Tidal mudflats

Now you are approaching the bridge above the Strawberry Creek estuary, such as it is. Approach slowly as you may notice that the birds are responding to your presence. Remember, these are wild creatures and they likely regard your human form as a threat. Millenia of pressure has made these animals wary of bipedal apes. Take a fresh view of the birds that are active here, what can you find? Check the mud on the banks of the Bay by the bridge. Can you find any footprints? In addition to the possible dog or kid, can you find a raccoon hand, an opossum foot, or a duck or gull. Tracking and investigating the signs that animals leave behind is a powerful way to enter their worlds. Oftentimes we can learn more about an animal by tracking them than we could during the brief times that we can actually see them. A skilled tracker could likely recreate a vivid picture of life at this spot by venturing down to the back and checking the mud. Go for it if you feel it is safe to do so!

Find the sinewy course of Strawberry Creek through the mud. The drainage system is transformed with each tide. Notice how the sediments of the Bay are shaped to the outflowing water. At low tide, this drainage course stretches far into the Bay, and at high tide the freshwater system is fully inundated. Look out over the Bay. Given its vastness, and the large ships in the ports, you may be surprised to learn that most of this water is no deeper than 15 feet (5 meters). South of the Bay Bridge, the water in most places is less than 3 feet (1 meter) deep. Big ships are able to pass through the bay because the floor is dredged, clearing deep channels for commercial passage. The little Island that separates the two spans of the Bay Bridge is called Yerba Buena, named for the “good herb,” a sweet-scented perennial that adorns the oak and madrone groves on the island’s shoreline. Fanning out from Yerba Buena is the flat area called Treasure Island, formed from years of artificial deposition from the dredging of these waters.

Turn and look back toward the brickyard. From just behind where the brickyard projects into the bay you will see a tall white apartment building. Beside this building is the site of another shellmound, known as the Emeryville Shellmound. This was one of the largest constructions in the East Bay, measuring 300 feet in length. Like the Berkeley Shellmound, it was plundered and razed post-contact, and it is now overtopped by roads, parking lots, and a shopping district.