Wheelchair FM pp i-xiv, 1 5/9/06 4:51 PM Page CVR-1 AWheelchairAWheelchair Rider’sGuideRider’sGuide San Francisco Bay and the Nearby Coast BONNIE LEWKOWICZ AA COASTALCOASTAL CONSERVANCY CONSERVANCY BOOKBOOK Wheelchair FM pp i-xiv, 1 5/9/06 4:52 PM Page i AWheelchairAWheelchair Rider’sGuideRider’sGuide San Francisco Bay and the Nearby Coast BONNIE LEWKOWICZ AA COASTALCOASTAL CONSERVANCY CONSERVANCY BOOKBOOK Wheelchair FM pp i-xiv, 1 5/9/06 4:52 PM Page ii THIS GUIDE IS AVAILABLE FREE OF CHARGE by calling 510/286-1015 and also on the Coastal Conservancy website: www.scc.ca.gov THE COASTAL CONSERVANCY ASSOCIATION published this book with a grant from the Coastal Conservancy, a state agency that works with others to protect and restore coastal resources and improve public access along the California coast and on San Francisco Bay. Since 1976, the Conservancy has helped to open hundreds of miles of shoreline to the public and to preserve more than 185,000 acres of wetlands, dunes, wildlife habitat, parks, and farmland. Many trail improvements resulted from block grants from the Conservancy to the Bay Trail Project. The Coastal Conservancy Association is a nonprofit organization which assists the Conservancy with projects undertaken in keeping with the mandate of the California Coastal Act. Coastal Conservancy © 2006 Coastal Conservancy A much smaller book with the same title, by Erick Mikiten, was published by the Coastal Conservancy in 1990. Coastal Conservancy Publications 1330 Broadway, 11th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612 510/286-1015 ALSO AVAILABLE: A Wheelchair Rider’s Guide: Los Angeles and Orange County Coast, by Erick and Elisa Mikiten, published by Coast- walk with the Coastal Conservancy in 2001: www.coastwalk.org or www.scc.ca.gov ALTHOUGH WE HAVE DONE OUR BEST TO BE CLEAR and accurate in this guide, we cannot guarantee that we have always achieved our goal. Also keep in mind that trail conditions change. You are responsible for your own safety. Please exercise due caution. Neither the Coastal Conservancy, the Coastal Conservancy Association, nor the producers of this book assume any liability for any injury or damage arising out of, or in connection with, any use of this book or the sites described in it. Wheelchair FM pp i-xiv, 1 5/9/06 4:52 PM Page iii Table of Contents INTRODUCTION vii HOW TO USE THIS BOOK xi Marin Coast 2 POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE 4 Bear Valley 5 Point Reyes Hostel 7 Abbotts Lagoon 7 Drakes Beach 8 Lighthouse Visitor Center 9 GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA (GGNRA): FORT BAKER AND MARIN HEADLANDS 10 Fort Baker 10 H. Dana Bowers Vista Point 12 Bay Trail and Battery Spencer 12 Point Bonita Lighthouse and Bird Island Overlook 13 Fort Barry, Fort Cronkhite, and Rodeo Beach 14 GGNRA: MUIR WOODS TO STINSON BEACH 16 Muir Woods and Muir Beach 16 Steep Ravine Environmental Cabins and Campground 18 Stinson Beach 19 San Mateo and Santa Cruz Coast 20 PACIFICA AND HALF MOON BAY 22 Pacifica Municipal Pier and Sharp Park Beach 22 Headlands Trail and Rockaway Beach 23 Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel 24 Pillar Point Harbor 26 Half Moon Bay State Beach—Francis Beach 28 Miramontes Point Trail 29 COWELL RANCH STATE BEACH TO AÑO NUEVO 30 Cowell Ranch State Beach 30 San Gregorio, Pomponio, and Pescadero State Beaches 31 Bean Hollow State Beach 32 iii Wheelchair FM pp i-xiv, 1 5/9/06 4:52 PM Page iv iv A WHEELCHAIR RIDER’ S GUIDE Pigeon Point State Historic Park and Lighthouse Hostel 32 Año Nuevo State Reserve 33 NORTHERN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY 35 Natural Bridges State Beach and West Cliff Drive 35 Santa Cruz Wharf and Boardwalk 39 San Francisco and Northern Peninsula 42 SAN FRANCISCO COAST 44 Baker Beach 44 China Beach 45 Eagles Point 46 Fort Miley and Point Lobos Overlook 46 Sutro Heights Park 47 Cliff House 48 Ocean Beach 50 Fort Funston 51 BAYSIDE SAN FRANCISCO: NORTHERN WATERFRONT AND ALCATRAZ 53 China Basin to Pier 39 53 Alcatraz 56 Fisherman’s Wharf 58 Aquatic Park 59 Fort Mason 61 Fisherman’s Wharf Hostel 63 Marina Green and the Wave Organ 63 Crissy Field 64 Fort Point 67 SAN FRANCISCO SOUTHERN BAY WATERFRONT 69 Islais Creek 69 Heron’s Head Park 70 India Basin Shoreline Park 71 Candlestick Point State Recreation Area 71 SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO AND NORTHERN SAN MATEO COUNTY 73 Brisbane Marina 74 Oyster Point Marina and Park 74 San Bruno Point Park 75 Bayfront Park 76 Bayside Park and Burlingame Lagoon 77 Anza Lagoon and Robert E. Wooley Peninsula Park 79 Coyote Point Recreation Area 80 Coyote Point to the San Mateo Bridge 82 Wheelchair FM pp i-xiv, 1 5/9/06 4:52 PM Page v TABLE OF CONTENTS v South Bay Shore 84 SAN MATEO BRIDGE TO SOUTHERN BAYLANDS 86 Foster City 86 Redwood Shores 89 Bayfront Park 92 Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve 94 Byxbee Park and Adobe Creek Trail 97 Shoreline at Mountain View 97 Sunnyvale Baylands Park 101 DON EDWARDS SAN FRANCISCO BAY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE 102 Environmental Education Center and Mallard Slough Loop Trail 103 Visitor Center, Tidelands Loop Trail, and Newark Slough Trail 104 COYOTE HILLS REGIONAL PARK AND ALAMEDA CREEK TRAIL 106 Coyote Hills Regional Park 106 Alameda Creek Trail 110 East Bay Shore 112 HAYWARD AND SAN LEANDRO 114 Hayward Regional Shoreline Interpretive Center to West Winton Avenue 114 West Winton Avenue to Grant Avenue 115 Grant Avenue to the San Leandro Marina 116 San Leandro Marina and Park 117 Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline 119 ALAMEDA AND OAKLAND 120 Bay Farm Island to Crown Beach 121 Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach 122 Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline 124 Union Point Park to Jack London Square 127 Jack London Square 129 Lake Merritt 131 Middle Harbor Shoreline Park 134 Port View Park 136 EMERYVILLE AND BERKELEY 137 Emeryville Marina Park and Bay Trail Loop 138 César Chávez Park 139 Berkeley Marina, Pier, Shorebird Park, and Nature Center 140 ALBANY AND RICHMOND 142 Albany Waterfront Trail 143 Point Isabel Regional Shoreline to Shimada Friendship Park 144 Wheelchair FM pp i-xiv, 1 5/9/06 4:52 PM Page vi vi A WHEELCHAIR RIDER’ S GUIDE Vincent Park, Marina Bay Park, and Lucretia Edwards Park 146 Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline 148 Ferry Point Pier 149 Carquinez Strait and North Bay Shore 150 PINOLE 152 Point Pinole Regional Shoreline 152 Pinole Shores Regional Park 154 Pinole Bayfront Park 155 MARTINEZ AND ANTIOCH 156 Martinez Regional Shoreline 156 Antioch/Oakley Regional Shoreline 158 BENICIA 159 Benicia Marina and Pier 160 West Ninth Street Park 161 Benicia State Recreation Area 161 VALLEJO 163 Vallejo Marina 163 River Park 165 NAPA AND PETALUMA RIVERS 166 John F. Kennedy Memorial Park 166 Shollenberger Park 168 Marin Bay Shore 170 SAN RAFAEL TO CORTE MADERA 172 Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District 172 John F. McInnis County Park 173 McNears Beach 174 Pickleweed Park 175 Jean and John Starkweather Shoreline Park 177 Corte Madera Ecological Reserve 178 TIBURON PENINSULA AND ANGEL ISLAND 178 Paradise Beach County Park 179 Tiburon Peninsula Historic Trail 180 Angel Island State Park 182 SAUSALITO AND MILL VALLEY 185 Sausalito Waterfront 186 Bothin Marsh and Bayfront Park 188 RESOURCES 19 0 Wheelchair FM pp i-xiv, 1 5/9/06 4:52 PM Page vii A Wheelchair Rider’s Guide OST BAY AREA RESIDENTS consider themselves lucky to be Msurrounded by so much natural beauty, yet too few find the time to explore more than a few of the numerous parks, trails, and open spaces within easy reach of their homes. Those in need of a fairly level and firm traveling surface—be they wheelchair riders, parents wheeling strollers, or people with canes or walkers—tend to frequent places they already know. They remain unaware of the many delights they could enjoy elsewhere along the bay and ocean, from the Point Reyes National Seashore to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, from San Francisco’s lively waterfront to the wide open marshes of the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge, to his- toric Benicia and Antioch on the Carquinez Strait, to the protected wet- lands on the Petaluma River. These and many other places are public, and you can visit many free of charge. This guide, produced as part of the Coastal Conservancy’s San Fran- cisco Bay Area Conservancy and access programs, is a greatly expanded sec- ond edition of the 1990 book by Erick Mikiten. A great many more areas have been made wheelchair-accessible in the past 15 years. We hope this book will encourage you and many others to venture to some of the places here described—more than 100 sites—and to discover others that we could not fit in, or that had yet to be built when we went to press. You may be amazed that so much public access to the shore exists in such a densely populated metropolitan region, despite the fact that real estate values are among the highest in the country. This is no accident. San Francisco Bay was saved from destruction by local citizens. Until the 1960s, its nearshore waters were widely considered to be prospective real estate. Some areas were subdivided already, though the lots were under water. Throughout the region, cities were filling the bay with garbage and rubble vii Wheelchair FM pp i-xiv, 1 5/9/06 4:52 PM Page viii viii A WHEELCHAIR RIDER’ S GUIDE to make more land for building. But then three women in Berkeley stopped all that by launching the Save the Bay movement in 1961, which led to leg- islation that established the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Develop- ment Commission (BCDC) in 1965 to prevent unnecessary filling of the bay and ensure public access.