Byxbee Park
Last weekend we went walking in Byxbee Park. It's along the edge of the San Francisco Bay in Palo Alto. We've been there numerous times before. One reason we like it is that it has a slight hill. Of course, that hill is man-made- it covers an old dump. Yes, sadly, for many decades Bay Areans were like, "Let's take all our trash and just pile it up next to the water." But the sins of the past are now, if not atoned for, at least out of sight. Grasses and wildflowers cover the hill.
The hill isn't huge. It's a rise of 10-15 meters. I hesitate even to call this hiking; it seems closer to walking. But even from atop this hill's modest change in elevation, there are very different views of the surrounding marshland and bay than you'd get from sea level.
The photo above shows Fremont Peak in Fremont in the distance. It may not look high in this picture because of the distance but it's 3,171'. Below it, with kind of a brown color, is the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay. In the middle are some of the sloughs and marshes that make up much of the bay's edge down here.
Back down closer to water's edge on the far side of the hill I enjoyed this view looking south. It's hard to tell what's in the distance beyond the slough and marshland- and that's the point. In this photo you're looking at NASA Ames and Google's corporate headquarters in Mountain View. And hey, there's actually a mountain view.
Once down the far side of the hill we walked the low trail back around to the trailhead. That's another thing we enjoy about Byxbee Park: the ability to take walks of widely varying lengths by choosing from among the network of paths. That, and having something nice to see in every direction- especially at this time of year, when flowers are in bloom.
The hill isn't huge. It's a rise of 10-15 meters. I hesitate even to call this hiking; it seems closer to walking. But even from atop this hill's modest change in elevation, there are very different views of the surrounding marshland and bay than you'd get from sea level.
The photo above shows Fremont Peak in Fremont in the distance. It may not look high in this picture because of the distance but it's 3,171'. Below it, with kind of a brown color, is the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay. In the middle are some of the sloughs and marshes that make up much of the bay's edge down here.
Back down closer to water's edge on the far side of the hill I enjoyed this view looking south. It's hard to tell what's in the distance beyond the slough and marshland- and that's the point. In this photo you're looking at NASA Ames and Google's corporate headquarters in Mountain View. And hey, there's actually a mountain view.
Once down the far side of the hill we walked the low trail back around to the trailhead. That's another thing we enjoy about Byxbee Park: the ability to take walks of widely varying lengths by choosing from among the network of paths. That, and having something nice to see in every direction- especially at this time of year, when flowers are in bloom.