Walking Distance: 2.4 miles
Walking Time: 1.5 hours (9:10 - 10:40 a.m.) with lots of stops
Start & End: Parking lot at end of Bay Road, Cooley Landing; East Palo Alto, CA
This morning I finished the trail I had started yesterday at Ravenswood Open Space Preserve. At the end of the trail was a nice observation platform, that made for a nice quiet stop, with a view of the Dumbarton bridge just to the north. Unlike late yesterday, when I was being pelted by dust specks in the wind, it was calm this morning, making it easier to see and hear birds, insects and other signs of life. I looked for a trail heading back toward University Ave. (grey dotted line on map shown), but didn't see anything like this. A trail like this would come in handy for my next segment I plan to hike. But, the next few miles look a bit iffy.
Wildlife sightings: I heard a few songbirds at the beginning, and spotted several small swift or swallow-looking birds darting around. Naturalists, my apologies, I'm learning about the wildlife right now. Other than that, I spotted two egrets flying a ways off, and just a few flowers and insects (a dragonfly, some tiny butterflies, a strange looking bee) this morning. Just a soft buzz of electrons from the transformers I was walking next to....otherwise, it was nice and peaceful.
Cautionary tale: On the drive back home, while stopped at a stoplight, the car in front of me slowly rolled backward until it hit my car. In talking to the young woman driver a few minutes later, she explained that she was wearing flip-flops (sandals like I'm wearing to hike around the bay), and she'd had some kind of malfunction while trying to take one of her flip-flops off (or trying to put one on, I'm not sure which), which prevented her from stepping on the brake and halting her roll backward. In her defense, she was only wearing the flip-flops because she went out last night and was wearing high heels, which irritated her foot, and thus caused her to wear flip-flops this morning. Hmmm. I'm not sure I get it; but she was nice, and apologized for the trouble.
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