Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge
The 1.6-mile Tidelands Loop at the Don Edwards wildlife refuge, south of the Dumbarton Bridge, offers plenty of scenic bang for your buck, with pedestrian bridges arching over mirrorlike Newark Slough, hilltop vistas and picnic tables with views of egrets, ducks, grebes and shorebirds.
From the main parking lot, follow signs for the Tidelands Trail on a descending gravel slope. As you journey across the wooden boardwalk toward a red picnic shelter, you’ll see patient egrets and herons hunting in the slough. Crossing a pedestrian bridge, you’re transported to a lakelike salt pond, where wintertime flocks of northern shovelers swim and chattering, skittering shorebirds, like the teeny least sandpiper, probe its edges.
At the 0.75-mile mark, take a second pedestrian bridge back over Newark Slough, climbing 150 feet to a hilltop vista overlooking the salt ponds and Coyote Hills Regional Park. Descend toward the parking lot to close your loop.
TRAIL MAP >> tinyurl.com/tidelandsloop
REFUGE DETAILS >> The main parking lot (free) is just across from the Refuge Visitor Center at 1 Marshlands Road in Fremont. The Marshlands Road gate is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Trails near the visitor center are open from sunrise to sunset daily, but closed on Thanksgiving Day, Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. Find more details at fws.gov.
GRAB A BITE >> Pick up a croissant breakfast sandwich ($8) at Fresh Donuts & Bagels to enjoy at one of those picnic tables. The cash-only shop is open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily at 34113 Fremont Blvd. in Fremont. To reach the shop, call 510-793-4999.*