Day 14: Pinole to Rodeo

Day 14:  Pinole to Rodeo

May 2nd, 2017

10.86 miles in 5 hours 42 minutes

Got my haircut on the trail today, at "Yen Can Cut" in Pinole.  Yen did a great job of trimming while leaving some length, a good compromise given what hair I have. 

Haircut by Yen Can Cut

And then I spent a large chunk of the day hiking through the "Phillips 66" Refinery just south of the Carquinez Bridge.  This trek felt very much like slipping through Mordor, especially with what look like very new signs on every fence telling me the feds are providing security for these established fossil fuel interests.

San Francisco Refinery in Rodeo

Private Property protected by New Signs

Southbound Amtrak Capital Corridor Train

The other established interest in the area is the railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF).  Long ago they grabbed all of the shoreline in this stretch, as a necessary route around the hills of Richmond to get to Sacramento from Oakland.  Though the line is still owned by BNSF, it is mostly used for a regularly scheduled Amtrak train to Sacramento.  Compared to Caltrain it is a very scenic ride down the coast I want to catch again.

BNSF Tracks along the Bay

Hole Carefully Inserted for Photo Opportunities

As you can see below, almost every other day I goof up using the MapMyRide app, failing to end or start the walk on time.  This day I thought I had ended it, and was surprised to find  on the train this morning that that had not happened, so the app adds one more waypoint to the walk, a waypoint that doesn't make much sense given the elapsed miles and time.

Day 14:  Pinole to Rodeo

Accounting: 

    Starting Balance                                      (86.30)

• Uber Earnings to Pinole.                              (30.49)
• Bearclaw from Bearclaw Bakery (plus drink)              4.50
• Uber back to Pinole                                    12.72
• Smart Stop in Pinole                                    3.99
• Uber Earnings from Pinole                             (14.42)

    Ending Balance                                       (110.00)

Kombucha of the Day -- Pineapple!

Voice Notes:

This part of the trail is very good about maintaining a gravel path next to the paved one.

False start today because I walked the Bay Trail to a dead end maintained by the railroad company.

Historically must've been the railroad that was the first construction to drastically alter the bay’s shoreline and it's estuaries.

But oddly enough it's also the railroads and their abandoned yards that have preserved some of the most significant open space in the bay at least at sea level.

Using nylon mesh to stabilize a newly planted wild hillside seems a crime against the environment committed by the petrochemical industry.

After you sit down and cool off in the shade for lunch taking socks and shoes off I feel like a little reservoir or oasis of cool for the moment when I start walking again.

Walking through this San Francisco refinery feels like hiking through Mordor.

In the land of gas guzzlers anybody not using internal combustion is suspect.