Here's a screen grab of the map, focusing on the region (in my opinion) with the most hiking potential:
If you know the Amtrak Capital Corridor route, you know it stops in Martinez and Richmond, and nowhere in between. As I noted elsewhere, Amtrak ignores Point Pinole Regional Park, a great hiking destination, even though the train passes right it.
Anyway, back to my point: There are no new park acquisitions (the black diamonds in the map above) planned near the Capitol Corridor. The closest prospect is the site identified as "North Richmond Shoreline," which I don't think is adjacent to the tracks, let alone the station.
The same applies elsewhere on the map, which covers all of Contra Costa and Alameda counties, consistent with the park district's jurisdiction.
The one bright spot is that the district plans a bunch of new trail connectors, which are the dashed purple lines on the map. The most important, from my perspective, are:
- Connections between Carquinez Strait, Crockett Hills, and the East Bay Municipal Utility District Briones-San Pablo reservoir lands. This would open up a massive hiking excursion, effectively connecting the Martinez Amtrak station to the vast string of parklands stop the East Bay hills, stretching almost unbroken to Castro Valley in the south.
- The smaller trail connectors in Richmond, which would make it easier to get from the Richmond train station to places like Point Pinole and Wildcat Canyon Regional Park.
- The long stretches of proposed trail along the San Pablo Bay shoreline, connecting Martinez with Point Pinole along the water's edge (which sounds like a fantastic hike).
I'm hoping these trail connection become a priority.
For more on the East Bay Regional Park District Master Plan, including a link to a full-size version of the map above, click here.
