Two routes on the Peninsula offer excellent glimpses of wetland marshes and waterfowl that live around San Francisco Bay (full article in SF Gate)
Tom Stienstra
The Bay Trail, the route that proposes to ring the shore of San Francisco Bay, is a remote fantasy in some areas. But two stellar sections along the Peninsula provide a glimpse of what is possible. What you get here are easy routes for biking, jogging and walks, with great views and bird- watching. One section links Hotel Row in Burlingame south to Coyote Point in San Mateo. Another, in the Palo Alto Baylands, provides interior access to a wetlands marsh and the best bird-watching in the region.
Hotel Row to Coyote Point:
Synopsis: This is a 5-mile paved route (10-mile round-trip) along the shore near San Francisco International Airport. It features great views and a payoff destination. Access is easy off Highway 101, parking is ample and thousands buzz by on the nearby freeway without a clue it exists.
The trip: While the trip makes for a great jog or stroll, it works best as a bike ride. The trail is smooth, flat and fast. On the stellar clear days between storms of late winter and early spring, the views are spectacular across the expanse of the South Bay to the East Bay hills and beyond to Mount Diablo, Mission Peak and Mount Hamilton.
What you'll notice right off is that the area, up close and personal, is huge -- far bigger than even longtime residents may imagine it. The next thing you'll notice is that you will be accompanied by a procession of jets making their descents (when the wind is blowing out of the north) into the airport. At low tide, the bay rolls back here and unveils miles of mudflats. Egrets, sandpipers and other waterfowl, depending on the season and migrations, can be spotted hopping, poking and feeding. At high tide, the water rises adjacent to the trail, and on windless clear dawns, the blinking approach lights over the water project a surreal radiance that most people have never seen. It's an easy ride south to Coyote Point. Once you arrive, you can cruise around the marina or boat ramp or head out a short distance along the spit that extends to the marina's jaws to open water. Note that if you start at Coyote Point, a $5 access and parking fee is charged.
Tom Stienstra
The Bay Trail, the route that proposes to ring the shore of San Francisco Bay, is a remote fantasy in some areas. But two stellar sections along the Peninsula provide a glimpse of what is possible. What you get here are easy routes for biking, jogging and walks, with great views and bird- watching. One section links Hotel Row in Burlingame south to Coyote Point in San Mateo. Another, in the Palo Alto Baylands, provides interior access to a wetlands marsh and the best bird-watching in the region.
Hotel Row to Coyote Point:
Synopsis: This is a 5-mile paved route (10-mile round-trip) along the shore near San Francisco International Airport. It features great views and a payoff destination. Access is easy off Highway 101, parking is ample and thousands buzz by on the nearby freeway without a clue it exists.
The trip: While the trip makes for a great jog or stroll, it works best as a bike ride. The trail is smooth, flat and fast. On the stellar clear days between storms of late winter and early spring, the views are spectacular across the expanse of the South Bay to the East Bay hills and beyond to Mount Diablo, Mission Peak and Mount Hamilton.
What you'll notice right off is that the area, up close and personal, is huge -- far bigger than even longtime residents may imagine it. The next thing you'll notice is that you will be accompanied by a procession of jets making their descents (when the wind is blowing out of the north) into the airport. At low tide, the bay rolls back here and unveils miles of mudflats. Egrets, sandpipers and other waterfowl, depending on the season and migrations, can be spotted hopping, poking and feeding. At high tide, the water rises adjacent to the trail, and on windless clear dawns, the blinking approach lights over the water project a surreal radiance that most people have never seen. It's an easy ride south to Coyote Point. Once you arrive, you can cruise around the marina or boat ramp or head out a short distance along the spit that extends to the marina's jaws to open water. Note that if you start at Coyote Point, a $5 access and parking fee is charged.
- Written by Fiona
Too bad that it is such a pain to get there on a bike or on foot. I hope the meeting at (Rec. Center) this Saturday, March 10, at 10am provides some illumination on what that overpass will look like. After months of inquiry, nobody has any answers. Maybe there will be a real opportunity for discussion on this with the appropriate SM rep. It is in all of our interest, to make sure that this huge, enormously expensive overpass, which will be here for many many decades, is designed to offer maximum benefit to residents of San Mateo, Burlingame and Hillsborough. It is high time we had safe and easy access to our Bay.
Posted by: | March 08, 2007 at 08:04 PM