Alameda Creek from Niles to the Bay 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 niles
Alameda Creek from Niles to the Bay: A Really Long Skating Trail
If somebody had asked President Lincoln how long a skating trail should be, he might have said "Long enough to reach the end." Like this trail: If you start skating at the beginning of this trail in Niles and skate all the way to the end at San Francisco Bay -- and then skate back again -- you will be pretty tired.
How to Get to the Western End of the trail by Car from Interstate 880:
Exit I-880 at "Alvarado Boulevard". Take the first right onto Alvarado Boulevard, then a quick left onto Deep Creek Road. After a few blocks, go right on Ariel at Deep Creek Park, past a sign "Ashwood Village", then left on Caliban. There is some parking on the south side of the street. Look for two signs -- "No Dumping" and next to it, an iconic representation of a dog dumping. With a slash through it.
How to Get to the Eastern End of the trail by Car from Interstate 880:
Exit I-880 at the Alvarado-Niles exit, and head east on Alvarado-Niles Road. It's about ten miles from the Alvarado District to the Niles District. Alvarado-Niles Road becomes Niles Boulevard when it gets to Niles. After you cross H Street, I Street and J Street, be alert for a ninety degree left turn under a railroad bridge. This is where Niles Boulevard becomes Niles Canyon Road. A block or two after you come out of the tunnel, there is a major intersection with Mission Boulevard. Across the street on the right there is a sign "Sunol 6 -Livermore 17", and a restaurant with a huge parking lot called Big Daddy's. After you cross Mission Boulevard, on the way to Sunol, the road that wanders off to the right and looks like an extension of Big Daddy's parking lot is Old Canyon Road. Just a few hundred yards down Old Canyon Road,there is a staging area on the left, at the intersection with Canyon Oaks Court. It's down in a gully, and a little hard to spot.
What It's Like:
The trail is actually the top of a levee that runs along Alameda Creek. It's spectacularly uneventful for almost its entire twelve mile length, just a good asphalt surface that passes blissfully under streets and freeways. Some of the underpasses are better engineered than others, but they are all a vast improvement over pushing a little green button on a street light and waiting for the cars to stop.
If you start out at the western end of the trail near Ashwood Village, head up a little ramp to the top of the levee and go left. The trail runs a little over 4 miles with no crosstraffic. After you leave the subdivisions behind there are some mighty nice looking farms off to the left. They're growing sugar beets. On the right is what's left of Alameda Creek before it drips into San Francisco Bay. It's a marsh, and it's a flood plain, protected from developers, and preserved unto perpetuity as our defense against rain.
The trail has mile markers, which can be confusing for skaters because they don't measure from the beginning of the pavement. When you get near to the east end of the trail, you come to a blind hairpin turn. Be careful.
That's pretty much the end of the flat part of the trail, and it's a good place to turn back. For those who like to climb hills, you can head up the rise to the right to a signpost that points left to "Bayview Trail". If you follow that sign, you will end up at the Visitor Center of Coyote Hills Regional Park.
Later in the day, or perhaps some other day, you might go to the eastern end of the trail in Niles, where Charley Chaplin had his Essanay movie studio. As you drive into town, check out the country Western dance hall by the railroad station, and the antique stores. If it's lunch time when you get back in your car, drive through the tunnel and stop in at Big Daddy's. Look across the street at Vallejo Mill Historic Park, and the old train station. (There is an Essanay Place in this neighborhood, but it doesn't seem to bear any vestiges of Chaplin.)
Get back in the car again and drive the short distance to the staging area west of town. Start skating west along Alameda Creek. The trail is good asphalt, not overly smooth but quite serviceable. The only difficulty is in negotiating some of the underpasses, with their steep descent and immediate inclines. After going under Mission Boulevard, there is an uninterrupted stretch for one mile before you come to a railroad bridge and BART overpass. The next bridge, or sign of civilization, is nearly two miles down the path. Skate this path when you are looking for exercise, not excitement. Nature abounds to your right, tract homes to your left. As you get within a few miles of the freeway, the surroundings get more and more urban. Things don't get really open up again until the western end of the trail near Ashwood Village.
Places to Eat:
Big Daddy's is pretty well known around these parts. It's been here at the corner of Mission Boulevard and Niles Canyon Road since 1951. They do have outdoor seating, if you're wearing skates. Note, however, that Big Daddy's is an atavism of the Fifties, a major-meat barbeque establishment, so one tends to absorb the prevailing attitude of that period and not want to call much attention to oneself.
If you can still move after Big Daddy's, you can leave your car in the parking lot and skate across Mission Boulevard (Highway 238) at the light. Skate south across the bridge over Alameda Creek. Just on the other side of the bridge, there is an access to the trail on the right (partly unpaved).
Public Transportation:
The Niles Staging Area is served by AC Transit's 26 line. The 26 line goes to Fremont BART.
Ratings:
Path Surface = ***
Public Transit Access = ****
Surroundings = *****
Level of Difficulty = EASY
Overall Rating = ****
Length = Over 12 miles one way
Other trails to check out in the neighborhood:
Coyote Regional Park
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