Another Hike at Don Edwards NWR

Knowing that the Mallard Slough trail and Don Edwards National Wildlife Reserve would be closed soon for duck hunting season, I planned for a Hillside Stragglers hike for the last weekend in September. We had some scheduling conflicts arise, so the hike was rescheduled to the following Saturday, which was literally the last possible day to hike the trail.

As it turned out, there were signs up indicating that the trail would be close not just for the season as usual, but for a full two years! A major wetland habitat restoration was just underway, and we were hiking the trail just in time.

I had planned to make the full Alviso Slough Trail loop, which would have been about 11-12 miles in total. Unfortunately, Dwayne overslept as he is sometimes prone to do, and we started nearly an hour behind schedule. Additionally, Mike had injured his leg with one of his own feet, and he gimped across the finish line as it was. The hike ended up about half as long, coming in right at six miles.

The weather was nice and it was an enjoyable hike, and on the positive side we had plenty of time for stuffing our faces at St. John’s when we were done. We even followed that up with ice cream and custard in Willow Glen, so things worked out rather nicely.

Finally, I returned home and my sleep-deprived body promptly fell asleep for half an hour of glorious sleep before the family & neighbors all descended on our house as part of a vicious anti-sleep conspiracy.

I put together a short Gallery for the hike. Also, the track is available: