Carquinez
Strait Regional Shoreline (west),
East Bay Regional Park District,
Contra Costa County
In brief:
1.5 mile partial loop on hills above Carquinez Strait.
Getting there:
From Interstate 80 in Contra Costa County, exit Cummings Skyway (exit 5). Drive
south about 1.5 miles, then turn left onto Crockett Boulevard. Drive north on
Crockett Boulevard about 1 mile, then turn right onto Pomona Street. After about
0.5 mile Pomona ends at a three way intersection. Bear right onto Carquinez Scenic
Drive. Continue east less than 1 mile, then turn left into the Bull Valley Staging
Area. Once inside the gate, turn right into the small parking lot (the road continues
downhill to Eckley Pier).
Trailhead details:
No parking or entrance fees. Small paved parking lot. There's no drinking water,
but there is a pit toilet, and maps are available at an information signboard.
No handicapped parking, and trail access for wheelchairs is blocked by a cattle
gate. There is no public transportation to the trailhead.
Gas, food, and lodging:
Gas, pay phones, stores, and restaurants in Crockett. No camping.
Rules:
Carquinez Strait is open from 8 a.m. to dusk (unless otherwise posted). All trails
in this part of the park are multi-use. Dogs are permitted.
Distance, category, and difficulty:
This 1.5 mile partial loop hike is very easy. Total elevation change
is about 210 feet.
The Official Story:
EBRPD's Carquinez
Strait page
EBRPD's
Carquinez Strait brochure (pdf)
Map Choices:
• Use AAA's San Francisco Bay Region map to get there.
• Map
from EBRPD
• 101 Great Hikes of the San Francisco Bay Area, by Ann
Marie Brown (order
this book from Amazon.com) has a simple map and descriptions of a featured
hike.
In a nutshell
-- a printable, text-only guide to this hike.
Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline is 
comprised
of two separate parkland parcels, both fronting their namesake waterway. The eastern
portion, on the outskirts of Martinez, offers hikes that climb from the staging
area to loop around grassy Franklin Ridge, with a series of dead-end paths hanging
off the loop like charms on a bracelet. The park's western section, squeezed between
Crockett and the tiny settlement of Port Costa, hosts a handful of short trails,
most of which directly overlook Carquinez Strait. The two parts of this shoreline
used to be linked via Carquinez Scenic Drive, but a landslide closed the road
and now you must travel from west to east via Highway 4.
Begin from the parking lot, and walk north on
the paved park road to a gate. Once through the gate, pass the pit toilet
and you'll reach a T junction. The path to the left drops to Eckley Pier. Turn
right onto Carquinez Overlook Loop Trail. The broad multi-use trail heads
east just downslope from a series of grassy rolling hills on the right. To the
left, the poison oak-dotted hillside slopes toward 
Carquinez
Strait, revealing sweeping views of the Carquinez Bridge and Benicia. Although
I arrived far too late in the year for wildflowers, yellow star thistle's distinctive
spikes were conspicuous, mixed through dried stalks of fennel and yarrow. Butterflies
fluttered about in September, often landing on the coyote brush shrubs that punctuate
the grassland. Buckeyes were particularly abundant, but I also saw a green/yellow
butterfly, most likely a cabbage white, a butterfly that prefers plants in the
mustard family -- mustard is a common plant along the trail, blooming in summer.
At 0.10 mile, an unsigned fire road departs off to the right, a spur which ends
at "downtown" Port Costa. Continue to the left, and ignore the well-worn
path climbing to the hilltop on the right. Carquinez Overlook Loop Trail continues
at a nearly perfectly level grade, sweeping around the hill. A bench off to the
left is the first of several good stops for lunch or quiet contemplation -- look
for vultures and hawks riding the thermals overhead. Bush lupine, coyote brush,
and poison oak spread across grassland on the right, as the trail approaches a
eucalyptus forest. An unsigned fire road breaks off to
the left (not on the map) at 0.36 mile. Continue straight to the next junction,
at 0.50 mile (this one is signed), where the loop begins. Turn right.
A picnic table sits off to the right, near where
the shortcut path (the same one which departed to climb the hill back at 0.10
mile) crosses the fire road. Carquinez Overlook Loop Trail passes through eucalyptus
woods, then emerges on the southern flank of the hillside, where views extend
to the surrounding rolling hills, still almost completely undeveloped. You may
hear traffic downhill on Carquinez Scenic Drive. At 0.72 mile you'll pass the
first of two dead-end spurs on the right. Continue straight past both, then climb
easily to an overlook on the right. Follow the short path to a bench with
a knock-out view east, encompassing Mount Diablo, Carquinez Strait, Martinez,
and Benicia. If you walk a few feet down a worn path continuing down the hill,
you can also see the railroad tracks that cling to firm ground just above the
waterline. Walk back to Carquinez Overlook Loop Trail, and continue, now heading
west.
The fire road weaves through eucalyptus, soon returning
to close the loop at 1.0 mile. Continue straight, and retrace your steps back
to the trailhead.
Total distance: 1.50 miles
Last hiked: Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Go to Bay Area Hiker Home page
comprised
of two separate parkland parcels, both fronting their namesake waterway. The eastern
portion, on the outskirts of Martinez, offers hikes that climb from the staging
area to loop around grassy Franklin Ridge, with a series of dead-end paths hanging
off the loop like charms on a bracelet. The park's western section, squeezed between
Crockett and the tiny settlement of Port Costa, hosts a handful of short trails,
most of which directly overlook Carquinez Strait. The two parts of this shoreline
used to be linked via Carquinez Scenic Drive, but a landslide closed the road
and now you must travel from west to east via Highway 4.
Carquinez
Strait, revealing sweeping views of the Carquinez Bridge and Benicia. Although
I arrived far too late in the year for wildflowers, yellow star thistle's distinctive
spikes were conspicuous, mixed through dried stalks of fennel and yarrow. Butterflies
fluttered about in September, often landing on the coyote brush shrubs that punctuate
the grassland. Buckeyes were particularly abundant, but I also saw a green/yellow
butterfly, most likely a cabbage white, a butterfly that prefers plants in the
mustard family -- mustard is a common plant along the trail, blooming in summer.
At 0.10 mile, an unsigned fire road departs off to the right, a spur which ends
at "downtown" Port Costa. Continue to the left, and ignore the well-worn
path climbing to the hilltop on the right. Carquinez Overlook Loop Trail continues
at a nearly perfectly level grade, sweeping around the hill. A bench off to the
left is the first of several good stops for lunch or quiet contemplation -- look
for vultures and hawks riding the thermals overhead. Bush lupine, coyote brush,
and poison oak spread across grassland on the right, as the trail approaches a
eucalyptus forest. An unsigned fire road breaks off to
the left (not on the map) at 0.36 mile. Continue straight to the next junction,
at 0.50 mile (this one is signed), where the loop begins. Turn right.