Coyote Hills Interpretive Center in Newark: Miwok Millennia
From Richard Katz's
Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
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Chapter miwoks
Coyote Hills Interpretive Center in Newark: Miwok Millennia
There is a garbage heap a few hundred yards from this trail that's an absolute must-see. It is housed in a former Nike missile base.
Before the Spanish arrived, the families who were living here could paddle a few yards out into the bay, catch their lunch, take it home, cook it and eat it, every year for thousands of years. After thousands of years of tossing their shells into a pile, the piles became veritable mounds. Shellmounds.
Now this is no great feat. Back where I grew up in South Jersey, there was a town about thirty miles down the pike by the name of Shellpile. It was about ten or fifteen miles from Cape May, and was full of professional clammers. There was a canhouse just outside of town that processed the clams into Fancy Minced Clams and clam "juice". That canhouse over the years threw up a remarkable pile of discarded clamshells. For some reason, the town went and changed its name from Shellpile to North Cape May a few decades back. I never heard anybody utter "North Cape May". I never heard anybody call the place anything but Shellpile.
Maybe the Miwoks who lived here called their town something like Shellpile. Who knows? Half the time we call those people Costanoans; might as well call them Indians. A hundred years ago, some University of California professors tracked down the few remaining Miwoks and got them to say a few words. Alfred Kroeber wrote down an apparently unedited bit of authentic dialogue, that Kroeber entitled "Origin of the World":*
"...i'mat tu'men kue tu'man ni'mi we'ren ne'ku me wa'tin imano tu'men ne'ku me tci'iks (abalones) xa'kau isku me a'mxai me pu'lum" they told him, in relevant part.
Kroeber translated this excerpt thusly: "When low-tide, not can kill rabbits, then you go, when low-tide, then you gather abalones, clams, that you eat-with your acorn-bread."**
Apparently, this Miwok shellpile was where these folks lived for three thousand years.
Probably every day was about the same for them. Probably every year was about the same. You could rely on that. You could always walk out and grab a few clams.
Now that's peace of mind.
Call the Coyote Hills Regional Park Visitor Center 510 795 9385 to make sure the garbage heap is open that day.
How to Get There by Car from Interstate 880:
From Interstate 880, go west on Highway 84 following the signs for "Dumbarton Bridge -- Highway 84 West". Just before you get to the Dumbarton Bridge toll plaza on 84, take the exit "Thornton Avenue -- Newark". Turn right at the top of the offramp, an drive north on a road called Paseo Padre (Thornton Avenue is the same road to the south). When you see Patterson Ranch Road heading off to the left, take a left to the Park entrance. Drive ahead to the parking lots surrounding the Visitor Center.
What It's Like:
It's a challenging loop around a mountain, lots of ups and downs, twists and turns, and skating along a steep hillside.
From the Visitor Center, start skating east through the parking lot. At the end of the lot, the Bayview Trail continues a short distance on the left, then crosses Patterson Ranch Road at the signpost. This is an old, rough section of trail. Skate up to a newer signpost "To Refuge" with a left arrow. The newer pavement here goes gently downhill. Follow the sign "To Shoreline". Don't go uphill; that way the path goes nowhere. Go right; the trail winds around the hill, a bit upgrade. When you get to the other side of the hill, you will be facing the Bay. This is the hill that had the nukes. Missiles into milemarkers, swords into ploughshares.
Occasionally this trail gets a bit hard to follow, because the little metal plaques disappear from the carved signposts. As you circle the hill, be alert for bicyclists on blind turns. One of the trails headed to your left takes you directly to the Alameda Creek Trail.
The trail back to the Visitor Center is partly concrete; just stay to the left.
Don't leave the Visitor Center without stopping in to have a look around. There is a mural of the neighborhood; a video of the Indian site; an operational tule boat; and other wonders.
Places to Eat:
The Visitor Center doesn't have a commissary of any kind. They do provide picnic tables.
A few times a year you can eat at Ardenwood Farm, just around the bend from the Visitor Center. The people at Ardenwood will show and tell you all about the non-native-American food supply.
Public Transportation:
None.
Ratings:
Path Surface = **
Public Transit Access = NONE
Surroundings = *****
Level of Difficulty = Challenging
Overall Rating = ***
Length = a loop of about three miles
Other trails to check out in the neighborhood:
Alameda Creek, from Niles to the Bay. This trail actually connects with the Miwok trail, but the connecting link is steep.
*A.L. Kroeber, "The Chumash and Costanoan Languages", University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Volume 9, Number 2, pp. 237-271, November 19, 1910, The University Press, Berkeley.
**Kroeber was obsessed with deciphering these dialects. Ishi the last Yahi died after a summer of sixteen-hour days spent talking into a recorder. After Ishi died, Kroeber never mentioned Ishi's name again, according to Jed Riffe's 1993 film.
10/10/96
Note from the Author: Haven't put in links to the other chapters yet.
From Richard Katz's Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
Back to Richard Katz's Homepage
If you want to go back to the Table of Contents of Skating Unrinked, Back to TOC