In Which I Travel to Benicia
Jul. 21st, 2018 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aToday, Berkeley was forecast to be in the high 60s and eastern Contra Coast was forecast to be in the low 80s. I choose the latter.
The plan was a bike ride with some hiking. I hopped off BART at Pleasant Hill and looped up on the Western Contra Costa Canal Trail. That's my canal trail less traveled, but it's lovely. Quieter than either the Iron Horse Trail or the Eastern CoCoCa Trail. Mostly shaded. And running alongside a beautiful canal.
I don't think I've ever made it to the end of the Western CoCoCa Trail, and I didn't today either. Instead I hared off west less than a mile from where it dead-ends at Highway 4, the death of all good trails that side of the hills. My objective was Hidden Lakes and/or Hidden Valley Park, just over the border into Martinez. It looks great on the maps, because it's a hidden little set of lakes and streams that's got entries from all the nearby neighborhoods. I imagined a beautiful pocket of greenery. The reality turned out to be poorly maintained trails rambling all over through barren, brown hills. I guess it's kinda cool for the neighborhood, but not particularly amazing. Up on one side there was a real park, with playground and picnic tables and such. I sat there for a bit, had some chocolate, wrote a bit, and hoped I didn't look like a creeper so near the kid's playground.
From there I was planning to head out to the Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline, a park that I'd been planning to hike, but as it turned out, I stubbornly refused to hike throughout the day. My first hiking refusal was at a long branch of the California Riding & Hiking Trail that led to an entrance to the park. It had been marked as a bike trail, but it was totally unbikable, and really didn't look that nice of a walk either. I actually hiked up a quarter of a mile or so, but decided that I didn't love it, and it'd probably prevent me from getting all the way up to the Carquinez Strait like I wanted.
So it was biking onward, down into Martinez. Soon, I arrived at the Mount Wanda Trailhead, but I biked by that too because the hills looked so hot and high. I tried one more time at a mid-park entrance, bit it looked hot and high too, and by that point I decided I probably wasn't hiking up in those hills in mid-80 degree heat. Besides, I was really enjoying the small-town feel of Martinez as I biked through it.
So instead I decided to do things by the Strait itself, as I utilizing the improved mobility of my bike.
The Radke Martinez Regional Shoreline Park was probably the prettiest thing I saw on my trip. It's right on the Strait, and at that point the Strait curves, so it feels almost like you're looking at a lake, because there's land on almost all sides. It felt like a pretty little nature preserve, and I could see why people in the area would love to go there.
Heading eastward I left the prettier historic area of Martinez and headed into what was once unincorporated Mococo, and which is still ugly refinery-filled areas. I've never seen so many pipes crossing the road. ("To get to the other side.")
Then it was across the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. This is a new bike and pedestrian path, built in 2009. (I was surprised to see it was that long ago.) I thus had high expectations. But it was a plain two-directional bike path, with traffic going by too near, at maybe 6-10 feet away. Still, unlike with the Bay Bridge, they put the bike path on the correct side, so that you can see across that fun curve of the Strait to the Carquinez Bridge. I kept my eyes on that view most of the way across. It was another very pretty bit of the trip. Fortunately(?) there were absolutely no other pedestrians or bicyclists on the bridge (either way), so my distraction didn't matter.
Much as the one day I went to Vallejo, I felt like there wasn't much of interest once I got across the bridge. In both cases that's in part because you're still right on the highway when you get across the bridge. But this time I was able to circle down into the nearby town, which is Benicia.
Benicia is a weird little town that doesn't seem to know what it is. I locked up my bike and walked several blocks to get a cold Slurpee and I walked through a variety of neighborhoods. First up was a street that looked like it was straight out of 1956, with carefully manicured classic houses, with front porches that people sat on and talked. And then there was a trailer park. And then condos that were trying to look like 1950s houses. Then ugly, cheap houses. It was a weird mix. Perhaps I would have found more of interest if I'd been willing to walk down to the Strait, but the town was all on a hillside, and I was already pretty tired, so I just circled to the 7-11 and back.
It was somewhere around 10 miles from Benicia to the Concord BART. Not particularly great riding either. I was quite tired by this point, and when I cut through eastern Martinez, it was another refinery hellscape. Then I ended up on the very busy Concord Ave, which had no bike lane or shoulder and fast, heavy traffic. Meanwhile, I felt like I was constantly dodging highways, as 4, 680, and 242 are all in that area. So it goes. I passed right over the Iron Horse Trail on the way, and was tempted to turn south. It would have been a more pleasant trip, but I wasn't willing to add another 5 or so miles to the trip when it was already past 5pm, and I was by now bone-tired.
Eventually, I made it to BART.
It was great seeing some cities that I'd never biked before, in Martinez, Benicia, and the unincorporated Pacheco. The Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline looked like a nice hilly hike, I just need to choose a cooler day, perhaps something in February or March when the hills might actually be green. My bike computer disintegrated in Martinez, something that'd been a while coming as it was already held together by superglue (and only half-worked), so I'm not sure of my biking mileage. It was 16 miles when last I looked at it, at one of my failed entries to the Carquinez Straight Regional Shoreline, and Google Maps says that I did at least 17 miles after that. So maybe 35 miles in Eastern Contra Costa County. Add getting to and from BART this side of the hills, and I probably posted a 40-mile day on my bike, which is the best I've done since my urologist got me hiking two and a half years ago. And my Fitbit says I'm a few minutes short of 400 active minutes for the day (six and two-thirds hours). So no wondered I was so tired heading back to Concord BART.
Oh, and I covered some new Bay Trail, something I haven't done in years. My main roads through Martinez, the bridge crossing, and my partial trip down into Benicia were all Bay Trail. (Doing the loop between the two bridges on the Carquinez Strait would give me even more, and would connect me to my long set of Bay Trail trips from Fremont to Crockett, but I've never quite felt up to that, and the vast majority of it is actually unfinished at this point, just like it was a decade ago when I was riding the Bay Trail more consistently.)
Edit: Actually it looks like I biked a little new Bay Trail the day a few months ago when I was out on Treasure Island and before that when I rode the new paths at Point Pinole last year, but that's all either new Bay Trail or newly accessible Bay Trail.
Anywho, an adventuresome day out.
The plan was a bike ride with some hiking. I hopped off BART at Pleasant Hill and looped up on the Western Contra Costa Canal Trail. That's my canal trail less traveled, but it's lovely. Quieter than either the Iron Horse Trail or the Eastern CoCoCa Trail. Mostly shaded. And running alongside a beautiful canal.
I don't think I've ever made it to the end of the Western CoCoCa Trail, and I didn't today either. Instead I hared off west less than a mile from where it dead-ends at Highway 4, the death of all good trails that side of the hills. My objective was Hidden Lakes and/or Hidden Valley Park, just over the border into Martinez. It looks great on the maps, because it's a hidden little set of lakes and streams that's got entries from all the nearby neighborhoods. I imagined a beautiful pocket of greenery. The reality turned out to be poorly maintained trails rambling all over through barren, brown hills. I guess it's kinda cool for the neighborhood, but not particularly amazing. Up on one side there was a real park, with playground and picnic tables and such. I sat there for a bit, had some chocolate, wrote a bit, and hoped I didn't look like a creeper so near the kid's playground.
From there I was planning to head out to the Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline, a park that I'd been planning to hike, but as it turned out, I stubbornly refused to hike throughout the day. My first hiking refusal was at a long branch of the California Riding & Hiking Trail that led to an entrance to the park. It had been marked as a bike trail, but it was totally unbikable, and really didn't look that nice of a walk either. I actually hiked up a quarter of a mile or so, but decided that I didn't love it, and it'd probably prevent me from getting all the way up to the Carquinez Strait like I wanted.
So it was biking onward, down into Martinez. Soon, I arrived at the Mount Wanda Trailhead, but I biked by that too because the hills looked so hot and high. I tried one more time at a mid-park entrance, bit it looked hot and high too, and by that point I decided I probably wasn't hiking up in those hills in mid-80 degree heat. Besides, I was really enjoying the small-town feel of Martinez as I biked through it.
So instead I decided to do things by the Strait itself, as I utilizing the improved mobility of my bike.
The Radke Martinez Regional Shoreline Park was probably the prettiest thing I saw on my trip. It's right on the Strait, and at that point the Strait curves, so it feels almost like you're looking at a lake, because there's land on almost all sides. It felt like a pretty little nature preserve, and I could see why people in the area would love to go there.
Heading eastward I left the prettier historic area of Martinez and headed into what was once unincorporated Mococo, and which is still ugly refinery-filled areas. I've never seen so many pipes crossing the road. ("To get to the other side.")
Then it was across the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. This is a new bike and pedestrian path, built in 2009. (I was surprised to see it was that long ago.) I thus had high expectations. But it was a plain two-directional bike path, with traffic going by too near, at maybe 6-10 feet away. Still, unlike with the Bay Bridge, they put the bike path on the correct side, so that you can see across that fun curve of the Strait to the Carquinez Bridge. I kept my eyes on that view most of the way across. It was another very pretty bit of the trip. Fortunately(?) there were absolutely no other pedestrians or bicyclists on the bridge (either way), so my distraction didn't matter.
Much as the one day I went to Vallejo, I felt like there wasn't much of interest once I got across the bridge. In both cases that's in part because you're still right on the highway when you get across the bridge. But this time I was able to circle down into the nearby town, which is Benicia.
Benicia is a weird little town that doesn't seem to know what it is. I locked up my bike and walked several blocks to get a cold Slurpee and I walked through a variety of neighborhoods. First up was a street that looked like it was straight out of 1956, with carefully manicured classic houses, with front porches that people sat on and talked. And then there was a trailer park. And then condos that were trying to look like 1950s houses. Then ugly, cheap houses. It was a weird mix. Perhaps I would have found more of interest if I'd been willing to walk down to the Strait, but the town was all on a hillside, and I was already pretty tired, so I just circled to the 7-11 and back.
It was somewhere around 10 miles from Benicia to the Concord BART. Not particularly great riding either. I was quite tired by this point, and when I cut through eastern Martinez, it was another refinery hellscape. Then I ended up on the very busy Concord Ave, which had no bike lane or shoulder and fast, heavy traffic. Meanwhile, I felt like I was constantly dodging highways, as 4, 680, and 242 are all in that area. So it goes. I passed right over the Iron Horse Trail on the way, and was tempted to turn south. It would have been a more pleasant trip, but I wasn't willing to add another 5 or so miles to the trip when it was already past 5pm, and I was by now bone-tired.
Eventually, I made it to BART.
It was great seeing some cities that I'd never biked before, in Martinez, Benicia, and the unincorporated Pacheco. The Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline looked like a nice hilly hike, I just need to choose a cooler day, perhaps something in February or March when the hills might actually be green. My bike computer disintegrated in Martinez, something that'd been a while coming as it was already held together by superglue (and only half-worked), so I'm not sure of my biking mileage. It was 16 miles when last I looked at it, at one of my failed entries to the Carquinez Straight Regional Shoreline, and Google Maps says that I did at least 17 miles after that. So maybe 35 miles in Eastern Contra Costa County. Add getting to and from BART this side of the hills, and I probably posted a 40-mile day on my bike, which is the best I've done since my urologist got me hiking two and a half years ago. And my Fitbit says I'm a few minutes short of 400 active minutes for the day (six and two-thirds hours). So no wondered I was so tired heading back to Concord BART.
Oh, and I covered some new Bay Trail, something I haven't done in years. My main roads through Martinez, the bridge crossing, and my partial trip down into Benicia were all Bay Trail. (Doing the loop between the two bridges on the Carquinez Strait would give me even more, and would connect me to my long set of Bay Trail trips from Fremont to Crockett, but I've never quite felt up to that, and the vast majority of it is actually unfinished at this point, just like it was a decade ago when I was riding the Bay Trail more consistently.)
Edit: Actually it looks like I biked a little new Bay Trail the day a few months ago when I was out on Treasure Island and before that when I rode the new paths at Point Pinole last year, but that's all either new Bay Trail or newly accessible Bay Trail.
Anywho, an adventuresome day out.