Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline

From the trailhead, you climb a long, gentle hill for several hundred yards to a fork. There you can veer right and travel uphill to a picnic area, where a dirt trail travels inland, or continue on the smoother paved shoreline trail, as I did. The shoreline trail continues to wrap around the hillside to a spur that takes you to Roger Berry’s metal sculpture “Rising Wave.” This is a good place to enjoy views of the Bay, San Leandro Marina, and the airport’s control tower. You’ll need to retrace your route to reconnect to the perimeter trail; the other dirt trails from here are too steep to navigate in a wheelchair. Back on the shoreline trail, birdsong and the sound of water lapping against riprap draws your attention.

The trail curves inland toward a small bay that separates the park peninsula from the airport. You’ll soon come to the Bill Lockyer Bridge (railings are 54” high but are slatted so you can see through them), which crosses the San Leandro Slough and travels a half-mile past a golf course to dead-end at the BART station for the Oakland Airport. The noise from the trains will likely be very loud. The Bay Trail then travels in either direction, parallel to Airport Drive. The stretch from the bridge to the dead end is more of a connector route for cyclists than an enjoyable extension of the shoreline trail. If you continue on the perimeter trail instead of crossing the bridge, the asphalt ends and you can turn right and continue on a compacted dirt and gravel road another.7 miles to close the loop, or turn back and retrace your route.