (solid red line) trail in a southeasterly direction, then turned right (southwest-ish) and then over a bridge (second one actually, not shown on Bay Trail Map) and then northeast, toward the Bay again, until the trail ended at a locked gate. I then returned to Michael's via the same route.

On the way, I stopped to talk with a few people who were out walking, including one mother and son who was working on a Boy Scout badge; and I dawdled to do some bird-watching. I enjoyed watching white pelicans on the Bay; and one snowy egret, wading in some shallows, extending its yellow toes into the water and shaking its foot -- presumably to attract small fish. I was told that the fish think they see a worm wiggling. The foot shaking (fishing?) seemed to be working for the egret.

All in all, it was a very pleasant walk. The Bay was glassy still. The white tops of the Shoreline Amphitheatre (concert venue) poked up behind the golden brown hills (molded from garbage from many years ago when this Park was a dump site).

While I am returning to my starting point in Mountain View, I still have a few more segments of trail left to walk (some were closed for construction when I passed by originally). I should hit the 1,000 mile walk milestone before the end of 2011.

Wildlife Sightings:
7 terns (at least 4 elegant terns) - squawking and diving for food; 9 ladybugs; 1 cormorant; 1 turkey vulture; 39 sea gulls; 1 hummingbird; 26 little brown jobs (LBJs); 22 swallows; 2 pillbugs; 16 white pelicans; 2 great egrets, 7 snowy egrets; 27 ducks, 1 darker headed smaller bird; 2 unidentified brownish shorebirds (UBBs), 6 tiny UBBs; 1 black-necked stilt; 12 starlings; 3 white butterflies, 4 skippers; 2 dragonflies.