Day 2: Coyote Point to Heron's Head Park

Day 2:  Coyote Point to Heron's Head Park

(Burlingame to San Francisco)

Circle The Bay Part 3

April 19th 2018

29.8 miles in 6 hrs 13 mins

(Total:  50.3 miles in 10 hrs 28 mins)

Two days of biking north of San Carlos, and I made it to the city.  This is a lot slower than the first time I biked this direction, when we made it from Palo Alto to Golden Gate Park in a day, loaded down with camping gear taking El Camino all the way.  But if you look at the map above you can see why.  The Bay Trail is more for contemplation than speed.

Planes Landing at SFO with Mt. Diablo in the Background

I took Caltrain to Burlingame and got back to the trail where I left off at Coyote Point.  Biking north from there I found the perfect place to stop and watch runway traffic at SFO, on the shoreline by the Ramada Inn, looking across a low-tide mud flat.  From my vantage point I couldn't see the virtual stop (and go) lights that coordinate this ballet, but they must be there.

Wind Harp, South San Francisco

I crossed the airport's territory using the very convenient and bike-friendly McDonnell Road that winds under and around the terminal.  Convenient tip for myself:  when leaving SFO and southbound 101 is backed up, take McDonnell Road instead, which puts you on uncrowded frontage roads to as far south as Coyote Point.

Leaving the airport behind, I climbed up the hill that Genentech built their campus on, to the very accurately named Wind Harp sculpture.  Coming down off that hill I saw very sleek silver ferries pulling in to the Oyster Point (South San Francisco) Ferry Terminal, which was exciting.  Until I saw they weren't using the terminal, and were instead loading at a private dock.  I asked those waiting whose ferries they were and where were they going, and they couldn't quite say, but admitted they were for the large nearby biotech company.

South San Francisco Ferry Terminal

Ironically, this evening I went to dinner with a friend in the Mission who had just moved back to San Francisco from New York City, where every day his commute was a ferry ride from New Jersey to Lower Manhattan on a private ferry financed by Goldman Sachs that was open for public use.  I guess companies like Genentech and Google aren't in the same sphere of financial solidity as Goldman Sachs (who is?), but perhaps they could consider redirecting some of their wealth spent on private transportation to the growth of public alternatives.  Frankly, if you want your employees to have some sort of appreciation for the world outside your cloistered campuses, sharing their ride to work with the rest of the world is the single biggest thing they could do.

Private Ferry Service for Large Unknown SSF BioTech Company That Starts with a G

I biked by Candlestick Point on my way to Hunters Point.  They still won't let me bike through the former Naval base of Hunters Point, as decades of redevelopment are still getting underway.  So instead I had to bike over the hill to get to India Basin and Heron's Head Park.  On top of that hill there is a new parklet with a viewing platform that is the perfect place to see all the ships from Asia waiting to unload crates of wholesale goods in the Port of Oakland.

For example, I'm sure these knives I have for sale came in that way.  Designed in Switzerland, made in China, liquidated by an auction at Bstock Solutions, and put up on Amazon by me:

By the way, Heron's Head is named in a very literal manner.  I've developed the habit of noting how often place and street names are extremely literal (i.e. the Bayshore Freeway is exactly that, a freeway along the bay's shore).  But the accuracy of Heron's Head (see below) makes me smile.

Heron's Head Park in San Francisco

Kombucha of the Day

Pineapple Grapefruit Kombucha

Voice Notes

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