South SF - March 4, 2012

Walking Distance: 2.1 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 1 hr., 4 min. (4:28 - 5:32 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking lot, off North Access Road, South San Francisco, CA

I ended my walk yesterday just south of the San Francisco International Airport -- where there is one of the larger gaps in the Bay Trail, for security and other logistical reasons. Today, I picked up the trail at the north end of the airport -- off North Access Road.

I parked my car at the Samtrans Peninsula public shore parking lot. I walked around this leaf-shaped, mostly paved (asphalt) peninsular trail, and, having finished a last stretch of dirt trail and returning to the point where I started (the stem of the leaf shape), I took a right turn onto North Access Road. From here I was walking west on North Access Road, where there are some nice views of the water with the hill in the distance that was engraved with the white letters: South San Francisco.

I crossed over a small bridge (noticing what I think was the same barnacle-encrusted, upside down shopping cart in the water that I saw a few years ago on my first walk around the Bay); and a minute or two later passed a large parking structure, then jogged right and then left toward Airport Boulevard.

In a few blocks (just past a Costco gas station), I turned right off South Airport Blvd. onto Belle Air Road -- a short street that ends in a cul-de-sac, at the Water Quality treatment plant, and a public parking and trailhead area that led to the next section of Bay Trail.

I realized, however, that I will have to come back next weekend, to finish walking another section of road (shown as red, and dotted red line on Bay Trail map). Given that is adjacent to a relatively major Highway 101 interchange, I may not see much in the way of wildlife, but I'll wait and see.

Wildlife Sightings:
20 sea gulls; 106 ducks; 33 unidentified brownish shorebirds (UBBs), 47 tiny UBBs; 25 American avocets; 6 black-necked stilts; 1 ladybug on a green leaf; 5 little brown jobs (LBJs); 3 Canada geese; 3 doves; 3 bumblebees; 1 hummingbird; 1 hubcap; 1 starling

SamTrans Peninsula, South SF - Nov. 14, 2009

Walking Distance: .8 mile
Walking Time: 18 minutes (12:09 - 12:27 p.m.)
Start & End Point: Public Parking Lot, SamTrans Peninsula, South San Francisco, CA

My boyfriend Alec & I power-walked this little leaf-shaped peninsula, on the north side of San Francisco Airport, on our way up to the San Francisco Animation Festival. It was a beautiful day, and there were lots of birds in the more sheltered lagoon-like area (land side) West of the peninsula. (Not bad given how close we were to the airport -- see image of the United Airlines building nearby.) We also had a nice view of the mountain to the West lettered with "South San Francisco" on the hillside, that we frequently see off the freeway, as a blur.

I was excited to see (or more accurately recognize) my first bufflehead (black and white colored) ducks. (See grainy image -- only marginally better than the grainy photos you might see of the Loch Ness monster.)

Wildlife Sightings:
4 Canada geese; 2 pigeons; 5 Western grebes + black & white (bufflehead?) ducks feeding and flying together; 11 black-necked stilts (including 1 very loud one, warning others); 2 little brown jobs (LBJs) and songbirds; 53 very small unidentified brownish shorebirds; 12 American Avocets; 68 medium-larger unidentified brownish shorebirds (including some Willets); 48 ducks + 4 (shoveler?) ducks; 20 sea gulls; and 1 snowy egret