Day 1: 2015-04-18: Mountain View - Newark

Started the ambitious project on a cool Saturday morning from Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View. This 4 mile trail connects to the Bay Trail at Shoreline park. Jaya walked the first 15 minutes alongside, I am glad she did. Within that time, I realized that lugging a laptop was the wrong decision. Having lightened the load in my backpack, I continued north towards the bay.

Stevens Creek trail is a multi-use, paved, dog friendly trail. It was a weekend morning, so the trail was busy. This is a nice trail that runs by Hwy 85 for 3 miles, with plenty of impressive bridges to provide uninterrupted walking/biking path. Most of these bridges were in a bright aquamarine blue color giving them a cool, cheerful look. The one over Evelyn & Central Expwy was especially impressive - it was long, probably a hanging bridge judging by the bounce I felt when walking. 

Some 4+ miles into the hike, right after Crittenden Ln, I entered Shoreline park. I made my first mistake in hike, walking right towards Sunnyvale rather than left towards Mountain View / Palo Alto. Well, this mistake probably cost me couple of miles and 30~40 minutes of additional walking. Good to learn this lesson early on as it prepared me to not make anymore in a journey that involves 20~25 miles a day! The mistake provided me the opportunity to see a family of Geese with newly hatched geeselings still in their yellow coat.

Back on track, the bay trail meanders through with Shoreline slough on the right, Shoreline park & lake on the left for the next 3 miles before reaching Palo Alto Baylands.  Another 3+ miles of walking found me at the Lucy Evans Nature Center. I found few artists painting the scenery around this beautiful preserve. There is a nice duck pond and park like setting overlooking the Palo Alto airport where I had my lunch. Lunch was methi thepla (a flat-bread made with fenugreek leaves, whole wheat flour and spices). I am calling it Lembas bread! 

After the lunch break, I continued on San Francisquito Creek trail that runs right by the Palo Alto airport. A hobby airport, it was very busy when I walked by it, sometimes having more two flights landing and another taking off all in the space of a minute! A squirrel made my day helping me capture the definition of sitting on a fence! 

Three more miles further, I decided to turn left into the streets of East Palo Alto. The baytrail ends at Ravenswood park in the north without an outlet. This is one of the several planned segments that is yet to be completed.

Walking by Weeks St, Clark Ave, Bay Rd and University Ave, I connected back to the bay trail at Hwy 84. East Palo Alto has come a long way from mid 90s when it was considered a high crime place. There were lots of new housing and nicer buildings even though the economic disparity continues to be visible. By this time, the sun was up and I was in a stretch that had no shade whatsoever. Shoving the light jacket into the backpack, I continued on to Dumbarton bridge. The bridge span is about 2 miles. It was great walking on the bridge, a gentle breeze countering the heat from the sun. The walk on the bridge provided some great views of the bay, but the constant road noise was an earful. 

Coming down from the bridge, the trail continues on Marshlands Rd for more than 3.5 miles before reaching Newark slough. This is a dry portion of the walk, the monotony broken by the occasional birds and the Great Blue Heron in flight that I got to see. There is a 5 mile loop around Newark slough that I saved for another day and continued on to Thornton Ave from where I could see Aloft, my shelter for the night.

Key Stats from Day 1

• Distance covered: 22.5 miles
• Elapsed time: 8 hours 15 minutes (including breaks)
• Breaks: About 45 minutes
• Overnight stay: Aloft, Newark
• Cities: Mountain View, Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Fremont, Newark
• Dog friendly segments: Stevens Creek trail, Palo Alto Baylands
• Birds observed: Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Anna's Hummingbird, Canada Geese

Pictures (70+) from the hike today. Complete map of the 7 day walkabout.