King Tides walk along the estuary

Today the Friends of Sausal Creek and Waterfront Action hosted a walk along the estuary to look at the effects of the King Tide. The walk was led by local historian Dennis Evanosky, and despite being on a Thursday, there was a large turn out, with 50 people and 4 dogs.

We started the Fruitvale Bridge Park, which is where Sausal Creek flows into the estuary. If you weren't familiar with the area, it probably didn't look much different, but it's clear in the above photos how much higher the water was for the King Tide. Particularly notice the gravel bank to the left that's completely gone when the water is high. Normally there's a small drop from Sausal Creek into the estuary; instead the water was high enough to flow back into the culvert a ways.

As we walked along, Dennis told us about the history of the area, from the days of the Ohlones to the Spanish and the Peraltas to more recent times. The history isn't just cultural, it's also geographical. Sausal Creek used to flow freely into the estuary instead of being culverted much of the way, and the shore around the estuary was very different then. Most notably, Alameda was then a peninsula, and the areas near the shore where much marshier.

A nice easy walk, with lots of birds to see. If you want to see near the other end of Sausal Creek (actually, Palo Seco Creek which feeds into Sausal Creek), come on the Oakland Urban Paths walk on Saturday, February 8. That will be more of a hike on dirt trails, with lots of elevation to climb.

More pictures from the walk:

a fresh bite of Oakland food news

Some Oakland food news that's so fresh it's still sizzling. On my ride to Fruitvale BART this morning I noticed a brightly colored building near Brookdale that I didn't remember seeing with some extra activity. Riding home after work I stopped briefly to get the scoop, and it's a new restaurant featuring Filipino street food. They don't have a website yet, and they're still figuring out the menu. I'm not even sure if they have a name yet. This is a soft opening; they'll have a formal opening in a couple weeks, I think. I'll post more as I hear about it. In the mean time, stop by and say hi to Art and his crew, or call 510-789-6343 to order ahead for take-out.

Creek to Bay Day

Saturday was the 16th annual Oakland Creek to Bay Day to cleanup waterways and shoreline in Oakland. It was part of the International Coastal Cleanup effort around the world.

There were projects all over Oakland, including several not far from home. But I selected a project somewhere I'd never been in Oakland, W.D. Wood Park near Reservoir Hill, between Fruitvale and I-580 (not far from the Altenheim.) Sausal Creek runs along the east side of the park, but as is the case for too many creeks in Oakland, it runs underground in a culvert. The park itself was created when leakage from the nearby reservoir contributed to unstable soil, and an entire neighborhood sank in the 1950s. The Corps of Engineers stabilized the hillside with piles driven deep into the ground, but it was too late for dozens of houses. Unable to safely rebuild, the area was turned into a park in 1976.

A couple of dozen volunteers turned out to help clean up the park. I don't know how many trips Phil made back up the hill with his pickup filled to overflowing, but we filled the dumpster more than half way with 3 hours of work. It would have been completely full, but I enlisted the aid of some of our younger volunteers to help me flatten down and redistribute the load. Besides removing broom and other invasive species, and picking up some trash, we also planted a few native plants in areas that had already been cleared.

In our local brush with fame, KRON Channel 4 showed up to get some footage and interviewed Lisa, one of the coordinators of the cleanup. And city council member, Ignacio De La Fuente showed up to work, too. While he and his staffer showed up late, I think it was because he'd been to another cleanup site in his district earlier. And to his credit, he was working hard when I saw him down the hill. IDLF has worked to get funds for the park to get a play area and other improvements.

Although it was a fairly short day, we got a lot done. Thanks to Lisa and Jill who organized the cleanup, and all the volunteers who worked hard. But cleaning up Wood Park isn't a once-a-year thing; a group of neighbors is out there every 3rd Saturday to work. And very likely there's a neighborhood group that does similar things at a park near you. So get out there and make Oakland better!


More photos:

Creek to Bay Day

More coverage:
Oakland North

exploring the Sausal Creek watershed

Sometimes I think I've explored other parts of Oakland better than I've explored the hills where K and I live. When I'm elsewhere in Oakland, I tend to try new routes, go through different neighborhoods, seek out new things. Closer to home, we tend to stick to the same places—I don't know how many times we've hiked the same trails in Huckleberry and Redwood regional parks, or taken the same routes to Montclair Village. So yesterday, K and I decided to hike someplace new.

Many Oaklanders are probably more familiar with the middle stretch of Sausal Creek, where it passes through the Dimond and the topographically named Sausal Creek neighborhood, roughly parallel to Fruitvale Ave. The Dimond has some awesome wayfinding mosaics (featured on Oaktown Art) to point people towards it. But the upper part is fed by Shepherd Creek and Palo Seco Creek, then cuts the Dimond Canyon through Oakmore, draining a large section of the Oakland hills.

We headed to the western part of Joaquin Miller Park, just off highway 13, to one of the upper parts of the Sausal Creek watershed. Looking at some very helpful maps from the Friends of Sausal Creek, it turns out we're actually in the watershed at home. We're on the Shepherd Canyon side of a largish ridge, and Shepherd Creek feeds into Sausal Creek. (Also check out great info on the geology of the area on Oakland Geology.) We started with a short, steep hike up to Visionary Ridge, to a viewpoint favored by Joaquin Miller himself. We hung out there for a while, admiring the sweeping view of Oakland.

redwoods

Then we headed further up Palo Seco creek. There are gorgeous redwoods, which while not as old as the ones in Muir Woods, are every bit as beautiful. The area was heavily logged in Oakland's history, with redwoods being used for ship's masts and building construction, but new trees have grown up since then. We crossed the creek and walked down a narrow trail on the other side.

Eventually we reached highway 13, where the creek temporarily dives underground and under the freeway, and so did we -- there's a pedestrian underpass linking Mountain Blvd. and Monterey Blvd. A short walk took us back into redwoods and a trail following the creek. Near the Montclair Golf Course, Palo Seco Creek joins with Shepherd Creek to form Sausal Creek. From there it flows down Dimond Canyon. We ended our exploration at the Liemert Bridge over Dimond Canyon, but the creek continues through Oakmore, the Dimond and along Fruitvale Ave., with various parks providing access to it.

Sausal Creek joins the estuary

The lower part of the Sausal Creek watershed is considerably less glamorous than the upper part. Just before the creek reaches International Blvd., it goes underground, resurfacing where it drains into the estuary. There's a very small park near the Fruitvale Bridge, and a marker embedded in the concrete to note it's Sausal Creek.

More pictures in my Sausal Creek watershed album:

Sausal Creek watershed

seeing

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. And another day I wished I'd had a camera attached to my bike helmet or something, to capture some of the scenes as I rode to work via Fruitvale BART and back: younger siblings coming back with mom after dropping off a child at school; a line of people at a bus stop facing away from the street to shade their cellphones; a group of older men on the balcony of a house or apartment just watching the world go by.

For a little variety I meandered my way back from Fruitvale BART, and rode back past the Central Reservoir and various neighborhoods I hadn't seen before. No new signs as they were primarily residential, but I enjoyed seeing them nonetheless.