Bay Trail: Benicia State Recreation Area to White Slough Path

This is a segment of the San Francisco Bay Trail: a 500 mile long mile trail around the Bay. This is the 17th section of the Bay Trail, taking hikers from Benicia State Recreation Area to White Slough Path. A walk through the Benicia State Recreation Area offers a sense of the shoreline as it was in the time of the Karkin people. Open space and natural rhythms prevail here. A paved trail leaves the eastern parking lot (off Military West) then turns into a paved trail/road at the main entrance (fee). From here you can hike, ride, or drive to the Dillon Point parking lot. To reach the point-an especially good fishing area for sturgeon, striped bass, king salmon, and flounderwalk down to the shoreline from the parking lot and follow the gravel trail for a quarter-mile. About half a mile before you arrive at the Dillon Point parking lot, the Bay Trail route veers west on a dirt trail and leads to Glen Cove Waterfront Park, a tranquil shoreline retreat featuring both Bay and Ridge Trail segments as well as significant Native American history. A gap in the Bay Trail between Glen Cove Waterfront Park and Glen Cove Marina currently requires an on-street work-around. From the Park, use Whitesides, South Regatta, Glen Cove Pkwy, and Glen Cove Marina Road to access the Marina. Amazing views of the Carquinez Straight, the Carquinez Bridge and the C&H Sugar facility can be had from the bluff-top Bay Trail heading west from Glen Cove Marina. This segment is a natural surface trail with stairs and is not recommended for road cyclists. To reach the Carquinez Bridge and points west via road bike, use city streets. On the west side of the bridge is the California Maritime Academy where officers are trained for duty on U.S. merchant ships. The academy's 7,000-ton training ship, the Golden Bear, is occasionally open for group tours (contact the Academy for tour info). Heading up the Mare Island Strait is where you'll find Vallejo's active waterfront, with two miles of spectacular shoreline Bay Trail and a view of the former Mare Island Shipyard across the channel. To reach the White Slough Path, continue on Wilson Ave (no bike lanes or sidewalks) when the pathway ends. Curve under the freeway and over to Sacramento Street where the White Slough segment begins.