We planned to hike to "Patrick's Point" from where one is supposed to see five(!) of the Bay Area bridges. Unfortunately, the trail leading there (Miwok Fire Trail) is currently closed due to a sudden oak disease. But even if the trail had been open, I am not sure if we would have found it... We were supposed to see it while hiking on the Shoreline Trail, but we didn't. I do not think it was our fault, as in general, it seemed to me that the trail markings in the park were pretty poor and often completely missing.
Once we realized that we won't be able to reach the Patrick's Point, we decided to take an alternative route that was supposed to lead us via the Bay View Trail back to the car. And we also managed to fail at doing that! We managed to get to the intersection of the Shoreline Trail and the Bay View Trail and pick the correct trail there, but then we passed through two unsigned intersections, where clearly we had to make wrong choices as the trail that we picked soon became impassable. We spent at least half an hour scrambling up on a very steep and slippery part of the trail, and finally after Anil slipped and almost fell down a very steep and rocky ridge, we (I) decided to give up and retrace our steps back to the first of the unsigned intersections that we had passed before. There we took the other trail, which also lead us to nowhere. At that time point we started feeling tired and frustrated, and decided to take the shortest way back to our car.
All in all we must have hiked around 8-9 miles today, mostly on the flat terrain. Even though we did not manage to get to the spectacular viewpoint at the Patrick's Point, the park was well-worth visiting. It felt amazing to find a such quiet and secluded place so close to a busy city. Also, it was the best smelling park I have ever been to!
Speaking about karma, it also seems that we do not deserve to eat basil anymore. Two last times that we went shopping to the farmer's market we did not manage to bring basil back home. First time we manage to lose it on the way from the market to the car. Second time, my best of husbands managed to pick up MINT instead of basil... Asked about that, he said he has no idea how basil looks, and that mint was labeled as basil in the shop... Men! What would you do without us, women...
China Basin SP:
