Wonderland FOR wanderers
Link by link, the stunning San Francisco Bay Trail surrounds us
Ten years ago, Kurt Schwabe was walking his dog in Marin, when he came across a sign for the San Francisco Bay Trail. So he went home and Googled it.
“I wanted a project, one that would mean something,” says Schwabe, a marketing manager in San Francisco, who was unemployed at the time. “I had just finished reading Cheryl Strayed’s book ‘Wild,’ where she (wrote about doing) the whole Pacific Crest Trail. This seemed like something that was more manageable.”
Schwabe decided he would hike the Bay Trail. And he did — over the course of 30 consecutive days. He headed out early each morning to walk the shorelines of the San Francisco and San Pablo bays and returned home at night on public transportation to reduce his carbon footprint.
“I was always totally in the moment, not thinking about yesterday or tomorrow or even five minutes ahead,” he recalls. “I ended up noticing things I otherwise would have missed, like an owl and her owlet in a tree in Coyote Hills or a deer several yards down a steep, tree-studded hillside nestled in a thicket with her fawn. When I finished the trek, I was in a great space mentally.”
Schwabe is one of the rare few who can claim to have explored the near-entirety of the Bay Trail, which measures more than 350 miles from San Jose up to Marin and Napa down to the East Bay. Along the way, it skirts the waterline from Crockett and Rodeo to Emeryville, Fremont, Mountain View and more. Future adventurers will have a bit farther to explore. When it’s eventually completed, the trail will mirror the Proclaimers song and allow people to walk (or bike) 500 miles through nine counties, 47 cities, more than 130 parks and seven toll bridges.
The trail beckons you to places you might never otherwise experience. There are moody wetlands bristling with pickleweed, rocky cliffs cloaked in updrafts of iridescent sea spray, habitats for Pacific harbor seals and elusive, gem-colored garter snakes. History lovers can appreciate its grand World War II battleships and Chinese fishing settlements, while urban nerds might monitor operations at major airports and shipping yards and stand atop the Golden Gate Bridge itself.
All together, the trail’s an impressive human
achievement — though early on, the idea may have seemed insane.
“When Western settlers came in during the Gold Rush and afterward, they primarily saw the Bay as this bug-infested swampland they wanted to stay away from. It’s where they established industry and was essentially a trash dump to move not-so-nice activities away from where cities were being built,” says Lee Huo, a senior planner at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which coordinates the development of the trail.
This ideology began to change in the 1960s. “A bunch of activists in Berkeley who helped create Save the Bay — which still exists as a nonprofit — essentially said, ‘Wait a second. The Bay is this resource, this jewel we all live around. It’s why we came here in the first place, and we shouldn’t be looking at it as a place to build on.’”
They pressured state legislators to create the 1965 McAteer-Petris Act, which essentially dictated that the shoreline belongs to everybody and shouldn’t be filled unless necessary. That was followed in the 1980s by Senate Bill 100, calling for a bicycling-and-hiking path circling the perimeter of the bays, meant for public recreation and for linking communities together.
From there came the 1989 plan for the Bay Trail, which at that point, measured about 120 miles. Its significant growth over the past three decades has come in two primary ways: when public agencies take the initiative to install new stretches or when developers are obliged to build sections in order to get permits.
There’s always work being done on the trail’s spine. But there are also smaller connections growing through new communities, making the whole thing more rich and comprehensive. The slow and piecemeal linkage is traced out in a massive, cross-governmental spreadsheet with entries like, “Burlingame — Slough crossing near gas station,” “Tiburon — access to Blackie’s Pasture,” “Mountain View — Stevens Creek Trail” and “Proposed — Bay Bridge West Span.”
So what’s the best way to experience this ever-evolving wonder?
“Here’s what I would do,” says Schwabe. “I would look at a map of the Bay Area and find an area you’re totally unfamiliar with, maybe Pinole or Alviso or even West Oakland, and I would go there. I would walk around and learn something new about the cultures and what we have to offer out there.”
Carry plenty of water and snacks and perhaps an official set of Bay Trail map cards sold by retailers such as San Francisco’s Museum of Craft and Design as well as the mtc.ca.gov site (just search “map cards”). And if you plan to go hardcore like Schwabe did, consider your choice of footwear wisely.
“I started out with my running shoes and then about halfway through, my arches were ready to collapse,” he says. “I thought, ‘My god, I’m severely injured!’ and realized I’d been walking 150 miles with no support. So I switched to North Face hiking boots and, with no injury, was able to finish it off.”
Here are 10 of our favorite stretches along the Bay Trail, plus tips on where to grab a bite afterward.
The marshlands of Coyote Hills FREMONT
It’s easy to momentarily lose your sense of time or even place on the Bay View Trail in Fremont’s Coyote Hills Regional Park. After January’s winter storms, the hills on one side of the trail are blanketed with emerald-green grasses, punctuated by craggy red rocks. On the other side, surprisingly clear, blue-green water ripples in a former salt pond stretching far out into the Bay. It’s a world away from the office parks, strip malls and subdivisions of Fremont and Newark.
The 1,266-acre park, dedicated in 1967, is notable for its mostly treeless hills — part of an ancient range — that suddenly rise up amid the flat expanse of wetlands and the Bay. The park draws hikers, joggers, bikers and birdwatchers to its network of well-marked trails, including the Bay View, Alameda Creek and Apay, which are part of the Bay Trail. Explore
meadows and marshlands, climb to the top of Red Hill and venture out onto levees built around the evaporation ponds once used to mine salt from the Bay. Visitors can also view sites once used by the Tuibun, a Chochenyo Ohlone-speaking tribe, who thrived here for 2,000 years before the arrival of Spanish missionaries.
The 19th-century waterfront
This fascinating walk is like taking a distilled shot of Bay history — straight, no chaser. Begin just outside the sea lion-crowded waters of Hyde Street Pier at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Here you might think you tripped into a wormhole to the 1800s, with the square-rigger Balclutha and other historic ships lined up for public touring. A visitors center holds a pirate’s bounty of artifacts, from remnants of local wrecks and a lighthouse Fresnel lens to pictorials showing how sailors slept underneath wood-plank sidewalks (the housing market was tough even back then).
Across the street, you might spot a drenched-looking individual exiting the South End Rowing Club, which has popularized recreation in these frigid waters since 1873. Pay a small day-use fee, and you can step inside the hallowed club to ogle its boats, enjoy the sauna and listen to athletes tell of swimming to Alcatraz Island. Terry Hunt has made that journey 21 times. “That’s nothing,” she noted on a recent afternoon. “There are four or five people who’ve done it over a thousand times. Twenty-one is chump change.” (Now’s a good time to mention the club’s motto: “No sniveling.”)
Alcatraz is front-and-center in the crescent-shaped scope of Aquatic Park. Look down at low tide for a weirder view: Some of the seaweed-carpeted “rocks” on the waterfront are actually grave markers. San Francisco’s expansion required a lot of fill material, and tombstones from the Gold Rush occasionally fit the bill. A narrow staircase just west leads to a secret-feeling cliff walk by Fort Mason, where ships once mustered for America’s colonial pursuits. The old Black Point artillery fortification with its massive cannon is pointed out to sea, still waiting to rain hell on the British and Confederates.
From here, it’s a two-mile walk to Crissy Field with its famous
Bay views. But an equally impressive experience can be found at Marina Green, where lush grass unrolls like a landing strip pointed at the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a fine place to take a breather, enjoy a snack and think random
SAN FRANCISCO
things, like, “I can’t believe the U.S. Navy wanted to paint the bridge black with yellow stripes.”
A Pacific harbor seal homage
SAN MATEO
Be patient. Seal Point Park may not be much to look at from the parking lot; you’re greeted by towering power lines and ongoing construction at the adjacent San Mateo Wastewater Treatment
Plant. But once you get into the park — especially on the Bay side — all that fades away, as you’re soon immersed in a lunch-hour getaway or little weekend escapade. Bring a picnic, bring Fido and bring a sense of adventure.
The park, which takes its name from the Pacific harbor seal, is popular with cyclists as well as windsurfers and kayakers — and it boasts an enormous dog park, too. Bird lovers should keep an eye out for Western sandpipers, willets and other shorebirds working the mudflats. And lovers of art, sculpture and whimsy should definitely venture a few steps off the Bay Trail: You’ll find a cool echo chamber at the top of the park and a Wind Walk that takes you past sculptures and art installations that interact with the breeze.
Seal Point, which is bordered by the smaller Ryder Park to the north and Seal Slough to the south, offers a variety of terrain — hill trails, steep steps and flat paths — and plenty of benches from which to enjoy a lunch-hour picnic as you take in the gorgeous Bay views, complete with the
San Mateo-Hayward Bridge and planes soaring to and from San Francisco Airport.
The trail: Wondering about the creatures who live here? This stretch of the Bay Trail, a mostly flat path right along the water, is dotted with informational signs about local wildlife, including Pacific harbor seals, the only marine mammal that resides in the Bay year round.
Load up on apple fritters, French crullers and other doughy treats — and coffee, of course — at Golden Bell Donuts, which opens at 4:30 a.m. daily at 1500 E. Third Ave. in San Mateo.
The Bay Area’s Côte d’Azur
As you stroll the Bay Trail from Tiburon through Belvedere, Mill Valley and Sausalito, the world-class views don’t just boast spectacular natural beauty. They exude glamor — not unlike another famous shoreline in another part of the globe.
San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate, Alcatraz, Angel Island and Mount Tamalpais all offer backdrops to hills stacked with beautiful homes, private yachts and chic downtowns. Admiring the stunning real estate while you walk, run or cycle is part of the fun, even if you’re not an Architectural Digest devotee. There are Mediterranean villas, French chateaus, Victorian painted ladies, elaborate modernist structures and once-simple Craftsman bungalows updated into multi
TIBURON TO SAUSALITO
million-dollar showplaces. If you pick up the trail along Sausalito’s Bridgeway, just north of the historic downtown, you’ll also pass by the town’s famous floating homes.
It’s easy to pick up the trail at different spots around Richardson Bay — in or near main business districts, or in parks and neighborhoods. Street and lot parking is widely available, though it’s at a premium in downtown Sausalito.
The trail: Start at the Tiburon Peninsula Historical Trail at Shoreline Park near the city’s tiny waterfront downtown, then head northwest along Tiburon Boulevard until you reach Mar West Street near Tiburon’s Town Hall. Here a 3-mile, multi-use trail follows an old railroad alignment, offering views of Mount Tamalpais and Sausalito and ending at Blackie’s Pasture.
In Mill Valley, access to the Mill ValleySausalito Path can start at Bayfront
Park. For just over a mile, the trail passes through Bothin Marsh’s prime birdwatching territory, crosses Coyote Creek and passes under Highway 101.
As you enter Sausalito, the trail merges into Bridgeway’s bike lanes and sidewalks for another 3 miles. Just past tiny Vina del
Mar Park, the Bridgeway Promenade opens up to one of the trail’s most spectacular vistas — an expanse of San Francisco Bay that takes in the East Bay hills, the Bay Bridge, San Francisco’s skyline and the Golden Gate.
Extras: Near Coyote Creek, the trail intersects with the Tennessee Valley Path, which leads west to the Pacific Ocean and connects to trails in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Or you can head for the northern base of the Golden Gate Bridge by continuing south of Sausalito along East Road toward historic Fort Baker, the former military base now home to the Bay Area Discovery Museum and Cavallo
Point Lodge.
Nearby bites: Enjoy oysters, lobster rolls or a Sam’s Louie salad at Tiburon’s century-old Sam’s Anchor Cafe, where the waterfront deck offers views of Angel Island and San Francisco. Open daily for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch at 27 Main St.; https://samscafe.com. In Sausalito, the Baja-inspired Salsalito Taco shop serves seafood tacos, black bean and corn enchiladas and chilaquiles for lunch Thursday-Sunday and dinner Friday-Saturday at 1115 Bridgeway; www. salsalitotacoshop.com.
The maritime district RICHMOND
Ever take a hike that included features such as an engine room, a 3-inch/50-caliber gun and “shaft alley”? You can, if you venture down the Bay Trail in Richmond’s historic shipyard district, which terminates at a special and eminently explorable ship called the SS Red Oak Victory.
The Red Oak is the last surviving “Victory Ship” of the 747 constructed here during World War II. Built in an incredible 87 days, it carried ammunition to help in the invasion of Okinawa. Volunteers have been working for decades to get it operational again — not for aggression (you’re safe for now, Canada), but to take visitors through the Golden Gate or up to Sacramento.
“We were able to light off the boilers in 2018, and then run the generators and operate under the ship’s power,” says Alan Burns, a lead docent and purser.
Climb aboard and you can see the bridge, galley, stacked bunks,
some “not bad” bathrooms and a 1940s radio room that transmits in Morse code. There’s also a 175-foot-long propeller shaft and that 50-cal. deck gun.
“We’ve actually fired it,” says Burns. “We just put in some powder — there was no shell involved.”
Torpedos away VALLEJO
Vallejo — and its stretch of the Bay Trail — are graced with a particularly scenic waterfront dotted with marinas and classic dockside eateries. And its distinctive Waterfront Park Trail, which runs alongside the Napa River, offers views of the gantry cranes, dry docks and other industrial colossi at the heart of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, one of the most significant places in local and American military history.
Mare Island actually is a peninsula, poised where the Napa River flows into the Carquinez Strait and San Pablo Bay. Legend has it that the peninsula’s name comes from General Mariano Vallejo, whose prize mare swam to safety after an 1830s shipwreck in the Bay. The shipyard’s operations predate the Civil War by nearly a decade, and its first commander, Commodore David Farrugut, was the Union hero whose most famous line — “Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.” — lives on today.
Until the shipyard closed in 1996, the changing nature of war
fare and America’s place in the world was reflected by the ships launched here — from steam-powered gunboats to destroyers, battleships, aircraft carriers and nuclear-powered submarines used in both world wars, the Cold War and beyond.
From Vallejo’s portion of the Bay Trail, you can still see where those ships were launched. The massive former machine shops and brick-sided coal sheds have since been transformed into chic, warehouse-style spaces for startups, artists studios and a local brewery.
The trail: The level, paved, mile-long multiuse trail starts at the Vallejo Boat Launch, near a municipal parking lot, continues north through Independence Park, passing the Vallejo Ferry Terminal, a waterfront green and the Vallejo Yacht Harbor and Municipal Marina before ending at the Mare Island Causeway.
Explore more: Use the pedestrian path on the causeway to reach Mare Island, where the Mare Island Historic Park Foundation offers docent-led tours; https://www.mihpf. org. A crossing under the causeway leads to River Park, where a dirt trail offers views of marshlands and Wine Country mountains. Or you can head several blocks east on Georgia Street and wander around Vallejo’s small historic downtown, which includes the historic 1911 Empress Theatre and the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.
Nearby bites: The Sardine Can’s Marina Salad with tuna, bacon bits, chopped egg and red potatoes, has long been the go-to meal for Dennis Kelly, the vice president of the Mare Island Historic Park Foundation. The seafood eatery, a local favorite for decades, is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner at “0” Harbor Way in Vallejo; https://vallejosardinecan.com. Or head for the Mare Island Brewing Company’s taproom to sample Coal Shed Stout or Farrugut’s Farmhouse barrel-aged saison. The tap room is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at the Ferry Terminal, 289 Mare Island Way; www. mareislandbrewingco.com.