I never found weeds beautiful until now. They're quite high and some spikes, but the trail is…read morewell kept. So you don't necessarily need to touch them. I went on a cloudy day, and saw the trail does not have a lot of shade if you're thinking of going later in the day. Nice parking lot with one stall to charge your ev, and a Porto-potty. Maybe someday, but the trail leads to a loop and you have time to decide to commit to it if you want. I saw a few wild turkeys, many birds. Hawks fly pretty low. On this particular day there were a two peacocks on the trail looking lost. Such a gem for a leisure walk in nature.

600 acres open space with nice hills, open trails, picnic area, and very few, if any, people out…read morethere. Get outside and enjoy.

MY PHOTOGRAPHS: (1) Hawk perching on tree that is next to trail. I used a 300mm telephoto lens on…read moremy camera; (2) Tree next to trail with red berries; (3) Isolated grove of palm trees surrounded by an ocean of tall wheatgrass; (4) Pickleweed (has red color) and birds (a northern flicker and two quails); (5) Cracked mud in a dried marsh in a long strip of land between trail and the bay. The plants in the dried marsh are likely to be Frankenia salina. Mr.Rick Shroy, a photographer living in Oregon, told me that my photo is of a red-tailed hawk (and that it is not an osprey). ATTRACTIONS. Mare Island San Pablo Bay Trail provides access to a part of the S.F. Bay area (the shoreline of San Pablo Bay) that few S.F. Bay area residents have ever seen. The trail allows hikers to see plants and birds that thrive in marshlands and tidal zones. What I liked best from my two visits in November 2020, were the views of several hawks zooming here and there over the vast fields of tall wheat grass, taking photographs of a hawk perching on the top branch of tree, and taking photographs of the thick tangles of alkali heath (Frankenia salina) that grow between the trail and San Pablo Bay. The alkali heath surrounds the dried mud flat situated between the trail and the Bay, and the alkali heath also grows in oval-shaped patches situated in the middle of the dried mud flat. These oval-shaped patches are cute looking. DIRECTIONS TO THE TRAIL. From the west, take Route 37 to reach Mare Island. During your drive from the west, you will pass the parking lot and trailhead to TUBBS ISLAND TRAIL, which provides a nine-mile round trip hike, and access to the shore of San Pablo Bay. In contrast, the trail on Mare Island provides a round trip hike of only 2.8 miles, and the closest that this trail gets to San Pablo Bay is about 200 feet. If you are driving from the east, you need to find Tennessee Street in Vallejo, then drive south and cross the blue-colored bridge, and continue on to Azuar Drive, and then turn at Dump Road. At the end of Dump Road is a parking lot and the trailhead. Once on the trail, you hike south (towards San Pablo Bay) for 500 feet. Then, the trail takes a left turn (towards the east), and from there it is 7,000 feet to the very end of the trail (2.8 miles total round-trip hike). BIRDS AND PLANTS. Birds found on Mare Island include a type of raptor called an osprey. A survey from the year 2013 revealed the presence of 60 adult ospreys nesting on Mare Island. My photographs include a large hawk sitting on a bare tree. It is possible that this is an osprey. Hikers will notice the vast expanses of tall light-colored grasses. The stems of these grasses are all dry and easy to snap in half. My two visits were in November 28 & 29 (late autumn), and so it is possible that these grasses are green in the spring. I believe that these are tall wheatgrass (Elytrigia pontica), the dominant plant at Mare Island. Tall wheatgrass tolerates soil that is high in salt. Pickleweed is green in the summer and red in the autumn. Hikers will enjoy the palm trees situated next to the trail, and the distant palm trees. The distant palm trees appear like isolated islands surrounded by an ocean of tall wheatgrass. REFERENCES. (1) McGuire & Dvorak (1981) High salt-tolerance potential in wheatgrass. Crop Science. 21:702-705; (2) Ferner (2011) A profile of the San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (511 pages); (3) Brake, Wilson, Leong (2014) Status of ospreys nesting on San Francisco Bay. Western Birds. 45:191-198; (4) Mare Island Regional Park Task Force (2007) Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve (94 pages); (5) www dot mareislandmuseum dot org; (6) www dot sfbayospreydays dot org.

Access to more people. The island is kind of wasting away. The city of Vallejo should sell the…read moreisland because they can't afford to maintain it. You have all these streets that were put up and no houses. The historical buildings are nothing more than rat and bat nests.

Convenient trail from within Hiddenbrooke. If you start at the 4 way stop sign, switchbacks take…read moreyou up the hill. If you bike, you'll probably need to lift your bike a couple times over a fence. The trail forks..left takes up up a super steep trail, winds you in the hills and drops you off on a street. The end of this section is not well-maintained. If you take a right at the fork, you have a little break with flat biking (finally!!)- then you have a dramatic down then up before it drops you off at the top of Hiddenbrooke Parkway. Nice views both left and right at the fork! You may see cows, horses, a coyote..and if you tip off your bike, be careful of poison oak (speaking from experience!!) 4 stars due to parts of the trail not well-maintained.

Edit 8/15/2020: the trail is now decently maintained. Dry grass and cow poo everywhere. But it is a…read morescenic and aggressive incline hike none the less. Can't really hike this from the main road anymore, because they closed the parking area. So you have to drive to the back of the trail which is inside the hiddenbrooke community itself. Edit 6/12/2018: the trail is fairly overgrown and not maintained at this point. The trail is still hikeable, however you will be walking through tall dry grass and weeds for most of the trail. My legs got scratched up a bit. Spotted a snake wondering across the trail this time as well. Snakes are hard to see as the overgrowth obscures them fairly well. The first few hundred yards is cracked dry dirt that makes it easy to roll an ankle. I'm surprised this trail is this overgrown and not maintained given the money that is in that community. The trail is labeled at the trailhead. It is good for biking, horseback riding, and hiking. No dogs are allowed, however you will find nothing but dog shit on the main entryway for a good mile before it stops. The trail runs along some hills with constant incline and declines. However, it isn't all too difficult to hike. Half way through you will pass through a cattle walkway and enter the cow shit zone. There are patties everywhere. And you'll likely wander around some cows, but they scatter at first sight of you. The trail is clear for wearing shorts, however the ground isn't very flat as it is ravaged by cows on a daily basis.

We decided to explore River Park in Vallejo to welcome Spring and to get out into the community…read more This is a very pleasant walking path. We saw lots of friendly people with their friendly dogs on leash. Ducks and nesting geese were in the pond and the native bushes were a profusion of blooms. Towards the Mare Island Bridge, the path turns under the bridge where we met some of Vallejo's local color ... The Trolls Under the Bridge. What a fun surprise to find them waiting for us! They sent us on our way into the Vallejo Marina. We continued past the Sardine Can and a very old ferry boat before retracing our steps. We could have continued all the way down the Vallejo Waterfront if our dog had more energy. Lol Over all, a nice place to hike and a fun thing to do in Vallejo.

Nice walking trail from Mare Island Causeway to the high 37 Napa River bridge. Could definitely…read moreneed some maintenance and landscaping.

Ok, you may be wondering why the 5 stars. I've been wanting to come to this place for some time now…read morebut for some reason or another, I just haven't been able to. Well, let me share that this place is magical. There's something here. I've been carrying around some deep negative emotions, pertaining to loss and grief, and this place, after walking around and letting myself roam free, was able to clear my head. It's no wonder it's in the middle of Vallejo. I'm sure I'm not the only not first one who has had some deep issues on mind while being here. It's a cleansing place. Before walking inside, I bowed to the forest and allowed my gut to guide me. Alert. Coffee in hand. I'm so grateful. After the small walk and journey, I bowed again in reverence. Cleanse. Enjoy. Also, there's plenty of parking and flushing restrooms, although not exactly clean. Just don't sit on the toilet. Also, who sits on public restrooms anyway? We all know it's not the boujeest of places. And maybe don't come after dark. Follow the light.

Such a beautiful park. It's has a disc course, bbq pits, clear trails and bathrooms. We've observed…read morea nice variety of birds and other animals. We encountered a snake on this visit. Most dogs are on leashes and people were friendly. There were mile markers and a dog park off the trail further up.

Best place to rent any water sport/ boating !! We had the most amazing time at Berryessa simply…read morebecause of this team! They fill up the gas for you (only place around that doesn't charge you for gas) and if you run low while you're out on the water they come fill you up. I want to especially shout out Tessa and Jennifer in the front. We ended up changing our reservation and they were so accommodating and helpful. Jeremy and John/Jessie made me feel so comfortable with all of my questions and really cared about my family and so being safe and comfortable. Will use them next time we come out!!!

Extremely disappointed with this rental company. The customer service was unprofessional and they…read morehad no idea how to deal with customers respectfully. The tube they gave us was already torn before we even used it. As soon as we got on it, it ripped completely, even though we used it normally. Instead of taking responsibility for giving us damaged equipment, they blamed us and tried to charge us for it. They first demanded $230, and only after we argued with them did they suddenly lower the charge to $170, which makes no sense if we were actually responsible. I would not recommend renting from this place. Poor customer service, damaged equipment, and unfair charges. Save your money and go somewhere else.

We took a Class 3 day trip on the South Fork of the American last week. Everything was…read moreprofessionally done and went smoothly. Our equipment was in excellent shape. Our guide was experienced, patient and knew the river well. He took good care of my 10 year old granddaughter, who was a first-timer. This is a quality outfit. I recommend them without reservation. Of note: the South Fork has become a bit crowded with rafts. I'll be trying a different river next time.

I decided to do something solo for the day and I did the middle fork 1 day rafting trip with class…read more3 and 4 rapids. Thank you to my rafting guide Izzie, she was very knowledgeable and funny and she made our whole rafting feel comfortable. A yummy lunch was provided on a beautiful day and all the guides were very friendly. I definitely want to do this again because I had a blast!!

I went with my class this weekend and I made so many great memories. My guide was amazing she was…read moreso helpful, funny, kind, and made my experience so much better. Laurel you're the best!!

I decided I wanted to take the kids I nanny (11 & 13) to do something fun and unique and thought…read morewhy not finally cross off whitewater rafting from my bucket list?! We were gifted a beautiful day on the river with multiple sightings of wildlife including fish jumping, ducklings, geese, and even a bald eagle! The best part was getting to see the kids do something, get scared, have a blast doing it, and then ask to come back for more intensity next time. I really appreciated the guides for their hospitality, humor, and kindness. However my main piece of feedback would be a friendly reminder that nature and outdoor recreational activities are a form of escape and respite from our every day life, so being more mindful of the topics of conversation brought up during the ride is very important to the atmosphere.

Fantastic day. We are loyal Soar clients and always feel safe and have fun. Their new digs are…read moresweet. They're simple and well made things like 3 privacy booths with locks and mirrors and hooks. Clean safe floors. Nice washing stations. Pet relief stations. Quality and clean auxiliary toilet facilities. Far nicer than a porta John. Staff were helpful and polite. Pay attention to the tutorial !! Dude is full of tips. It really helps. A lot !! Pay attention. 1. Sunblock. A lot and often. The water reflects the sun. Respect it ! It was 101 and I was comfy and am not burned. 2. West water wicking UV clothes. Stay cool. Stay protected. Stay comfy. See reason above. 3. Hydrate. Open cheap water bottles sip a bit and then recap and freeze 3-4 bottles for each person. Then put 3-4 in cold water. Lotsa water !! No alcohol. Use water bottles and even ice tea bottles pre frozen (sip some so they don't explode in your freezer. ) instead of ice to keep your cooler semi dry. Then. Zip lock bag your snacks. Keep as much as you can in a nice zippered cooler. 4. Dry bag. Use it. But use ziplock bags too. It is an adventure. You may fall in. You may flip. Be water and valuables aware. Use the trash bags too. Don't be nasty. 5. Be prepared for a tense learning curve and agree to laugh rather than bicker while learning. It's not impossible. I'm 45 and as fat and out of shape as I've ever been and I survived. 6. Advil half way through. lol. Soar. Sore. But if you're smart. Not broken.

My family and I had an excellent experience. The river was challenging, but it was a very memorable…read moretrip! This is run by a lovely, local couple who almost felt like family in the short time we were there. They boosted the confidence of my son with reassurance and also took the time to help us get back to our vehicle after it unexpectedly broke down on our way to the river. Just wanted to say they are really good people. They also gave us great guidance to navigate the river with quality equipment!