S. F. Bay Trail in Hayward Regional Park - 9/6/2001

The Hayward Regional Shoreline covers 817 acres along the bayshore between Hwy 92 and San Lorenzo Creek. It consists of sloughs, marshes, mud flats, rocky shoreline, and former landfills. In 1854, John Johnson built levees here in the salt marshes to create the first commercial
salt production ponds on San Francisco Bay. In those days, salt was used for food preservation and silver mining. The ponds are no longer used for salt production and have mostly been restored to marshland. Landings were built on the shoreline in the 1850's to transport passengers, salt, and farm products to San Francisco. The Bay Trail runs mostly along the Bay here on dirt levees originally built for salt ponds and across newly-built bridges.

The Hayward Shoreline is a great place for seeing how the tides affect the Bay and the inland marshes. The bayshore changes radically, from wide mudflats at low tide, to wave-washed rocky and terraced shores at high tide. On the many bridges in this area, you can watch the tide waters rush in and out to feed and drain the sloughs, creeks, and marshes. At low tide, the marshes are mudflats, covered with scurrying birds probing in the mud for food. At high tide, the marshes are flooded, with birds lazily floating on the surface, wading the shallows, or diving underwater for a meal.

We started at the Grant Ave. (North End)