Walking Time: 4 hrs., 25 min. (12:35 - 5:00 p.m.)
Start and End Point: public parking area, Napa-Sonoma Marshlands/Tubbs Island trail, Sonoma, CA
Imagining that I might be almost 1/2 way around the Bay, I celebrated by taking the longest walk since I started, the Tubbs island trail in Sonoma. Along the way, I enjoyed listening to red-winged blackbirds (shown), and views of agricultural fields, wildflowers and green fennel that lined the edge of the trail. And I had a nice view of the bay along the water. In the distance, looking east, I could peer into the Carquinez Strait.
Because of the trail's length, I have a feeling not many walkers get all the way out to the end. To those who do go this year: warning, this trail eats shoes and spokes. I might have avoided the whole shoes getting sucked into the mud fun if I'd been a trained circus monkey and could have scampered over the metal, wide ladder-like structures bridging two gaps in the trail. But, alas, I was a clumsy human. I was puzzled to find the first of these structures. As I wanted to complete the trail, I had no choice but to walk around it. I thought I had safely made the crossing when, sluuurrrp, sluurrrp, I managed to step on a small area of quicksand-like mud, which sucked off both my shoes. Fortunately, I was able to reach into the mud and yank them out. Otherwise it would have been a very long 3-5 mile-walk back to the car. The good news was that the mud managed to seal off a few areas where little stickers had been getting in and poking my feet.
Earlier I met two bicyclists, and one had lost some spokes (pictured) to a woody clump of plants growing in the middle of the trail.
Wildlife Sightings:
1 lizard; 37 red-winged blackbirds; 15 little brown jobs (LBJs) (includes 6 yellow finches); 3 clouds of (waist-to-eyeball-level) gnats; 2 areas w/ ants; 12 unidentified brownish shorebirds; 26 ducks; 6 white butterflies; 1 snowy egret; 1 great egret; 1 ladybird; 1 kite; 1 sea gull; 1 rabbit; 2 hawks; 1 bumblebee; 1 cormorant; 2 pheasants; 1 turkey vulture; 1 killdeer; 1 small black beetle; 3 unidentified flying bugs.
We also had a sticky mud adventure when biking and hiking at Tubbs Island. Even a tiny amount of rain can make this flat, level trail into
ReplyDeletea quagmire.
Hiking the Tolay Creek Tubbs Island Trail at San Pablo Bay NWR - BRT Insights 26nov2011