Alviso Marina - Aug. 15, '11

Walking Distance: 4.8 mi. (estim.)
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 7 min. (5:56 - 8:03 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Parking lot, Alviso Marina County Park

This evening was my first visit to the Alviso Marina County Park and glimpse of some of the older buildings in the Alviso Historic District. My goal was to walk a series of shorter roads (mostly double yellow lines on Bay Trail map) and a short segment of solid red line trail in the Historic District.


Over-pumping of ground water apparently led to a sinking in elevation of part of old Alviso by the Marina area, and likely contributed to some buildings being abandoned.

One such building looked like an old cannery. Another, wood building around the corner looked like an old saloon. A large flock of pigeons seemed to have taken over another partially collapsed building.

Boats in the marina/channel area could be glimpsed through a sea of grasses, further accentuating a sort of lost-ancient city feel -- at least in comparison with Silicon Valley office parks and multi-story, cube-style buildings in the distance.


From the Marina parking lot, I walked down (Hope St. to Elizabeth to) Gold St. to Lafayette and Yerba Buena Way (on the far side of the Highway 237 underpass), and turned around.

On the way back I took the path to the left, just past where the Guadalupe River intersects with Gold St. (short, solid red line on Bay Trail map), which took me back to the Alviso Marina area. I then walked along State St. to Spreckles Ave. and walked the full length of Spreckles, before turning around and returning to the Marina via State Street.

Wildlife:

48 pigeons; 11 sea gulls; 1 hawk; 1 great blue heron; 5 black-necked stilts; 17 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 snowy egret; 2 ducks; 1 mockingbird; 32 starlings; 1 robin?; 1 snail (up on plant); 1 screw; 1 barking "farm" dog (chihuahua that run out under fence to give chase for a bit)