If you are like me, when you drive through Martinez on I-680 you think of two things: refineries and ice cream. Refineries because Martinez is full of them and ice cream because I am always thinking of ice cream. I have never exited off the freeway to explore this little city by the Bay until today. There are several sections of the Bay Area Ridge Trail in the Carquinez Strait area. We would cover about seven miles worth with a total run of almost 14 miles. We parked in sleepy downtown Martinez early in the morning. There were promises of a farmer’s market later in the day which we thought might come in handy. The Ridge Trail runs right through town paralleling the Amtrak tracks. We parked across from the station and headed west.
Right away we came to Ridge Trail evidence and some old cemeteries, always a good sign. This section of trail through town is one of many that are joint Bay Area Ridge Trail and Bay Trail segments. This sections through town ends when it enters the Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline managed by East Bay Regional Parks District. We would pick up the other end of this segment later in the day. This is also where it joins the Hulet-Hornbeck Regional Trail. We quickly entered Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline and began to climb. We passed through some scrubby oak woodlands and the slope was wicked. Before long we broke out into the open grasslands high above Martinez with a stunning view of, you guessed it, the Shell Oil Refinery. Shell established the refinery here in 1915 and along with several other refineries in the area processes crude oil so millions of Americans can burn rubber. We ambled through the grassy hills and the heat started to become apparent. We frolicked with some cows, even chasing them around at times.
We rolled through the hills and headed down towards Highway 4 where we ran past John Muir’s house and headed towards the John Muir National Historical Site where we would face Mount Wanda. Here’s the thing about the word Mount or Mt. Once before we ran up Hood Mountain and it didn’t occur to us that we would be running uphill most of the way. Silly us. Today we suffered the same fate. Mount Wanda is in fact a Mountain. It is a small mountain but when you are running and it is hot and steep, it might as well be the Rockies. By this point Corina was toast. I was trying to push the pace because I was feeling pretty good. This combination does not bode well for a running relationship. But it is an interesting form of counseling. Once on top we searched in vain for Mount Wanda. There is a major split in the trail and no sign so we went left. We ran to the top of a peak that turned out to be a just an informal look out. We continued on and as the trail began to descend we were sure we had passed the peak so we headed back. As it turns out we should have gone right at the split. We didn’t know that until we got back home and downloaded the run.
With new inspiration and hope, known as downhill running, we blazed our way back to the entrance. For such a steep hill there were a lot of people out walking up it. The people of Martinez are lucky to have the great open spaces right in their backyard. As we crossed under Highway 4 we were excited to visit John Muir’s house. One, because it is John Muir’s house and two, because Corina had to go to the bathroom and we were pretty sure he wouldn’t mind. For some reason the Ridge Trail goes to the back gate, and it was locked. Since it is a National Historic Site we decided not to scale the fence.
We pressed on and up we went, back into the grasslands where the temperature had now risen considerably. We made short work of the Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline section and were surprised as we headed towards Martinez that we were on the wrong side of the old cemetery. Somehow we took a wrong turn and entered Rankin Park, a large multi-use park in south Martinez. Corina finally found a bathroom, and a slide – what good day. Now back in Martinez we headed for the car where we planned to shed our packs and run the last couple of miles without them. We couldn’t resist making a pass through the farmer’s market where we helped ourselves to many free samples of fresh fruit. What a treat. We might start planning our runs to coincide with farmer’s markets.
We made a quick pit stop at Subway to grab a soda and then headed back to Escobar Street where we headed east towards the Shell Refinery. This last mile or so is pretty uninspiring. We had actually planned to run all the way across the Benecia-Martinez Bridge but that was not in the cards today. We made it to the refinery where we found the welcome site of the End of Trail Segment sign. Upon our return to the car we made our usual, in-the-car clothing change and grabbed some Thai food. We were impressed with Mount Wanda and could return to do some hill repeats someday. The best part about this day is that we now know that there is more to Martinez than refineries, well, a little more. Until next time.
So Many Choices
Old Cemetery
Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline
Martinez Skyline?
The Great Cow Chase
Yikes!
John Muir’s House – Back Door
Atop Mountain Wanda, Well Not Really
Another Fancy Drinking Fountain
Downtown Martinez Doesn’t Disappoint
Martinez Farmer’s Market
Shell Dominates Here
Umm Okay
End of the Segment
A Year on the Bay Area Ridge Trail 