CARQUINEZ STRAIT SCENIC LOOP TRAIL:

GREAT VIEWS AND HISTORY TOO

In 1989, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) created the San Francisco Bay Trail Project, a continuous 400-mile network of hiking and bicycling trails circling San Francisco and San Pablo Bays.  Meandering through nine Bay Area counties, the Bay Trail, when complete, will link 47 cities, numerous historic sites, marinas and fishing piers and 130 parks and wildlife preserves. Planned for easy access, the Bay Trail follows paved multi-use pathways, dirt trails, bike lanes, sidewalks and city streets. To date, 240 miles of the Bay Trail have been completed.

A major component of the Bay Trail in Contra Costa and Solano Counties is the Carquinez Strait Scenic Loop Trail, 26 miles of natural beauty and urban thoroughfares that form a ring around the Carquinez Strait, joined by the Benicia-Martinez Bridge on the east and the Al Zampa Bridge on the west.

ABAG’s Bay Trail Board of Directors met at the Port Costa School in 2007 to discuss progress on the Carquinez Loop Trail and the Bay Trail Project’s upcoming 20^th anniversary celebration in 2009. State Senator Tom Torlakson attended the Port Costa meeting to brief board members on details of the Great California Delta Trail, created in 2006 through his Senate Bill 1556.

Bay Trail Board meets at Port Costa School

“Meeting at the Port Costa School was a very special experience for us,” said Bay Trail Project Manager Laura Thompson. “It was a great opportunity to learn about what the Conservation Society has accomplished, restoring an historic structure along the Bay Trail alignment.

“We are filling in the gaps in the Carquinez Loop Trail,” she added. “There are expansive views from up on the hills and bridges and down along the water. There is a strong sense of California history here – it’s a tool for education. Whether it’s hiking, bicycling, kayaking or horseback, the Carquinez Loop Trail provides people with a multitude of different experiences.”

A trek along the Carquinez Loop Trail from downtown Crockett would proceed over the hills to Port Costa and Martinez, across the old Martinez Bridge to Benicia, over to Vallejo and back to Crockett via the new Zampa Bridge. The itinerary would include Crockett Hills Regional Park, Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline, Martinez Regional Shoreline, Benicia State Recreation Area and Glen Cove Marina.

Especially photogenic are the rolling hills and panoramic views of the Carquinez Strait between Crockett and Port Costa. As seen from high up in the hills, tugboats and gravel barges, kayaks and fishing boats navigate the strait with ocean-going freighters and brightly colored sailboats. Squinting down, one can imagine the past, when four-masted schooners took on wheat and lumber from piers along the shore, and giant ferry boats transported freight trains from Port Costa to Benicia and back.

No person may be more familiar with this landscape than Port Costa artist Clayton Bailey, who has captured scenes along its byways with his camera since 1999. Clayton’s pictorial odyssey of sunrises and sunsets, cows, turkeys, ships and boats, shorebirds and pilings, hikers and joggers, bicyclists, gnarled trees, stormy skies, migrating waterfowl, odd geologic formations and even a still life of old truck tires can be seen on his Port Costa SkyCam at www.claytonbailey.com.

"There is nothing like it," says Clayton. "The hills are beautiful and sensuous. The landscapes change with the season. It has glorious 360-degree views. From up on the bluffs you can watch the clouds over Mount Diablo and see the fog coming in over the Carquinez Bridge. There’s an extinct volcano here too," he adds, citing a volcano-like crater at the top of a nearby hill. "There is no end to all of the things you can find here.

For more information visit http://baytrail.abag.ca.gov.

Painting of Carquinez Strait shoreline by Susan Malikowski