With the enthusiastic response to the Splash Mob idea came requests for specifics:
1) a less-strenuous option available for kids, the elderly, and the otherwise creaky or fatugued;
2) picnic options and opportunities for relaxed naturalist-type sauntering for some, and the potential for more strenuous activities for those inclined;
3) an actual date, time, and place.
Pinole Creek would be the obvious first guess, but the leisure sitting activities are pretty much limited to near the mouth of the creek, near a sewage treatment plant. We’ll save that for the advanced course.
So here’s a proposal:
Saturday, October 20,
starting to assemble and hang out around 11:00 am and eating around 1:00 pm ;
Point Pinole Regional Park,
Picnic Area near Fishing Pier
Here’s a PDF map of the park. The fishing pier is about a one-and-a-half-mile level walk from the parking lot, and for those uninclined to walk that far there is a regular shuttle from the parking lot to the pier area, shuttle schedule listed on the map above. (One dollar round trip, 50 cents age 6-11; children under 6, seniors 62+ or disabled ride free.) During busy weekend days, there is sometimes a five dollar parking fee, but I suspect it will not be a busy day on October 20.
The site has a few varied environment types nearby: a sheltered bay shore with possibilities of shorebirding; the pier, of course; the windward bay shore with cliffs and great views of Mount Tamalpais and San Francisco, and an invasive eucalyptus forest in which some native organisms try to make a living, and if Ron and Joe can make it, we can ask them what the faint blurs up in the euc treetops are. (Here’s a PDF with some of the posssiblities.)
There’s also Freshwater Pond (see map), well known as the historic site of this event. And there are many miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, off-leash puppydog walking (though the dogs are supposed to stay on leash in the picnic areas), and other pursuits.
How’s that sound, folks? If the distance between the parking lot and the pier is too daunting, there are picnic areas closer to the parking lot, but they’re much more developed and more likely to have been expensively reserved.
You may RSVP, or file objections/suggested amendments to the above, in comments. If you haven’t already RissVipped inthe previous thread, that is.
Posted by: Chris Clarke
Categories:
The Neighborhood
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