Shellmound to Shoreline

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Shellmound to Shoreline

Berkeley, California 94703, United States

Created By: Fin, Hoof, Wheel

Tour Information

West Berkeley Shellmound to the Berkeley pier, with an homage to Strawberry Creek. Recommended to start at the murals at the Berkeley Transit Plaza. From UCB campus, take Bus 51B to the train station at University Avenue & 3rd Street. The walk is 1.5 miles and ends at the Berkeley pier, at the Seawall Drive & University Avenue bus stop.


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What You'll See on the Tour

This tour begins at the bus stop, here next to the Berkeley train station. Standing at the bus stop, first figure out the cardinal directions: Where is the ocean? That is west. Look to the north and you will see the chain-linked cyclone fen... Read more
Take a good look around in all directions. You are at the Berkeley train station, under University Avenue, and you stand atop a Xučyun Ohlone village. Here, beneath a freeway overpass, amidst a jungle of concrete, three bright murals and t... Read more
Find your way to a position in front of the beautiful mural on the south wall. In the not-too-distant past, the area around you was a marshland with small islets. Before the sidewalks and the train station and the overpass, this was the dom... Read more
Before we get our feet moving to the ponds near the highway, we can reflect a bit more on the history and exploitation of this space.  Below your feet, burnished into the concrete are visions of traditional, local culture, including some o... Read more
As you walk toward Aquatic Park, you are traversing a space of motion and commotion with a deep history. Highways, salmon runs, bus lines, game trails, and train tracks all criss-cross here. This place has been important for travel and trad... Read more
Before the construction of Interstate 80 to the West of this point, the shore of San Francisco Bay extended to the eastern edge of this lagoon. The highway was cut along the edge of the bay, leaving the mile-long lagoon forever stranded and... Read more
At this point, find the Wax Myrtle (Myrica californica) tree that grows just east of the walkway. The ramp to the overpass gives us a special access to the tree’s canopy. Reach out to feel the leaves and berries. What do you notice? All s... Read more
For the first time on our walk our view of the Bay is unobscured by freeways and industrial construction. What you see before you is a tidal estuary, the largest such ecosystem in the western United States.  Twice a day, as the ocean swell... Read more
Archaeologists will look to the contours of the land and the construction of our modern fixtures as a throughline to the past. Humans have a tendency to repurpose the infrastructure of prior communitie, and we mold our environments onto the... Read more
From this point, look across the inlet until you can find the outflow of Strawberry Creek. Through a concrete rectangle beneath the bridge, the creek enters into the bay. Here is the culmination of a creek’s somewhat tortured journey. Thi... Read more
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 for... Read more
Ground squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi) abound throughout the marina, and if you don’t see the squirrels themselves, you can easily find their trails and burrows. This is a native species that thrives in the presence of humans, using ... Read more
As you round the corner, you may be welcomed by a gust of wind. From April to September, as hot air rises in the valley of California, cool coastal air is dragged in to replace it. This pull generates a steady onshore wind from the Pacific... Read more
See how the water breaks into white caps in the wind? Sleek black shags—Pelagic Cormorants and Double-crested Cormorants—are strong swimmers that plunge into the pelagic waters in search of small fish. Grebes and Loons are also busy in ... Read more
On all sides, water. Six major bridges criss-cross the Bay, connecting the big cities at each corner. To the south, you see the Bay Bridge. Directly in front of you, the Golden Gate, and to the north, the Richmond Bridge to San Rafael. A st... Read more

 

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