Bedwell Bayfront Park, Menlo Park - Sept. 15, 2009

Walking distance: ~ 2.3 miles
Walking time: 1.5 hours (~11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.)
Start & End point: Bedwell Bayfront Park parking lot, Menlo Park, CA

Today I had a nice walk with a friend, Laura Mappin, around Bayfront Park. There is a loop trail, and other trails in this park. Near the Bay, at the North'ish end (of the service road), sat what looked like a Menlo Park sewage treatment facility.

Don't eat the Bay. That was Laura's conclusion, and my advice. We each sampled a very tiny bit of salt, from a salt pond next to the trail. It was VERY salty. Then, not knowing what else had accumulated in those mounds of salt over time, I quickly wiped out my mouth.

Native American Indians took advantage of capturing salt in ponds by the Bay many years ago; and commercial salt harvesting operations were in full swing a few decades ago. I remember seeing a very large white mountain of salt, which then disappeared. And now, salt pond areas are being converted back into wetlands. There are lifecycles to every life, and to every industry it seems.

Wildlife Sightings: ~ 50 Canada geese; 5 egrets; 5 ground squirrels; 1 brown and white hawk circling overhead; 1 feral cat.

Chilco to Marsh Rd. Parking Lot - Sept. 12, 2009

Walking Distance: ~ 1.2 miles
Walking Time: ~ 40 minutes (1:00 - 1:40 p.m.)
Start & Stop Point: Marsh Rd. Parking Lot, Menlo Park, CA

I walked this short loop today to finish a previous segment, and to end up in the park at end of Marsh Road. This park has some nice trails that I'm looking forward to walking.

Wildlife Sightings: 5 doves; 32 Canada geese; 4 ducks; 1 cute and curious
cormorant; 4 ducks (+ 1 dead duck); 4 LBJs (little brown jobs); 1 hawk; 1 large egret; 9 black-necked stilts; 1 sea gull; 1 great blue heron.

Ravenswood Point - Sept. 11, 2009

Walking Distance: 3-4 miles
Walking Time: ~ 2 hours (2 - 4 p.m.)
Start & End Point: Public parking lot adjacent to Sun Microsystems campus in Menlo Park, CA

I called around to find out if the large loop trail just northwest of Dumbarton Bridge (Highway 84) that goes out toward Ravenswood point (in SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge area) was open or not. (Adjacent Ravenswood trail and salt pond area just south of the bridge is closed for restoration work until 2011.) Some maps show a large loop trail northwest of the Dumbarton Bridge, and some don't. I made some calls; no one knew.

When I walked out there, I discovered this area is closed from October through January to the public -- open then only to those hunting for waterfowl. So, even though I walked around when it was not hunting season, and the views are nice (you can see the distant skylines of Oakland and San Francisco, Oracle buildings, ships coming into Redwood City, and the Dumbarton bridge), I would not recommend this as a hiking area at this time. Out at the point, I felt like I was the closest to the Bay I'd been so far. Small waves lapped up against broken chunks of concrete, brick and aggregate, and the water smelled more like ocean than baylands.

Wildlife Sightings: 1 grayish grasshopper (?); 1 ground squirrel; 1 flock of 20 birds (American avocets?); 4 sandpipers; 1 dragonfly; and what I'm guessing was about 1/4 mile's worth of tiny ground gnats that hovered a few inches off the ground. I did not see any other humans, until I had to walk back along the short stretch of dirt trail near Bayfront Expressway (back to the public parking lot). Walking close to a busy road (a highway in fact), is another reason why I would not recommend this trail, especially for families.

Willow Rd. to Chilco Rd. along Bayfront - Sept. 10, 2009

Walking distance: ~ 3 miles
Walking time: ~ 55 minutes (11:55 a.m. - 12:50 p.m.)
Start & End point: Parking Lot, adjacent to Sun Microsystems, Menlo Park, CA

This stretch of Bayfront Expressway had less traffic (and litter) compared with the section I walked a few days ago (approach to Dumbarton bridge), making today's walk a bit more peaceful.

Wildlife sightings: 11 ground squirrels; 11 butterflies (9 were cabbage white butterflies); 2 birds (Killdeer); 2 dragonflies; and 1 large spider eating a bug for lunch in its web.

Univ. Ave, Hwy 84, Willow Rd. - Sept. 9, 2009

Walking Distance: ~ 1.5 miles?
Walking Time: 42 minutes (7:08 to 7:50 p.m.)
Start & End: Willow Rd. pkg lot, Menlo Park, CA

I walked down Willow and across the Bayfront Expressway (Highway 84), hiked the trail loop around Sun Microsystems campus, then walked along Bayfront Expressway to the intersection with University Ave. (where I ended yesterday's walk). I then walked back to parking lot on Willow Rd.

The days are definitely growing shorter; it was getting dark by the time I got back to my car.

Wildlife sightings: 1 dragonfly, 1 feral cat, 5 doves.