In Which I Return to Point Pinole
Apr. 29th, 2017 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aSome years ago, I biked up to Point Pinole for the first time. Following my Bay Trail maps, I biked down Atlas Road and hit a dead-end. My map clearly showed a bike bridge over the railroad tracks at the end of road, but it was nowhere to be found. I walked up and down along the tracks, sure it must just be non-obvious, but there was nothing. A bit of online research indicated it was supposed to have been constructed two or three years earlier.
But it was not to be found.
I ended up riding down Giant Road to find the main entrance. It was always the least pleasant part of visiting Point Pinole because it's a narrow two-lane road without good protection for bikes that goes right by the local jail on the north and is ugly and surrounded by gravel and roads to the south.
In any case, that experience was my first indication that (1) bicycling and pedestrian projects in the Bay Area are delayed for years and years; and (2) the governmental organizations don't bother updating their web pages for us plebeians.
The Atlas Bridge finally went in last week, somewhere around a decade after it was supposed to open, so this week I went to explore it.
I was very amused when I got down to the end of Atlas Road and saw the bridge, because it's a huge concrete monstrosity: two lanes for vehicle traffic, plus a wide protected pedestrian and bicycle lane set off to the side, plus two different massive cement ramps to get up to the walkway: one for bikes and one for wheel chairs.
I contrasted that to my search for a tiny little wooden bridge some years ago. It's funny when our preconceptions of reality are proven wrong.
The joy of the bridge is that (1) it provides easy access from the east, which means easy access from Hilltop Mall; and (2) it opens about halfway into the park. Before, the only access was from the south side, and Point Pinole is quite a large park.
I spent a few hours out at Point Pinole, writing in my "outdoor office". I'd forgotten how beautiful that park is. And I got a nice bit of writing and reading done. It was really a great day.
But wait, that's not all. Last week also saw the opening of yet another way into Point Pinole, a 1.7 mile path that leads south through the Dotson Family Marsh. And that was how I exited the park after my afternoon of reading and writing.
I can't say I found the muddy marsh very attractive, but you do get the Bay off to the side. Oh, and you get to exit via an attractive rifle range, to the constant drumbeat of gunfire. Still, a wonderful alternative to Giant Road.
And once you're off of rifle road, you're on the Richmond Parkway, or more precisely the part of Richmond Parkway that has a protected bike and pedestrian path off to the side. Which means there's now protected Bay Trail all the from Atlas Road down to the Richmond Greenway. Even more impressively, you can now ride from north Berkeley to Point Pinole and hardly ever touch the street. (There's one nasty discontinuity in the middle of the Richmond Greenway, and a minor but annoying discontinuity in the Ohlone-Richmond Greenway connection, but other than that and a couple of blocks here and there of riding on quiet streets, it's a wonderful biking journey.)
There's also plans to run trail past the Atlas Bridge, along the rail line there. In fact, they've got the first 100 feet or so of it done, for what that's worth. That will provide continued Bay Trail access along San Pablo Bay, though they've got a long way to go there. I've ridden up there through Pinole, Hercules, Rodeo, and into Vallejo, and the Bay Trail is very disconnected.
South of Point Pinole, the next two big (but comparatively minor) Bay Trail parks are at the West Contra Costa County Landfill and the Wildcat Marsh. They're just west of Richmond Parkway, and there's long been a plan to use Bay Trail to connect the two of those. I'd seen word that it was finally finished some time ago, though there wasn't a big opening celebration like with the two new Point Pinole areas.
In any case, I veered over there on my way home today to see.
Sadly, this part of the Bay Trail just isn't getting very good attention. I suspect it's because the city of Richmond is responsible for it, and they've done an impressively half-assed job on lots of different trails in the city.
So the trail between those two areas is all loose rocks, which is horrible to bike on. And there are plants overgrowing everywhere, often in the middle of the trail. It mostly runs between high chain link fences, and it keeps jogging right and left. A few times I was certain the trail was blocked, and didn't actually go through (which was the case last time I tried to ride this trail, after it was supposed to have been done), but no I eventually got to the back end of Wildcat Marsh.
It would have been better to ride the off-road trail right next to the busy Parkway though.
Wildcat Marsh is sadly another badly neglected Richmond park. I've been there before, and it was in the same sad state it was today. There's hardly ever anyone there, and there's not much to see.
The main trail is supposed to go under Richmond Parkway and lead you to the Wildcat Creek Trail on the other side. But, the underpass has either been filled with water or mud every time I've been there. It was clearly built wrong. There was something new this time: a permanent sign that talks about the temporary detour if you want to get over to Wildcat Creek Trail.
Not that there's much point, because Wildcat Creek Trail is one of Richmond's many incomplete trails. It's supposed to connect the Bay Trail to Alvarado Park, which would be amazing. But, it's a mess. You can't get to the Trail from the west because of that washed-out underpass, there's a discontinuity in the middle of the western trail, and they've never finished the eastern trail. And, it's been so long since they worked on it that much of the path is now overgrown (and not that well used, but better used than the Marsh).
I opted to BART back from Richmond BART because the eastern section of the Richmond Greenway is currently blocked off. The city is finally working on that connection between the Richmond Greenway and the Ohlone Greenway that is now also a decade overdue. Sadly, it's not going to be the pedestrian bridge originally promised, which would have whisked you from the Ohlone Greenway to the Richmond Greenway in seconds, but at least it'll redirect the end of the trail to one of the stop lights there.
Despite bitching about the sad state of pedestrian and bike work in some parts of Richmond, today was a terrific day being out. Great biking, great new access to Point Pinole, great writing in a beautiful environment.
But it was not to be found.
I ended up riding down Giant Road to find the main entrance. It was always the least pleasant part of visiting Point Pinole because it's a narrow two-lane road without good protection for bikes that goes right by the local jail on the north and is ugly and surrounded by gravel and roads to the south.
In any case, that experience was my first indication that (1) bicycling and pedestrian projects in the Bay Area are delayed for years and years; and (2) the governmental organizations don't bother updating their web pages for us plebeians.
The Atlas Bridge finally went in last week, somewhere around a decade after it was supposed to open, so this week I went to explore it.
I was very amused when I got down to the end of Atlas Road and saw the bridge, because it's a huge concrete monstrosity: two lanes for vehicle traffic, plus a wide protected pedestrian and bicycle lane set off to the side, plus two different massive cement ramps to get up to the walkway: one for bikes and one for wheel chairs.
I contrasted that to my search for a tiny little wooden bridge some years ago. It's funny when our preconceptions of reality are proven wrong.
The joy of the bridge is that (1) it provides easy access from the east, which means easy access from Hilltop Mall; and (2) it opens about halfway into the park. Before, the only access was from the south side, and Point Pinole is quite a large park.
I spent a few hours out at Point Pinole, writing in my "outdoor office". I'd forgotten how beautiful that park is. And I got a nice bit of writing and reading done. It was really a great day.
But wait, that's not all. Last week also saw the opening of yet another way into Point Pinole, a 1.7 mile path that leads south through the Dotson Family Marsh. And that was how I exited the park after my afternoon of reading and writing.
I can't say I found the muddy marsh very attractive, but you do get the Bay off to the side. Oh, and you get to exit via an attractive rifle range, to the constant drumbeat of gunfire. Still, a wonderful alternative to Giant Road.
And once you're off of rifle road, you're on the Richmond Parkway, or more precisely the part of Richmond Parkway that has a protected bike and pedestrian path off to the side. Which means there's now protected Bay Trail all the from Atlas Road down to the Richmond Greenway. Even more impressively, you can now ride from north Berkeley to Point Pinole and hardly ever touch the street. (There's one nasty discontinuity in the middle of the Richmond Greenway, and a minor but annoying discontinuity in the Ohlone-Richmond Greenway connection, but other than that and a couple of blocks here and there of riding on quiet streets, it's a wonderful biking journey.)
There's also plans to run trail past the Atlas Bridge, along the rail line there. In fact, they've got the first 100 feet or so of it done, for what that's worth. That will provide continued Bay Trail access along San Pablo Bay, though they've got a long way to go there. I've ridden up there through Pinole, Hercules, Rodeo, and into Vallejo, and the Bay Trail is very disconnected.
South of Point Pinole, the next two big (but comparatively minor) Bay Trail parks are at the West Contra Costa County Landfill and the Wildcat Marsh. They're just west of Richmond Parkway, and there's long been a plan to use Bay Trail to connect the two of those. I'd seen word that it was finally finished some time ago, though there wasn't a big opening celebration like with the two new Point Pinole areas.
In any case, I veered over there on my way home today to see.
Sadly, this part of the Bay Trail just isn't getting very good attention. I suspect it's because the city of Richmond is responsible for it, and they've done an impressively half-assed job on lots of different trails in the city.
So the trail between those two areas is all loose rocks, which is horrible to bike on. And there are plants overgrowing everywhere, often in the middle of the trail. It mostly runs between high chain link fences, and it keeps jogging right and left. A few times I was certain the trail was blocked, and didn't actually go through (which was the case last time I tried to ride this trail, after it was supposed to have been done), but no I eventually got to the back end of Wildcat Marsh.
It would have been better to ride the off-road trail right next to the busy Parkway though.
Wildcat Marsh is sadly another badly neglected Richmond park. I've been there before, and it was in the same sad state it was today. There's hardly ever anyone there, and there's not much to see.
The main trail is supposed to go under Richmond Parkway and lead you to the Wildcat Creek Trail on the other side. But, the underpass has either been filled with water or mud every time I've been there. It was clearly built wrong. There was something new this time: a permanent sign that talks about the temporary detour if you want to get over to Wildcat Creek Trail.
Not that there's much point, because Wildcat Creek Trail is one of Richmond's many incomplete trails. It's supposed to connect the Bay Trail to Alvarado Park, which would be amazing. But, it's a mess. You can't get to the Trail from the west because of that washed-out underpass, there's a discontinuity in the middle of the western trail, and they've never finished the eastern trail. And, it's been so long since they worked on it that much of the path is now overgrown (and not that well used, but better used than the Marsh).
I opted to BART back from Richmond BART because the eastern section of the Richmond Greenway is currently blocked off. The city is finally working on that connection between the Richmond Greenway and the Ohlone Greenway that is now also a decade overdue. Sadly, it's not going to be the pedestrian bridge originally promised, which would have whisked you from the Ohlone Greenway to the Richmond Greenway in seconds, but at least it'll redirect the end of the trail to one of the stop lights there.
Despite bitching about the sad state of pedestrian and bike work in some parts of Richmond, today was a terrific day being out. Great biking, great new access to Point Pinole, great writing in a beautiful environment.