PADDLE FROM PALO ALTO TO NEWARK AND SAVE BRIDGE TOLLS

by Norton Bell

This is a description of a trip from Palo Alto harbor to the Newark Slough boat ramp taken on June 30, 1999. I left Palo Alto harbor at 0730 on an ebbing tide. Low tide at the Gate was at 0717, -0.7 feet. I arrived at the entrance to Newark Slough at 0830. The bay was calm and smooth and the temperature was still cool. I went up Newark Slough a short way and sat and watched the seals until the tide began to turn at about 0845. On the trip up Newark Slough there were many ducks and wading birds including several families of Avocets and Mallards. I got ahead of the tide several times in the upper channel and had to wait about an hour for the flow to change. Fortunately I had a good book and some snacks. I arrived at the launch ramp at the intersection of Marshlands Road and Thornton Avenue about 1200 just as the tide changed. I pulled the kayak out of the water and walked about a half mile to the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge visitor center. There I called my wife on the pay phone and asked her to come and get me. It was a very pleasant and interesting trip. For those that haven't paddled in the South Bay I'll include some useful hints. In the description that follows all bearings are magnetic bearings and all distances are in nautical miles abbreviated "nm". A nautical mile is 6076 feet. All tides are for the Golden Gate and all depths are referenced to MLLW, Mean Low Low Water, the mean of the two low waters each day. This is the same water height reference that is used on nautical charts.

The launch site at Palo Alto is at the end of Embarcadero Road. Take the Oregon /Embarcadero exit from 101 and go east on Embarcadero to the end. There you will find free parking, a nice low floating dock, a pay phone, toilets and even a hose to wash off your boat. Low tide here is about 2 hours after the Gate so launch soon after low tide at the Gate and the ebb tide will help you leave Palo Alto and there will still be enough water to avoid the mud.

The channel from the launch site out to the bay is well marked with five red diamond channel markers all in a line. After 0.7 nm you will come to the last marker. Stop and look around. Point your boat to the middle of the railroad bridge with the little house on top and your compass should read about 327 degrees. Swing the boat clockwise to the three tall KGO radio towers and the bearing should be about 342 degrees. Seven degrees more to the right at 349 degrees off in the distance you will see another railroad bridge with a little house on top of it. Look closely at a bearing of 4 degrees and you will see a 15 foot high channel marker with a red sign at the top. That is where we are going next. It is about 1.5 miles away. Before starting off look where you have come from in case you have to go back. As you go across the bay remember the outgoing tide will carry you to the left so head a few degrees to the right. It gets shallow look around for a stream of debris to your right that floats out of the harbor and follow that stream to avoid getting stuck in the mud. Expect some mud flats for the first quarter of a mile that are only 6 inches below MLLW.

When you get to the red channel marker you will see that it has a number 16 on it and a red light that flashes every 4 seconds. It marks the right or starboard side of the deep channel when you are returning from the ocean. Green channel markers have odd numbers and are on the left side of the channel when returning. Stop at the marker and swing your boat until it bears 285 degrees. Ahead of you about 0.3 miles away you will see three poles that mark the entrance to Newark Slough. Paddle towards the middle one with the horizontal bands. When you get there swing your boat to a bearing of 13 degrees and go up the channel towards a big brown sign about 0.8 miles away. It says "No Hunting, San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge". It marks the junction of Newark Slough to the left and Plummer Creek to the right. If the tide hasn't turned yet in the narrow channel and you get stuck in the mud, get out your book and relax until the water rises and floats you off.

The left bank of the channel near the big sign is a habitual harbor seal haul out site. Stop and observe these beautiful creatures from at least 650 feet away. I carry a little 8 power monocular to look at seals and to find distant channel markers. Seal's metabolism requires them to keep out of the cold water for most of the day. If they are frightened and go into the cold water it can badly harm them. Go past them slowly and quietly keeping to the opposite side of the channel. Keep your paddle low, don't talk and don't look at them. They can sense when somebody looks toward them and this frightens them more.

When you get to the big sign at the junction of Newark Slough and Plummer Creek you have come about 3.3 nm from Palo Alto. You have 4.1 nm more to go. You can't get lost for the rest of the trip so relax and enjoy the scenery. About 0.5 nm from the sign at the junction you will come to the old Southern Pacific Railroad swing bridge. It hasn't been used since the freight line was abandoned in 1972. There has been talk about running commuter trains on the line since it goes near the Fremont BART station and connects with CalTrain in Redwood City. About 0.6 nm farther you will cross the Hetch Hetchy aqueduct that carries mountain water from the "other Yosemite" to thirsty San Franciscans. The channel from here turns and twists but it is nice and wide until you come to footbridge about 2 miles farther on. Enjoy the many birds and ducks that are feeding in the mud flats and along the banks. When you come to the first of two footbridges you will see the National Wildlife Refuge visitor center up on the hill. The second bridge is about 0.4 nm up stream from the first. Here the channel narrows and the bottom becomes stony. If the tide is still ebbing and you get stuck just wait a while until the water rises. It comes up quite rapidly once the flood tide begins. The boat ramp is only about 0.7 nm beyond the second bridge.

The boat ramp at Newark is located near the intersection of Thornton Avenue and Marshlands Road. Exit off Highway 84 onto Thornton Avenue and go south 0.8 miles to the big National Wildlife Refuge entrance sign on the right. Turn right about 300 feet past the Refuge sign and you will be at the boat ramp. The ramp is covered with mud at low tides so exiting from a kayak can be tricky. There is a tree branch on one side of the ramp that I used to pull myself out of the kayak and climb up onto the grass without getting muddy. While doing this I hung onto the bow line carefully to keep it up out of the mud. Next I walked to the grass on opposite side of the ramp and pulled the boat up the ramp. The bow line should be at least 20 feet long for this operation. After the boat was out of the mud I turned it over and scraped off the sticky mud before it dried and hardened. Next time I take out at this place I will leave the boat in the water until the tide raises it above the sticky mud. If you do this you can tie up the boat to pipe located near the ramp while you phone for someone to take you back to Palo Alto. A pay phone is located about 0.5 miles west in the parking lot at the Refuge visitor center. (You did take bring coins for the phone didn't you?).

Here are some suggestions about timing. You want to leave Palo Alto an hour or two before low tide there and you want to go up Newark Slough on a flood tide. You want to be off the water before the summer afternoon winds start blowing. Since low tide at Palo Alto is about 2 hours after low tide at the Gate, you should leave Palo Alto between 0800 and 1000 on days when low tide at the gate occurs between 0600 and 0800. Low tide at the entrance to Newark Slough is about 2 hours later than the Gate so you should start up Newark Slough more than 2 hours after low tide at the Gate. This allows about 2 hours to paddle the 2.6 nm across the bay from Palo Alto. I have found that low tide at the Newark ramp is about 5 hours after low tide at the Gate so this should give you more than 3 hours to go 4.9 nm to the ramp at Newark arriving there after the tide has started to flood and before the afternoon winds kick up. Remember, take a good book to read in case you get ahead of the tide in Newark Slough. Don't forget lunch and water.

A good compass is a necessity for navigating around the bay. Here is a summary of compass bearings and distances:

FROM TO BEARING DISTANCE, NM

Palo Alto harbor Palo Alto channel entrance 4 0.67

Palo Alto channel entrance Red channel marker #16 3 1.5

Red channel marker #16 Newark Slough entrance 285 0.3

Newark Slough entrance Newark Slough NWR sign 13 0.8

Newark Slough NWR sign Newark boat ramp N.A. 4.1

A GPS receiver is not needed for this trip if the visibility is good across the bay. For GPS users here is a table of the waypoints used along with suggested names: Fry's has a GPS receiver for less than $100.

NAME N LATTITUDE W LONGITUDE WAYPOINT NAME

Palo Alto harbor 37 27.470 122 06.076 PA-HBR

Palo Alto channel entrance 37 28.101 122 05.799 PACHNL

Red channel marker #16 37 29.565 122 05.190 FLR416

Newark Slough entrance 37 29.717 122 05.516 NRKCNL

Newark Slough NWR sign 37 30.404 122 05.049 NRKSGN

Newark boat ramp 37 31.684 122 03.938 NRKRMP

Map references:

NOAA Nautical Chart 18652, "San Francisco Bay to Antioch California", is essential for navigating the bay. It is available from boat stores or mail order from West Marine, 1-800-262-8464 or order online at www.westmarine.com. The cost for this six page collection of maps is $15.85. For this price you get 2700 square inches of excellent multicolor maps!

The "Mountain View" and "Newark" USGS 1:24000 scale topographic maps cover the trip described. They are available for $4.00 each from the USGS map sales in Menlo Park. (You can look at them without buying). A giant index map of California topographic maps is available for free.

Please contact me if you any questions about this trip. Norton Bell, 1805 Cowper St., Palo Alto CA 94301.

Call me at 650-328-8139 or send e-mail to "nwbell@juno.,com"

Rev.: 7-6-99