“Cyclers see considerably more of this beautiful world than any other class of citizens. A good bicyle, well applied, will cure most ills this flesh is heir to.”
—Dr. K. K. Doty
Biking buddy, Bill and I loaded up our bikes on the back of his SUV at 10 AM and headed to the Stevens Creek Trail with one stop for a chai tea latte and a small apple tart. It was cold and partly cloudy. We were dressed in layers and wore ear muffs to cut the chill. The paved all-weather pathway contains six under-crossings, six pedestrian bridges, a major 1/4 mile over-crossing structure, and a 350-foot overpass spanning over two highways (85 and 237). The trail provides users (bicyclists, walkers and runners) multiple experiences in a natural setting through woodlands, tidal marshes and creeks. We passed the Stevens Creek Shoreline Nature Preserve, Shoreline Lake Park in Mountain View, the National Wildlife Refuge, and the Palo Alto Bay lands Nature Preserve with 15 miles of trails. We paused for a little bird watching including hawks, ravens, seagulls, ducks, shore birds, and white pelicans. I took a photo of a large blue heron standing tall and wading in the creek along with some ducks, patiently stalking its' prey (tiny fish).
Our favorite part of riding these parts is to go a several feet off the main dirt trail and ride the narrow deep rutted small hilly terrain near the waters’ edge. The sun had been shining and we were much warmer than we first started.
The terrain we covered was massive. We decided to extend our adventure by riding the large hilly terrain that resembles sand dunes toward Palo Alto Airport, a general aviation facility on the outskirts of Palo Alto near the South end of the San Francisco Bay Trail. Other than a few charters there are no commercial flights. It is the tenth busiest single runway airport in California used before the pandemic by venture capitalists who flew in on their private planes or jets to cut deals. We stopped to watch the planes land and take off, and then decided to circumnavigate the airport.
I stopped to see an abandoned blue bicycle on its side with its’ front tire turned up. It looked perfectly rideable. There’s a story there we will never know. We passed Lucy Evans Nature Center, and the Historic Sea Scout building that was transformed into the ‘Eco-Center,’ a community resource for environmental education.
After a few hours of riding we headed back on the trails leading to the Hong Kong Bakery & Cafe on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View, for a snack and take-out delights to enjoy with our spouses, Sarah and Cecile. In all we rode over 30 miles round-trip and spent over three and half hours having outright fun and making a contribution to our well-being.
Photo credit: A little of isle of white pelicans at the National Wildlife Refuge overlooking a large grey building at Moffett Field. It was published in the summer issue Nature Magazine, 2019
All of the other photos are my own.
