My World #13: Point Pinole Regional Shoreline

About The Park

The journey is as scenic as the destination at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline, a 2,315-acre parkland right next to densely populated Pinole, Richmond, and San Pablo. Trails lead through breezy meadows with wildflowers in season, through aromatic eucalyptus woods, or along bluffs and beaches on San Pablo Bay.

There are beautiful views of Mt. Tamalpais, the Marin shoreline, and San Pablo Bay with its sailboat and shipping traffic.

Park Activities

Visitors can birdwatch, hike, ride their bicycles or horses, or take the park’s shuttle bus for a mile and a half to reach Point Pinole’s 1,250-foot fishing pier. There is a small fee to ride on the shuttle bus (see Shuttle Ride Fee under Park Info).

Although a State fishing license is required to fish along the 5.5-mile shoreline, none is needed to fish from the pier. Sturgeon is the big quarry there; striped bass, bay rays, leopard sharks, perch, kingfish, and flounders are among the other catches of the day.

Park Features

Point Pinole Regional Shoreline features over 100 species of bird due to a myriad of habitats within its 2,315 acres. Bird life can be found on sandy shores, marshland, eucalyptus groves, meadows, and in a fresh water pond while meandering along the park’s twelve miles of trails.

The eucalyptus woodlands, originally planted as a buffer against potential explosions, now shelter wildlife instead, such as deer, hawks, owls, Monarch butterfies, and many other species. Shorebirds wade at the beaches, and the salt marshes are home to song sparrows and harvest mice.

History

Point Pinole opened to the public in 1973 after a long process of acquiring the property from Bethlehem Steel. Bethlehem had acquired the land in the early 1960s from Atlas Powder Co., one of several firms that had manufactured gunpowder and dynamite there for almost 100 years

(All text are from the website.)

While I may have copied what the website has to say to fully describe what the park is about, my love and enjoyment of the park is beyond words.  No matter what the season, it’s such a pleasure to walk the length and width of it.  We bike here too and my husband and I never go there without a camera in hand.

For years of visiting it I have not seen it the same way.  There is always something new, something different.  And in the future I hope to show you some more photos I would surely take of the park in future visits.

Wanna learn more about other people’s world?  Go visit the site and enjoy.