Hayward Regional Shoreline (SF Bay Trail) 2015-06-18

Part of the San Francisco Bay Trail, I had covered the Hayward Regional Shoreline on Day 2 of my SF Bay Walkabout in April. Plenty of parking is available at the end of Winton Ave, off Hwy 880 in Hayward. Dogs are allowed north of Winton Ave on the trail. Both my daughters, Sanjana and Kavya, joined us on our hike this morning. 

Planning the walk

From the parking lot, a half mile walk by the flood control channel will get you to the shoreline and the SF Bay Trail. We turned right and headed north towards San Leandro. The last time I walked this stretch was during high tide, while today was low tide. That changes the whole experience, although my daughters didn't mind the fact that it was low tide and less scenic as a result. 

Bockman Channel & Sewage Plant

About three-quarters of a mile further is Sulphur Creek and another three-quarters of a mile north is Bockman Channel. In high tide, I had seen several anglers by the bridge north of Sulphur Creek. Ahead of Bockman Channel is a Sewage treatment plant and San Lorenzo Creek. 

Great Egret

Essentially an out and back trip, we turned around at San Lorenzo Creek, a little more than 2.5 miles from where we started. As with my previous hike, we saw plenty of birds - Snowy Egrets, Great Egret, American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts and a Red-winged Blackbird. My daughters were amused that I was reeling out the bird names each time we came across a bird!

With such a breathtaking variety of birds, I told them that it would be a shame to walk any segment of the Bay Trail and not observe them closely or learn to identify them. We also came across several squirrels that had made the shoreline their home and one of them put on a great show for us, chirping away as he did it.

As with most East Bay Regional Parks, dogs are allowed off-leash in undeveloped areas, which covered our entire trip today on the dirt trail running right by the bay. Apollo had complete freedom to expore as much of the landscape as he could while we kept him on a verbal leash.

We covered 5.3 miles today at a leisurely pace of 3 mph, in about an hour and fifty minutes. This is an easy trail for anyone at any fitness level. 

More pictures from our hike today.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #HaywardRegionalShoreline #EBRPD #SFBayTrail