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.

Updates 2015-04-18, 19, 20, 24

2015-04-18: I started the hike today (Saturday, Apr 18th). Jaya dropped me off at the beginning of Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View. She also walked with me for the first 15 minutes... and it was evident in that time that lugging my computer was a mistake. I ditched the computer and reduced the weight in my backpack. Without my laptop, it is going to be tough to write a decent blog complete with pictures as promised.

This is just a brief update to let my friends know that all is well, I am in one piece after today's session. My feet is killing me... I may yet have to improvise on this plan but for now, I am continuing tomorrow as planned. I probably will tweak the route to not backtrack nearly 5 miles to Dumbarton.

A proper blog of Day 1 will come forth in the future.

22+ miles today, in about 8 1/4 hours that included a 45 minute break.

Thanks to Aloft for this computer in their business center as well as the pricey but perfectly chilled Sam Adams!

2015-04-19: Day 2 accomplished! 45 miles in 2 days!! In San Leandro now. 23+ miles, in 9 3/4 hours that included about 90 minutes break. Yes, my feet is killing me; but I weirdly feel better in certain aspects, worse in other. Day 3 to Oakland should go on as planned, but I have decided to take a break after that.

2015-04-20: Day 3 completed as planned, ending the day at Jack London Square in Oakland. 19 miles in 8 1/4 hours with about an hours break. I am home now, a day or two of resting the feet and healing the blisters. But tomorrow, the blog will be up with details of the first three days and plenty of pictures!

2015-04-24: I will be resuming the walkabout in San Francisco tomorrow morning. Rain or shine. And am intending to do 3 days again, with stops at Brisbane, San Mateo and finishing by FB on Monday. I will do brief updates in this post like before and follow it up with detailed blogs later.

Walk around San Francisco bay: cool idea?

San Francisco bay is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places in the world. I'm fortunate to have flown from SFO airport several times. On a clear day, the scenery that unfolds as the plane takes off or lands is breathtaking. If aerial views of the bay from the window seat seen through the dirty windows can be so beautiful, you can only imagine how cool it'd be see it without any obstruction, from above and even on ground.

When I hiked the trails in Baylands Park, Palo Alto, I got a glimpse of the view from ground level. Sure, not as breathtaking as it is from the air; still, the air was crisp, the breeze cool and the walk refreshing. This walk got me researching more about SF Bay Trail. 

We are lucky to have more than 330 miles of completed trail by the San Francisco and San Pablo Bays. And when it is fully completed, this will be a contiguous 500 miles walking/biking trail around the bay. The more I researched bay trail, the more I was convinced that I should pursue this and not pass on this opportunity.

The timing couldn't be more perfect. It is spring. The weather pleasant and nice. I just quit my job with Informatica a 3rd time. The previous time I did that, I took to the roads and did a 48 state road trip with Apollo. This time, it will be a walkabout SF bay - some 200 miles in about 8 days!

A full map of the intended 8 day hike is here. You can zoom in for details on each day (color coded). Since the bay trail is not fully done and contiguous, portions of the walk will have to be city streets. Walking across Oakland-SF Bay bridge is not an option, I will be taking BART/ferry across to Sausalito and continue the walk from there. In the east bay, from Newark - Milpitas, the trail is not done; I'll probably hitch a ride to Milpitas to complete the walk. I do intend to blog daily, so all these details and plenty of photos should be available for those interested in following the hike.

Feel free to join this blog site, post comments and thoughts. It was great to hear from my friends when I was on my road trip; this time should be no different!

I should be hitting the road in the next couple of days.... for my 8x8x8 adventure... 8 marathons in about 8 hours each in 8 consecutive days!

Update 2015-04-23:
I had to take a break after reaching Oakland. The blisters were painful - I realized couple of days rest and few more aids will make this easier. So, this is not a walk in 8 consecutive days. I also revised the route to eliminate repeating segments as much as possible. With those revisions, I've been able to get this down to a 7 day hike. With 3 days completed, I intend to get the remaining done this month. I've updated the map to reflect this. 

#SFBayTrail #BayTrail