Alameda - June 13, '11

Walking Distance: 3.0 miles (1.4 miles x 2 + .2 mile)
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 6 min. (4:08 - 6:14 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Parking lot (between Starbucks and Walgreens) on Atlantic Ave. (from Main to Triumph), Alameda, CA

The walk along Atlantic Avenue (from Main to Triumph) in Alameda, encompasses traces of the old Naval Air Base, and also some of the newer growth that has come after this era.

Wildlife:
7 ground squirrels; 9 crows; 5 little brown jobs (LBJs); 3 sea gulls; 6 pigeons

Oakland - Embarcadero Cove - June 12, '11

Walking Distance: 6.0 miles
Walking Time: 3 hrs., 43 min. (3:42 - 7:25 p.m.)
Start and End Point: street parking, diagonal space, on Embarcadero, near Embarcadero Cove, Oakland, CA

Today's second walk (part two of a two-part walk) in Oakland included a slight detour over the bridge into Alameda (to take a coffee shop break), and a stop into another artist's open studio in the Jingletown area of Oakland (near the Oakland Estuary). It was fun and interesting to see the mosaics in this area of town (just a few blocks off the Bay Trail), and to hear about the resurrection of the term Jingletown (a term coined several decades ago).

Wildlife Sightings:
17 sea gulls; 35 little brown jobs (LBJs); 3 pigeons; 1 chair; 2 crows; 2 hubcaps; 3 snowy egrets; 2 white butterflies/moths; 2 ducks; 1 tern; 1 old basketball; 2 mockingbirds; 1 black cat (wild) + 1 domestic cat (very nice, tame) one driveway over from Quinn's restaurant; 1 rusty screw

Mandela Pkwy - June 12, 2011

Walking Distance: 4.1 miles
Walking Time: 4 hrs., 5 min. (11:15 - 3:20 p.m.) includes 2 long stops
Start and End Point: Best Buy parking lot; East Baybridge Shopping Center; near north end of Mandela Parkway, Oakland, CA

Today's walk was along Mandela Parkway in Oakland (shown as double red lines on Bay Trail Map).

After stopping to look for a camera-related item at Best Buy, I walked north toward Emeryville, to the Rug Depot Outlet on Hubbard St. (previous stopping point in the area), then south on Mandela Parkway in Oakland.

This mixed industrial and residential area had some interesting examples of graffiti and street art, and along much of parkway was a median park strip with grass and flowers in the middle, making for a pleasant walk.

What should have been a 2-hour walk down Mandela Parkway to the West Oakland BART station on 7th and back, stretched into a 4-hour walk, because I stopped to see some artists' works (part of Open Studios weekend) at Peralta Studios; and I also stopped to eat a late lunch at the Brown Sugar Kitchen.

Wildlife Sightings:
3 butterflies/moths (1 white, 1 black and yellow, 1 skipper); 2 doves; 11 pigeons; 12 sea gulls; 1 robin; 1 blur in the bushes (lizard?); 2 crows; 1 blue tennis ball; 1 stool, 1 chair, 1 couch

Alameda, Buena Vista #2 - June 11, '11

Walking Distance: 4.3 miles
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 25 min. (5:30 - 7:55 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Buena Vista Ave., near intersection with Versailles, Alameda, CA

This evening I walked the remainder of Buena Vista Avenue in Alameda, from Grand Street to Versailles (near where I'd parked), and the rest of Fernside Blvd. (from Tilden Way to High Street).

I also had the opportunity to walk a small loop which involved crossing two bridges -- the High Street bridge from Alameda to Oakland, and the Fruitvale/Pearl Street Bridge from Oakland back to Alameda (both shown as short, solid red lines on the Bay Trail map).

Both these bridges were fun, short ones, and I find crossing bridges inherently interesting.  There was a partial waterside trail on the Oakland side of the bridge that I followed before it ended in a fenced area. I then made my way to Alameda Ave. to walk up to the Fruitvale Ave./Pearl Street bridge, past the Fruitvale Bridge Park. (Note: The fishing pier area (black fish) on the Bay Trail map looked like it was closed, and/or in need of repair.)

After crossing back into Alameda, I made the hike, northwest up Buena Vista Ave. (double yellow lines on Bay Trail map) to Grand Street and back to the car, passing the Marketplace on the corner of Park and Buena Vista. The Marketplace contained several small restaurants and shops (Sushi King, East End Pizza, Ching Hua Chinese Cuisine, and Culina), and included Alameda Natural Grocery Store, the Beanery Coffee Company, and Farmstead Cheese and Wine. The remainder of Buena Vista was through residential neighborhoods. I enjoyed passing by the many older, wood Victorian style houses this evening.

Wildlife Sightings:
35 sea gulls; 38 little brown jobs (LBJs); 2 cormorants; 7 crows; 1 brown snail on sidewalk; 3 starlings; 3 doves; 8 balls (3 old basketballs + 5 baseballs/softballs); 2 domestic cats on sidewalk.

Alameda - Shoreline Park, Posey Tube - June 9, '11

Walking Distance: 3.7 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 48 min. (7:10 - 8:58 p.m. - doesn't include dinner)
Start and End Point: Mariner Square, Pelican Pasta restaurant, Alameda, CA

I don't always eat before walking, but when I parked in front of Pasta Pelican, I felt tempted to have a light dinner; and I thought there might be some good views of Oakland, across the water, from a table by the window.

The views were nice. After dinner, I walked north a short distance, until I reached the blank (no trail) area on the Bay Trail map. I then walked south along the water, headed toward Shoreline Park.

The Shoreline Park area of trail (solid red wavy line on Bay Trail map), off Marina Village Parkway, was beautiful; and dozens of Canada geese, a few black-crowned night herons, and a smattering of ducks, sea gulls and crows apparently thought so too.

A marina area, with boats in the water, offered views of Oakland beyond appeared on the northeast side of the paved (asphalt) walkway, and a grassy, park area, with water features and trees, was on the southwest side of the trail. Thank you to Martha, another walker I chatted with while on the move, who lived in the area; it was fun to find out a bit more about the harbor/marina/yacht club area(s).

Just a short distance further northwest giant cargo ships lumbered through the Inner Harbor, but all was tranquil and calm here.

I turned around when I reached Triumph Drive, near Point Marina Vista and Oakland Yacht Club, where I'd left off on a previous walk. And, even though the sun was setting, I decided I had time to walk the Posey Tube -- (shown as a yellow-gold colored solid line on the Bay Trail map) connecting Alameda with Oakland.

To find the entrance to the Posey Tube, the second oldest underwater tube of its kind, look for a neutral-colored building or structure (see picture at right) that looked like it could have been influenced by both Art Deco and Modernist architectural styles of the 1920s. On the Alameda side, you'll need to cross a road (roughly indicated by two parallel yellow-gold colored lines on the map) and approach it from the southish side -- as, at least when I walked there, only one side of the tube is open to walkers.

A note of caution about walking the Posey Tube: the narrow sidewalk you'll be walking on is barely wide enough for two people to pass each other.

A bicyclist I met, on the way back to Alameda, kindly upended his bike to let me squeeze by him. So, if you bicycle through the tube and meet another bicyclist going the opposite way, I'm not sure how this would be handled.

It's also very loud in the tube. The acoustics are such that sound seems to bounce off the tile walls and be magnified and jumbled around.

However, it was a fun experience to walk through here. This may not be everyone's idea of fun; but I liked the adventure of walking under the water, and popping out near 4th Street and Harrison in Oakland on the other side, and thinking this must have been a relatively novel engineering feat almost 100 years ago.

Wildlife Sightings: 

4 pigeons; 28 sea gulls; 7 crows; 15 swallows; 5 little brown jobs (LBJs); 70 Canada geese; 9 ducks; 3 black-crowned night herons; 1 robin; 1cormorant; 2 domestic cats + 1 feral cat hunting in dry grass