Day 3: Sunnyvale to Milpitas
April 12th, 2017
12.20 miles in 8 hours
 |
| Broadway between El Camino and the track (where Redwood City's rebirth began 30 years ago) |
I got on Caltrain at 6:16 AM, then took the VTA light rail to near the Sunnyvale landfill hill. They are currently constructing an even taller hill out of dirt in the area, eventually to be converted into a ski slope?
 |
| Sunnyvale South Landfill Hill |
Where Alviso Slough starts in the town of Alviso is the theoretical south end of the bay. Where a dock and permanent European-style structures were first erected. And first flooded out. Of course the results of these floods was to constrain all the creeks to prevent future floods, instead of constraining where permanent structures are built. We forgot to consult with the natives on local conditions and how best to cope with them with minimal impact on the environment.
The land in Alviso has subsided 13 feet since Gold Rush Days, attributed to ground water depleted by wells and ground water not being restored because of pavement. But the slough hasn't sunk, so there is a 13 feet drop on the back side of the levees.
The last creek of the day was Coyote Creek, currently flowing with so much water the trail next to it is flooded as it goes under 237.
 |
| Coyote Creek Trail under 237 |
I took the opportunity to use the new Warm Spring BART station to train then Uber home over the San Mateo bridge. I always take Uber Pool nowadays, and split the difference between that and Uber X with the driver by giving them a tip. I wish I had someway to let them know I was a tipper if I'm the only pool rider before the end of the ride. But you don't want to promise a tip ahead of time.
 |
| Warm Springs South Fremont BART station |
 |
| Day 3: Sunnyvale to Milpitas |
Accounting:
Starting Balance (26.26)
- 7-11 breakfast sandwich and coffee 3.14
- Caltrain and VTA to Crossman Station, Sunnyvale. 7.75
- Uber Pool to Warm Springs South Fremont BART 7.37
- BART from Warm Springs to Hayward 3.60
- Uber Pool from Hayward to Home plus tip 27.81
Balance 23.41
Kombucha of the Day -- fermented TJ Tropical Carrot
Voice Notes:
Public transit can be liberating in a way that I expect a rich person would never get the chance to appreciate.
Missed the Borregas stop the first time on the VTA and went past to Fair Oaks and then on the way back I got off one too early at the Crossman stop.
The lessons learned historically from Silicon Valley shouldn't be that capital is evil but that capital is blind. That is why we have a government so we can see what the hordes of money are doing.
The obvious secondary usage of the Bayside landfill hills is as a visual barrier for the necessary water treatment plants they wrap around in most cases.
Tertiary use would be to build the dykes needed to address global warming in the bay.
The south end of the bay is kind of unreachable and unknowable without getting out of your car and/or boat. The shallow natural salt flats were replaced by man-made ones but the slough at the southern end is still there at Alviso.
Why do you need a flood wall in the middle of a floodplain?
Traditional censorship, whether for ideological or authoritarian reasons, must be enormously challenged by the current state of the Internet.
Capital feels good about itself all by itself. And the more it grows and gets together with other capital the more it thinks of itself even again.
Elevation changes to the bay: the landfill hills, the subsistence of 13 feet in the south bay area because of pumping water out of the aquifers, and the bay itself silting up in the gold rush era because of hydraulic mining operations in the Sierras.
Idea for an Airbnb activity -- weekend hikes around the bay guided by me.
I'll have to come back to trail run the levees at Alviso.
The amount of the land that is made available in the United States for the people to explore gives me a feeling of safety, comfort, and freedom.
I have seen hundreds of walkers out from this Cisco building and not one of them is anything but Indian.
No comments:
Post a Comment