A San Francisco Bay Trail Adventure
May. 2nd, 2010 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aWell, with gaming canceled this weekend, I was determined to go on a bike adventure ... and even more, a Bay Trail adventure, as I haven't covered any new ground since last summer. I got going a little slow this morning, as I was feeling ill when I woke up, then my dad called when I was finally thinking about going out. But, after an enjoyable talk with him, then a scarfed-down sandwich, I finally got going.
My goal was San Francisco, and I pulled into Embarcadero BART a bit before 1pm. I intended to head south as far as I could, then take BART back.
The first part of the ride took me along the Bay heading to China Basin. It was all city streets, which were very busy because there was a Giant's game, but there was a good bike lane, and the view was very attractive.
I was even more impressed when I got behind the ball park. If I've been there since it's been built, I didn't really pay attention. But you can see right into the park and view the thronging masses of humanity there. You can even see the Jumbotron pretty clearly. There were a number of people out there, picnicking and watching the game, and I totally understood why. What a beautiful, free way to spend a nice Sunday.
A half mile or mile south of China Basin things starting getting more industrial. There were two shoreline parks I stopped by in that area. One was Warm Water Cove Park which was a teeny little park that nonetheless had a nice view. There was also a group of four college-aged kids playing Rumis at the single picnic table (oddly, quite a bit back from the water). A ways past that was Heron's Head Park which was a very attractive peninsula which went maybe a half mile into the bay. I was struck by the lack of wildlife (pretty much anywhere today), but the views were beautiful.
South of the park was the most daunting part of today's ride: Hunters Point, one of the worse neighborhoods of San Francisco. There is no actual trail there, and I'm not sure I'd want to ride it if there were. Instead I took the more inland route suggested on my Bay Trail map, hoping to miss the worst of the areas (and specifically the areas where I know Hunters Points gangs are). Mind you, I couldn't avoid the area entirely, but I was able to skirt through much of it on bigger roads. I gave a sigh of relief, nonetheless, when I saw a roadsign pointing toward the next "real" Bay Trail:
I went by Candlestick Park first. I'm pretty amazed that the niners still play at that sort-of dilapidated stadium in the middle of nowhere. Right across from that was Candlestick Point State Recreation Area. It's a pretty large area of greenery. There were a considerable number of parties going on, mostly birthdays and barbecues. Much of it is attractive, but what I found particularly beautiful was when I rounded a corner and suddenly saw the bay south of Candlestick. The water looked the lightest blue of anywhere I saw today and the winds were just whipping it toward the Bay. It was a beautiful and surprising vista.
(I'd come to appreciate the winds less as the day went on. They really picked up toward San Bruno, and for my last couple of miles I was fighting them and just barely winning.)
Past Candlestick is a couple of miles of no-trail. There are fortunately some quiet roads there, so I wasn't concerned about the trek. I finally came upon the Brisbane Lagoon, a neat-looking inland waterway that looks like it gets tides in from the Bay, and beyond that was the best part of the ride.
From Brisbane to San Bruno is a very attractive shoreline, well-kept and full of great paths. There are no less than three marinas in the area, which speaks to where the money to keep things up comes from.
I often forget how much longer riding takes when you actually going in and out of a coastline. I must have spent at least two times as long riding that section of trail as I did riding the similar as-the-crow-flies distance from Candlestick to Brisbane. This section was also one of the few for the day where I saw many other bike riders (the others were up at Heron's Head Park, in San Francisco proper, then later, on the Centennial Trail).
The north-south trail ended at the north side of SFO. I made one last ride out toward the Bay to see the "SamTrans Peninsula" (like a tootsie-roll pop of public transport, with a trail along the outside and a special treat of bus yards in the middle). Then I fought the wind coming in from the northwest to get out, away from the coast.
I eventually made it past 101 and the Caltrain line into San Bruno proper. From there I headed north, with the idea of getting on BART at the nearby San Bruno stop. However, just when I got there I discovered the Centennial Way Trail, a newish off-road trail that went straight from San Bruno BART to South San Francisco BART.
I cannot resist a new bike trail, so I decided to follow it up. Perhaps I shouldn't, because I was really tired, and the wind just kept blowing against me the whole time. So, I may not have enjoyed the trail as much as I would have otherwise, but at least I did get to see it, and I may not be out there again to do so. It was all nicely off-street and there was even a dog park to gawk at for a bit.
[Edit: Apparently the Centennial Way just went in last May. It's nice to see someone actually doing new bike trail work. It seems to mostly have come to stop across the Bay Area in the last couple of years, since Arnie began cutting projects and stealing money from the cities. Like the Richmond Greenway: that was supposed to be done years ago, and would be a great connection between the Ohlone Greenway and the Bay Trail. And the extension of the Oholone Greenway south, past University. Alas.]
[Edit2: It looks like phase 2 of the Richmond Greenway got built late last year, after 2+ years of stalling! I think that's practically the whole thing as phase 3 I believe is just an overpass on San Pablo (which is important, but not a big obstacle at present). I think my next bike adventure trip is going to be up the Ohlone, over the Richmond (hopefully) and down into the George Miller Jr. Regional Shoreline, which I really found attractive when last I was there.]
Total miles traveled on the peninsula was 30.5. Including trips to and back from BART on my side of the bay, the grand total was about 34. Which more than made up for not going to EndGame yesterday. The one area that really struck me as somewhere I wouldn't mind seeing again was the Brisbane-San-Bruno shoreline, but it's far enough out and far enough from public transit on the north side, that I'll probably just go to closer areas when I have desire to see the bay.
My total Bay Trail coverage is now Golden-Gate-Bridge-to-SFO in the west and Point-Pinole-to-Fremont in the east.
And I think today's ride will cover my urge to explore for a month or two.
Next time I want to go out to the peninsula I should be able to go straight to the end of the BART line, at Millbrae and go south from there, as there is no trail from San Bruno (where I stopped today) to Millbrae. Beyond Millbrae, it looks like there's quite a bit of nice trail. An ideal ride would be from there, to the Dumbarton, then across, but that could be pushing it for a single day, especially given how windy I remember the Dumbarton being.
And tomorrow, I rest. Well, OK, I work, but I don't expect to leave the house. Which suits me just fine, as I want to sit down and get as much code as I can into an ad hoc of High Society for release tomorrow afternoon.
My goal was San Francisco, and I pulled into Embarcadero BART a bit before 1pm. I intended to head south as far as I could, then take BART back.
The first part of the ride took me along the Bay heading to China Basin. It was all city streets, which were very busy because there was a Giant's game, but there was a good bike lane, and the view was very attractive.
I was even more impressed when I got behind the ball park. If I've been there since it's been built, I didn't really pay attention. But you can see right into the park and view the thronging masses of humanity there. You can even see the Jumbotron pretty clearly. There were a number of people out there, picnicking and watching the game, and I totally understood why. What a beautiful, free way to spend a nice Sunday.
A half mile or mile south of China Basin things starting getting more industrial. There were two shoreline parks I stopped by in that area. One was Warm Water Cove Park which was a teeny little park that nonetheless had a nice view. There was also a group of four college-aged kids playing Rumis at the single picnic table (oddly, quite a bit back from the water). A ways past that was Heron's Head Park which was a very attractive peninsula which went maybe a half mile into the bay. I was struck by the lack of wildlife (pretty much anywhere today), but the views were beautiful.
South of the park was the most daunting part of today's ride: Hunters Point, one of the worse neighborhoods of San Francisco. There is no actual trail there, and I'm not sure I'd want to ride it if there were. Instead I took the more inland route suggested on my Bay Trail map, hoping to miss the worst of the areas (and specifically the areas where I know Hunters Points gangs are). Mind you, I couldn't avoid the area entirely, but I was able to skirt through much of it on bigger roads. I gave a sigh of relief, nonetheless, when I saw a roadsign pointing toward the next "real" Bay Trail:
I went by Candlestick Park first. I'm pretty amazed that the niners still play at that sort-of dilapidated stadium in the middle of nowhere. Right across from that was Candlestick Point State Recreation Area. It's a pretty large area of greenery. There were a considerable number of parties going on, mostly birthdays and barbecues. Much of it is attractive, but what I found particularly beautiful was when I rounded a corner and suddenly saw the bay south of Candlestick. The water looked the lightest blue of anywhere I saw today and the winds were just whipping it toward the Bay. It was a beautiful and surprising vista.
(I'd come to appreciate the winds less as the day went on. They really picked up toward San Bruno, and for my last couple of miles I was fighting them and just barely winning.)
Past Candlestick is a couple of miles of no-trail. There are fortunately some quiet roads there, so I wasn't concerned about the trek. I finally came upon the Brisbane Lagoon, a neat-looking inland waterway that looks like it gets tides in from the Bay, and beyond that was the best part of the ride.
From Brisbane to San Bruno is a very attractive shoreline, well-kept and full of great paths. There are no less than three marinas in the area, which speaks to where the money to keep things up comes from.
I often forget how much longer riding takes when you actually going in and out of a coastline. I must have spent at least two times as long riding that section of trail as I did riding the similar as-the-crow-flies distance from Candlestick to Brisbane. This section was also one of the few for the day where I saw many other bike riders (the others were up at Heron's Head Park, in San Francisco proper, then later, on the Centennial Trail).
The north-south trail ended at the north side of SFO. I made one last ride out toward the Bay to see the "SamTrans Peninsula" (like a tootsie-roll pop of public transport, with a trail along the outside and a special treat of bus yards in the middle). Then I fought the wind coming in from the northwest to get out, away from the coast.
I eventually made it past 101 and the Caltrain line into San Bruno proper. From there I headed north, with the idea of getting on BART at the nearby San Bruno stop. However, just when I got there I discovered the Centennial Way Trail, a newish off-road trail that went straight from San Bruno BART to South San Francisco BART.
I cannot resist a new bike trail, so I decided to follow it up. Perhaps I shouldn't, because I was really tired, and the wind just kept blowing against me the whole time. So, I may not have enjoyed the trail as much as I would have otherwise, but at least I did get to see it, and I may not be out there again to do so. It was all nicely off-street and there was even a dog park to gawk at for a bit.
[Edit: Apparently the Centennial Way just went in last May. It's nice to see someone actually doing new bike trail work. It seems to mostly have come to stop across the Bay Area in the last couple of years, since Arnie began cutting projects and stealing money from the cities. Like the Richmond Greenway: that was supposed to be done years ago, and would be a great connection between the Ohlone Greenway and the Bay Trail. And the extension of the Oholone Greenway south, past University. Alas.]
[Edit2: It looks like phase 2 of the Richmond Greenway got built late last year, after 2+ years of stalling! I think that's practically the whole thing as phase 3 I believe is just an overpass on San Pablo (which is important, but not a big obstacle at present). I think my next bike adventure trip is going to be up the Ohlone, over the Richmond (hopefully) and down into the George Miller Jr. Regional Shoreline, which I really found attractive when last I was there.]
Total miles traveled on the peninsula was 30.5. Including trips to and back from BART on my side of the bay, the grand total was about 34. Which more than made up for not going to EndGame yesterday. The one area that really struck me as somewhere I wouldn't mind seeing again was the Brisbane-San-Bruno shoreline, but it's far enough out and far enough from public transit on the north side, that I'll probably just go to closer areas when I have desire to see the bay.
My total Bay Trail coverage is now Golden-Gate-Bridge-to-SFO in the west and Point-Pinole-to-Fremont in the east.
And I think today's ride will cover my urge to explore for a month or two.
Next time I want to go out to the peninsula I should be able to go straight to the end of the BART line, at Millbrae and go south from there, as there is no trail from San Bruno (where I stopped today) to Millbrae. Beyond Millbrae, it looks like there's quite a bit of nice trail. An ideal ride would be from there, to the Dumbarton, then across, but that could be pushing it for a single day, especially given how windy I remember the Dumbarton being.
And tomorrow, I rest. Well, OK, I work, but I don't expect to leave the house. Which suits me just fine, as I want to sit down and get as much code as I can into an ad hoc of High Society for release tomorrow afternoon.