| Field Trip: | Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge |
| Trip Date: | January 17, 2010 |
| Report Author: | Scott Hinrichs |
| Report Date: | January 29, 2010 |
The Sunday, January 17 field trip to Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge started
out very well with a good breakfast at Mil's Diner in Milpitas and a good number of participants showed up.
(I counted about eight.) Things began to go south when we discovered that the Alviso environmental
education center didn't open until 10 a.m. and the weather was threatening to rain. Our group drove
over to Alviso and did some shooting there before going back to give the visitors' center another try.
I had a canoe strapped to the top of my car, so my paddling partner and I ventured over to Mc Carthy Ranch
to launch into the Coyote Creek Slough. After hauling the boat over levees and thick grass and weeds,
I managed to get it to the muddy bank and into the water. We boarded without incident and headed
bayward with the ghost town of Drawbridge in mind. It wasn't long before our plans changed when
the sky opened up with a pretty good rain shower. We turned tail and paddled for home and by the
time I got the boat back on the car, every item of clothing was drenched. End of trip.
I hope the others had a little better luck with the day and I hope someone got some good images out of it.
In retrospect, the Fremont visitors' center might be a better choice for a future field trip.
Thanks to all those who showed up for this not-so-successful trip.
© 2010 S.R. Hinrichs
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