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Ride the Strait
Apr. 7th, 2014 10:26 pmI've been wanting to do a long, new bike ride for weeks, but have been constantly thwarted. I finally got my opportunity yesterday.
I hopped on BART up to El Cerrito North (basically, as far north as I could go, which isn't very) and from there rode through El Cerrito, San Pablo, Pinole, Hercules, Rodeo, Tormey, Selby, and Crockett. I then went across the Carquinez Bridge into Vallejo. At that point, I noted that I'd ridden 20 miles and was now a long way from home, so I should start finding my way back to a BART station. I biked through Crockett Hills Regional Park up to the Cummings Skyway and from there biked down, down, down until I got to Pleasant Hill BART. And I went home. Very tired. Total ride was about 38 miles. I was out from about noon to 6pm.
This was of course in service to my continued attempt to ride the whole Bay Trail. Unfortunately, it's gotten a lot harder the further I've gotten from home. With this stretch I've now covered the East Bay from Fremont to Crockett. Mind you, there really wasn't any Bay Trail along my new stretch (from Hercules to Crockett), just highways marked as Bay Trail. But there was occasional nice view of the Bay (well, of San Pablo Bay and the Carquinez Strait). I even stopped at two scenic lookouts, one above Crockett and one across the Bridge in Vallejo. There was actually one little park along the way in Selby that was "real" Bay Trail but it had a narrow little entrance that you couldn't get a bike through and the "path" was a heavily rutted dirt path that seemed to go straight down. I opted out.
In general, I was surprised to find the East Bay Regional Parks along that coast to be in horrible condition. That Bay Trail park in Selby and Lone Tree Point in Rodeo were both badly upkept. I stopped at the latter for a snack and rest and it was accessible by a heavily rutted (actual) road; instead the park, there were barely visible trails leading out to some grafittied tables. The Crockett Hills park was a bit better, but the further you got up the path, the worse it got. I suspect in all three cases the parks might have been nice once, but have fallen into disrepair, which is a pity. Oh, the best part of Crockett Hills Park was when I got to the end of the ~2.5 mile trail that I'd been (painfully) climbing through the Park. I then discovered that the exit, out onto the actual road (which Google Maps had led me to), was a gate that was chained shut. Fortunately this fence was just 3 or 4 feet tall. I lifted my bike over, lifted my bags over, then with some trepidation hefted myself over. I apparently still heft better than I'd feared I might.
I was also struck by the varying conditions of the towns in that area. Pinole is just beautiful. I love its creekside trail and I love the Historic Downtown. But then you hit Rodeo and it's clearly much lower income and at points was sketchy enough that I worried for my safety. Then, there's almost nothing until you hit Crockett. Tormey is all refineries on the main road, and if there's any Selby left, I blinked and missed it. Then once you get to Crockett it looks like a bug tourist destination and there are nice looking houses on the hills all around.
Overall, a nice but exhausting ride, and pretty near my limit for going in that direction. I've decided that if I want to add on the areas around Vallejo, I probably need to take the ferry there.
I hopped on BART up to El Cerrito North (basically, as far north as I could go, which isn't very) and from there rode through El Cerrito, San Pablo, Pinole, Hercules, Rodeo, Tormey, Selby, and Crockett. I then went across the Carquinez Bridge into Vallejo. At that point, I noted that I'd ridden 20 miles and was now a long way from home, so I should start finding my way back to a BART station. I biked through Crockett Hills Regional Park up to the Cummings Skyway and from there biked down, down, down until I got to Pleasant Hill BART. And I went home. Very tired. Total ride was about 38 miles. I was out from about noon to 6pm.
This was of course in service to my continued attempt to ride the whole Bay Trail. Unfortunately, it's gotten a lot harder the further I've gotten from home. With this stretch I've now covered the East Bay from Fremont to Crockett. Mind you, there really wasn't any Bay Trail along my new stretch (from Hercules to Crockett), just highways marked as Bay Trail. But there was occasional nice view of the Bay (well, of San Pablo Bay and the Carquinez Strait). I even stopped at two scenic lookouts, one above Crockett and one across the Bridge in Vallejo. There was actually one little park along the way in Selby that was "real" Bay Trail but it had a narrow little entrance that you couldn't get a bike through and the "path" was a heavily rutted dirt path that seemed to go straight down. I opted out.
In general, I was surprised to find the East Bay Regional Parks along that coast to be in horrible condition. That Bay Trail park in Selby and Lone Tree Point in Rodeo were both badly upkept. I stopped at the latter for a snack and rest and it was accessible by a heavily rutted (actual) road; instead the park, there were barely visible trails leading out to some grafittied tables. The Crockett Hills park was a bit better, but the further you got up the path, the worse it got. I suspect in all three cases the parks might have been nice once, but have fallen into disrepair, which is a pity. Oh, the best part of Crockett Hills Park was when I got to the end of the ~2.5 mile trail that I'd been (painfully) climbing through the Park. I then discovered that the exit, out onto the actual road (which Google Maps had led me to), was a gate that was chained shut. Fortunately this fence was just 3 or 4 feet tall. I lifted my bike over, lifted my bags over, then with some trepidation hefted myself over. I apparently still heft better than I'd feared I might.
I was also struck by the varying conditions of the towns in that area. Pinole is just beautiful. I love its creekside trail and I love the Historic Downtown. But then you hit Rodeo and it's clearly much lower income and at points was sketchy enough that I worried for my safety. Then, there's almost nothing until you hit Crockett. Tormey is all refineries on the main road, and if there's any Selby left, I blinked and missed it. Then once you get to Crockett it looks like a bug tourist destination and there are nice looking houses on the hills all around.
Overall, a nice but exhausting ride, and pretty near my limit for going in that direction. I've decided that if I want to add on the areas around Vallejo, I probably need to take the ferry there.