Map 15 — Point Wilson to Carquinez Bridge

Bay Trail map 15

Pinole

The Bay Trail exists in isolated locations along San Pablo Bay in Contra Costa County, but you can visit several shoreline parks, large stretches of preserved marshland and shoreline bluffs overlooking the entire bay.

At the end of Pinole Shores Drive in Pinole, a small parking lot marks the entrance to Pinole Shores Regional Park. A paved trail leaves the parking area and leads to the southwest past Point Wilson and also to the northeast connecting to Pinole Bayfront Park and San Pablo Bay Regional Park.

A sweeping bridge provides dramatic views as it travels from the bluffs, over railroad tracks and wetlands, and lands near the shoreline at Pinole Bayfront Park where the beautiful picnic area overlooks the marshlands. Pinole Shores Regional Park eventually will be linked with Point Pinole Regional Shoreline.

At the end of Tennent Avenue, a trail (paved, then gravel) follows the shoreline for several hundred yards and works its way around the front of the city of Pinole’s wastewater treatment plant.

Cross Pinole Creek on a footbridge and follow a paved path into San Pablo Bay Regional Park. Eventually, shoreline explorers will be able to wander unimpeded between San Pablo Bay Regional Park and Point Pinole Regional Shoreline — a stretch of some 5 miles.

Across from Pinole Bayfront Park, the almost 1.5-mile Pinole Creek Trail stretches from the Bay Trail to Highway 80.

Hercules, Rodeo & Crockett

To reach Shoreline Park in Hercules, continue northeast on San Pablo Avenue and take Victoria Crescent and then Victoria Park until you reach Tug Boat Lane.

Some 3 miles northeast of Rodeo, on the bay side of San Pablo Avenue, is the San Pablo Bay Regional Trail. It consists of several miles of dirt paths winding through some 25 hilly acres, offering sweeping views of San Pablo Bay.

The sole access point to this trail is difficult to find. It’s off San Pablo Avenue, at the top of a hill, across San Pablo Avenue from its intersection with Vista Del Rio Road. Parking here is limited; only two cars can park off-road at the access point. There is no other parking nearby.

The entryway to the trail on the Carquinez Bridge in Crockett is on the northwest corner of where San Pablo Avenue turns into Pomona Street and intersects with Merchant Street.