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BAYTRAIL

                                             July  14, 2011
                                        Rev: April 22, 2025


  Riding the Bay Trail at 7pm on a cool
  summer evening, the sun hanging low,
  glistening against water that is often on
  both sides of the trail...

  A straight line of elevated clay soil, no
  wider than twice the width of the road, no
  higher than a few feet over the waters of a
  very high tide.

  The trail seems to follow the edge of a now
  unused salt evaporation pond-- which used to
  be part of the commercial activity down at
  the very south end of the bay.

  The trail swings wide around the far side
  of the old Moffett Field.

  In the distance, gigantic dirigible hangers, and
  a supersonic wind-tunnel with a row of three
  silvery, spherical pressure tanks on the side;
  straight out of an old Star Trek matte painting.

  A "Casablanca" vintage 4-engine prop plane circles
  around the area, continually swooping low over
  Moffett field-- presumably an equipment test run of
  some sort.

  Tall brown grasses go right up to the
  shore of broken rock.

  I wonder if this area is too shallow to
  launch a windsurfer... there are many
  barely submerged "sandbars" (or things
  like them) just off shore.

  Boats of any sort are rarely seen this far south
  in the shallow end of the bay.


  Riding toward the Stevens Creek Trail, one has a
  choice of approaching on the north or south bank,
  with a few bridges connecting the two.

  I take a guess on the south bank, which turns out to be
  wrong: it's a mile-long cul de sac that dead ends
  against the highway, with fences on all sides.

  I would've been better off on the north bank, where
  the trail continues swooping down under the highway.

  I go over the fence and scramble down
  the side of the creek bed.

  There's water flowing at the bottom, but in *one*
  place it's flowing rapidly through a constricted
  channel which is tight enough for me to step across
  without any trouble, even carrying a bike.

  The fence around the trail on the far side is rather high,
  and somewhat shakey... I move along it and find a place
  where there's a ledge I can stand on-- it's an awkward
  climb but I manage to to drop my bike down on the other
  side, then finish climbing over myself.

  I end up covered with dust and cobwebs from the fence,
  which does not get climbed very often...


           As always, there's a certain pride in doing
           things a strange way and getting away with it.


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