Alviso Marina - Aug. 15, '11

Walking Distance: 4.8 mi. (estim.)
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 7 min. (5:56 - 8:03 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Parking lot, Alviso Marina County Park

This evening was my first visit to the Alviso Marina County Park and glimpse of some of the older buildings in the Alviso Historic District. My goal was to walk a series of shorter roads (mostly double yellow lines on Bay Trail map) and a short segment of solid red line trail in the Historic District.


Over-pumping of ground water apparently led to a sinking in elevation of part of old Alviso by the Marina area, and likely contributed to some buildings being abandoned.

One such building looked like an old cannery. Another, wood building around the corner looked like an old saloon. A large flock of pigeons seemed to have taken over another partially collapsed building.

Boats in the marina/channel area could be glimpsed through a sea of grasses, further accentuating a sort of lost-ancient city feel -- at least in comparison with Silicon Valley office parks and multi-story, cube-style buildings in the distance.


From the Marina parking lot, I walked down (Hope St. to Elizabeth to) Gold St. to Lafayette and Yerba Buena Way (on the far side of the Highway 237 underpass), and turned around.

On the way back I took the path to the left, just past where the Guadalupe River intersects with Gold St. (short, solid red line on Bay Trail map), which took me back to the Alviso Marina area. I then walked along State St. to Spreckles Ave. and walked the full length of Spreckles, before turning around and returning to the Marina via State Street.

Wildlife:

48 pigeons; 11 sea gulls; 1 hawk; 1 great blue heron; 5 black-necked stilts; 17 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 snowy egret; 2 ducks; 1 mockingbird; 32 starlings; 1 robin?; 1 snail (up on plant); 1 screw; 1 barking "farm" dog (chihuahua that run out under fence to give chase for a bit)

Grand Blvd., Alviso/SJ - Aug. 14, '11

Walking Distance: 1.85 mi. (estim.)
Walking Time: 46 min. (6:08 - 6:54 p.m.)
Start and End Point: packed dirt parking area, near Marsh View Trail, end of Grand Blvd., Alviso/San Jose, CA

This evening I spent strategizing where I might find a parking space to walk Grand Blvd. and Los Esteros Road, in Alviso/San Jose, CA. This area of undeveloped trail (shown as double yellow lines on Bay Trail map) consists of a dirt strip along a paved two-lane roadway.

The route along Los Esteros passes by the rather large San Jose Water Pollution Control Plant -- and there are clearly posted no trespassing and no parking signs along this stretch. Fortunately, there is an environmental education center located at the end of Grand Blvd., that is part of Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. While the center was closed by the time I arrived, the parking area, fortunately, was not. I look forward to making a return trip to see the center.

I walked west-ish along Grand Blvd., to the intersection of Grand and Spreckles Ave., then turned around and headed east-ish along Los
Esteros Rd. Unfortunately, I only made it to the first bend in the road, before having to turn back. Given the lack of parking along this road, I'll have to re-walk some of this stretch of Los Esteros next time I'm here later this week. Ah well.

Wildlife:
1 dragonfly; 2 doves; 15 sea gulls; 5 whiteish snails +1 white shell; 2 unidentified brownish shorebirds (UBBs); 10 black-necked stilts; 1 mockingbird; and 1 screw

McCarthy Ranch, Coyote Creek - Aug. 13, '11

Walking Distance: 5 miles
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 20 min. (4:35 - 6:55 p.m.)
Start and End Point: McCarthy Ranch, shopping center parking lot, near In and Out Burger, Milpitas, CA

What a great Saturday: a quick stop at the Chocolate Garage in Palo Alto, a visit with friends, a walk on a new trail that I never knew existed behind a large shopping center, and a stop on the way home to replace another pair of worn-out shoes with new ones at REI. Walking the Bay Trail requires very little investment other than, perhaps, a good pair of shoes if you want to go for maximum mileage. I have managed to go through about six pairs of shoes and flip flops during my circumnavigation of San Francisco Bay.

So, back to the walk. Once I found the entry point to this trail off N. McCarthy Blvd./McCarthy Ranch, I headed north on this trail (shown as a solid, red line on Bay Trail map), and followed it past small gardens with rows of corn and vegetables, open fields (with hares racing between small scrubby patches of grass), and over a small overcrossing/bridge (where the trail merges with N. McCarthy Blvd. once more), until I reached (the end of) Dixon Landing Road -- more specifically the entrance gate to Newby Island Landfill.

Having turned around, I proceeded to walk back
the way I came, and continued on south (past my starting point) to the
overpass/undercrossing (where Coyote Creek crosses under Highway 237).

I was alerted to the presence of a predator in the area by the shrill cries of a ground squirrel near the trail. There was a gray, feral (but very healthy looking) cat with a bobtail, crouching in the shadows near the squirrel burrows. After the walk, I headed back to the car and to find some dinner myself.

Note: Make sure to bring water if you're walking this during a hot, summer day. There is very little tree cover or shade; beating the heat is another reason why I like walking in the early evening before sunset.

Wildlife Sightings:

24 little brown jobs (LBJs); 14 pigeons; 15 white butterflies + 10 other butterflies: 4 black and yellow, 3 orange and black, 3 misc. butterflies; 4 ground squirrels; 9 doves; 2 starlings; 4 sea gulls; 2 finches; 2 hares; 5 dragonflies; 2 red-winged blackbirds; 1 turkey vulture; 58 Canada geese; 1 feral cat; 1 lizard (medium size, dark); 1 duck; 1 snowy egret, 1 great egret; 8 white snails (3 = shells); 1 crow; 1 robin;
1 blue jay

Warm Springs Trail - Aug. 4, '11

Walking Distance: 2 mi. (estim.)
Walking Time: 52 min. (6:12 - 7:04 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Street parking on Northport Loop W., near intersection with Cushing Parkway, Fremont, CA

This evening I got a late start after work, and thought I wouldn't be able to finish this trail -- the six segments of double yellow lines at right angles to one another on Bay Trail map shown at right. This Warm Springs trail was an undeveloped, unpaved trail, with no lighting, and it looked like it would be about 4 miles, round-trip.

However, there was a closed/locked gate about mid-way through (end of third segment of) this section of trail, so I was able to stop and take some pictures at the trail's end, and take a leisurely walk back to the car, without being stuck stumbling back in the dark.

And, best of all, four gray foxes were crossing the trail ahead of me on the way back. It's rare to see these, and all the sightings I've had so far on my walk around the Bay have been in this area the past few weeks -- seven total counting these four; although I might have seen some of these same foxes more than once. This group may have been made of up a mother and three older kits. It was hard to tell, but one looked a bit larger and more vigilant and protective than the other three.

Wildlife Sightings:
5 mockingbirds; 1 ground squirrel; 3 little brown jobs (LBJs); 2 ravens + 5 crows; 1 hawk/kestrel; 4 swallows; 1 hare (running away); 1 small skunk waddling along in the dry grass; 1 bumblebee; 1 yellow jacket; 4 gray foxes; 2 cows (part of same herd I saw before off Cushing Pkwy)

Coyote Creek Lagoon Part 2 - Aug. 4, '11

Walking Distance: 2.1 mi. (estim.)
Walking Time: 1 hr. (4:58 - 5:58 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking lot (open sunrise to sunset, day use only); end of Fremont Blvd., Fremont, CA

This evening I returned to walk the second (southern) half of the Coyote Creek Lagoon Trail, part of the Don Edward San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge area.

As I walked out toward the Bay, I passed a crew and a few pieces of heavy machinery involved in some dredging, or removing plants from a water channel. Good for flood control, maybe, but as I was watching the large areas of mud and marsh grasses being peeled off, I couldn't help but think that this probably displaces wildlife that had settled in the area as well.

It was another nice, summer evening walk, with large numbers of various shorebirds, stilts and avocets. As usual, the black-necked stilts were the alarmists among their fellow bird colleagues, with sentries crying out in warning every time I stopped on the trail to take pictures
-- even when I took no steps closer to them, and was using a telephoto lens. Yes, it's happened. I've become one of those crazy bird ladies, telling the stilts that they were annoyingly over-worried. On the other hand, I had spotted gray foxes in this area last week, so I suppose they're better off safe than sorry.

And maybe the big herd/flock of American Avocets nearby appreciated someone keeping an eye out for danger.


Wildlife Sightings:
1 mockingbird; 4 ground squirrels; 3 killdeer; 6 snowy egrets, 1 great egret; 4 sea gulls; 6 swallows; 42 black-necked stilts; 80 ducks; 56 unidentified brownish shorebirds (UBBs); 57 American Avocets; 28 Canada geese; 1 cormorant; 4 crows; 1 kite (bird); 4 red-winged blackbirds; 2 dragonflies; 3 little brown jobs (LBJs)