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). 

American Canyon Rd. West - Aug 18, 2010

Walking Distance: .7 mile (.3 mi. x 2 + .1 mi. - Chaucer Ln. pkg spot)
Walking Time: 12 min. (8:40 - 8:52 p.m.)

Before driving home this evening, I couldn't resist taking this very short stroll down American Canyon Road West, located in a suburban area. It was dark, but there were street lights; and I walked (on a sidewalk) West on American Canyon Rd. from Elliott Drive to Hummingbird Way. This Road leads out to Wetlands Edge, and a new segment of the Napa River and Bay Trail, that I plan to walk tomorrow.

Note: It was too dark for pictures.

Wildlife Sightings:
1 (domestic) cat running into some bushes; and a dog out for a walk with its owners. It was too dark to see anything else.

N. Kelly Road, Napa - Aug. 18, 2010

Walking Distance: 2.0 miles
Walking Time: Time: 34 min. (7:49 - 8:23 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Unpaved shoulder/pull-out area, at the intersection of Highway 12 and N. Kelly Rd., Napa, CA

I took a detour from the more heavily trafficked Highway 29, to walk up North Kelly Road (shown as a white line "Kelly" on map, and which runs parallel to Highway 29 -- shown as the double yellow lines on map). I left Highway 29 at Jameson Canyon (Highway 12) and walked North on N. Kelly until it rejoined Highway 29.

The West side of N. Kelly Road was populated by light industrial and commercial buildings, belonging to Sutter Home and other wine-related businesses; and the East side of the road was more open land, that might have been a mix of pasture and vineyards. I finished this stretch of road after the sun had set, so there weren't many opportunities for pictures; however, it was a pleasant walk.

Wildlife Sightings:
20 blurs in the grass/bushes (there was more movement and more blurs as it got darker, so I'm assuming these were field mice); 8 swallows; 1 mockingbird; and then it became too dark to see much more.