Beaver Run

Regular readers of my blog may have been asking themselves why there has not been any reference to the Benicia State Recreation Area (aka Beaver Run) since my blog of March 19, 2010, before we even moved in.  I have only been to Beaver Run once before today.  That was in 2010 when The Dot and I rode bikes there.  But today The Hub and I decided to drive there and take a walk.  The entrance is about two miles from Wellington, so we could technically have walked it.  But we didn't.  And it's a good thing, because the best part of the park is about 2.3 miles from the entrance.

This is a nature preserve and you have to stay on the paths.  Some paths are little dirt trails and some are paved for walking, biking and even driving your car in some areas.  This picture below was accidental, but I kind of like it.

We saw a lot of pickle grass which I remember from Field Trip days was used by the Patwin Indians in this area.  And according to the brochure, the endangered northern salt marsh harvest mouse depends on it for cover.  The picture below shows a lot of it covering the ground.

There are a lot of low lying areas which I imagine become very marshy when there isn't a drought.  I saw a beautiful pheasant land in this area.

 There were some little water ways that seem like they would be perfect beaver habitats.  But we didn't see a single beaver.

 Apparently there are otters in these areas as well, but we saw zero of them.

When you come to about the two-mile mark, the straits and bay look like a large lake.  It was a gorgeous day with lots of boating and fishing.

Although we didn't see a single beaver or otter, we saw about a dozen ground squirrels.  If you look carefully you can see this little guy on this fence to the right of the frame.  He was lounging in the sun.

We also saw an egret, a hawk, a lizard and about 50 shore birds.  And we heard a mocking bird and what was either a deer or a bear in an overgrown area.  We're counting it as half a deer.

Here is a map of the area.

We started off the  map at the top right corner, to the right of where you see highway 780.  We parked on West K and walked up the path and into the park.  Then we looped up where it goes off the map in the top left corner and back onto the map and down to the point, where the restrooms are and you can see Dillon Point.  It was 2.3 miles from the start of the park to where we turned around.  I think we'll have to go back more often than every four years if we want to see a beaver.  I'll keep you posted.

And here's a picture of the bread I baked yesterday.  It was The Hub and my 35th going-steady anniversary.  So I made a nice veggie lasagna and this bread which I'm only shoving on the blog because, isn't it gorgeous?   It was 35 years ago that he asked me to go steady and gave me foot pegs for his motorcycle.  It was a mere six years later that we got married, but the foot peg anniversary, that was the start.