The Coronado loop

December 18, 2019

I start my day a bit earlier than Rachael this morning, waking up early from jet lag and heading down to the coffee shop downstairs just after it opens at six. A tiny place, it has just two indoor tables; but you might as well sit outdoors anyway because the windows and doors are all wide open even though it’s quite cold out. I enjoy my morning coffee and an unexpected treat - a toasted bagel with peanut butter. There really are some nice things about being home again.

In our new home in the Gaslamp District. A very livable unit that we’d be happy with for a longer stay, but we’re not that enthusiastic about the neighborhood and its significant homelessness problem. It’s not a place Rachael feels comfortable about venturing out alone in after dark.

Rachael is up when I return to the apartment, but not feeling herself. She feels queasy, wonders if she has lingering symptoms from our brief illness, and thinks she should take the day off - run some errands, get a haircut, stay close to home. We agree that I should take one for the team today and go out riding on my own so we don’t stay stuck with a silly one mile of accumulated cycling for the tour.

I decide to ride the loop around San Diego Bay - it follows the bay line south to its end, then back up the east side to the end of the spit at Coronado. At the end I’ll catch the ferry back to San Diego. It’s a good ride for me to take alone anyway, because at the south end sits the San Diego Bay Wildlife Refuge, one of the best birding sites I’ve visited. We rode this loop in reverse when we were here before as part of a longer ride, and it pained me to keep biking past the many birds on the water and not be able to slow down for a real look. It should work well to be on my own, take the whole day, and stop as often as I want.

It’s surprisingly cold when I start out, and the sky looks marginal. I thought it was supposed to be a sunny day but didn’t bother to recheck this morning. Without a raincoat along, I get concerned and give Rachael a call. She looks at the forecast and reassures me - cloudy and cool this AM, but clearing by mid-afternoon. No chance of rain, so I should be fine.

Looking back at the sky over the city, I’m wondering which way the weather is doing. Is it clearing or getting darker? A glass half-full sort of question. It worries me a bit, because I didn’t read the forecast or bring a rain jacket.

The first eight or nine miles down the west side of the bay are nothing to get enthusiastic about. It’s primarily industrial, the route is mostly just on streets or a bike path following the edge of the city. The route is poorly marked, it’s easy to lose your line without the GPS guiding you. Safe enough, but not a ride you’d take for its own sake. The good stuff is all beyond it, and it’s the best way south from the city. It’s a pretty heavily used route, and bikes come by regularly from the other direction.

No reason to stop other than to check directions or backtrack a bit, until I reach the South Bay Salt Works - the first genuine attraction of the ride, and what I’d consider the real start of it. Salt extraction and processing here dates back to at least the early 1870’s, and for many years this was the major salt supplier for Southern California. Through the end of the 20th century it was the second largest salt producer in the state. Over a million tons of salt have been extracted here since the plant’s inception.

Salt is still produced here, but operations are under transition. The land is now owned by the U.S. fish and wildlife commission, and its value as a wildlife habitat is now given more consideration.

After about eight miles crossing the industrial south waterfront, we some to the South Bay Salt Works, the first really interesting point on the ride.

Shuffling salt must be a complicated problem. The driver made four or five runs at places to dump this load before finally picking this spot.

Looking north to the city, ten miles away, from the south end of San Diego Bay. The arc across the middle is the bridge connecting San Diego and Coronado on the opposite side of the bay.

Just past the salt works the route joins the excellent Bayshore Bikeway - a paved cycleway that closely follows the line of the bay for the next fifteen miles, all the way to the end of the long spit at Coronado. The miles crossing the south end of the bay are the best though - there’s no road beside you, the reedy marshes at the south end of the bay are not far off, and the bay is full of birds. Lots of birds. Widgeons, Avocets, shovelers, coots, grebes, herons, egrets, stilts. With a powerful zoom and a lot of time, you could compile a lengthy list here. Even staying just on the bike path and seeing what’s close at hand it’s an impressive show.

Progress is very slow for the next five or ten miles. Frequent stops, many photos. Those I found worth sharing are bunched at the end of the post.

Just beyond the salt works we join the Bayshore Bikeway, which we’ll follow all the way to the end of the ride in Coronado.

The coming miles follow the edge of San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, one of the best birding sights I’ve seen in this country.

Looking east across the bay we see some real mountains. Julian, our intended pathway to Borrego Springs, is in there somewhere, 4,000’ up. Too bad we’re not crossing today, when the weather would be ideal.

Another look across the bay, with the salt works on the left.

Not long after turning north, the bike path picks up a highway on its western shoulder. It’s still excellent riding, with everything you want to see still on the bayside anyway. It’s just not as peacefully quiet, and the sounds of the birds don’t come through as well over the roar of the traffic on your shoulder.

A few miles from the end of the point the ride comes to the southern outskirts of Coronado, a village that feels like a cross between a bedroom community for the city and a seaside resort. Big golf courses, big marina, nice beaches. After a few miles following the shore line through Coronado, the bike ends at the terminal for the ferry back to San Diego. A great ride, even with the first industrial eight miles included.

Rachael is taking a pass on dinner tonight as a health precaution, so I end the ride with a late afternoon lunch at a Greek deli, enjoying a souvlaki plate and a craft beer. Craft beer! Another plus about being back in the states again. Afterwards I catch the ferry back to town, boarding just before sundown. The ride across the bay at sundown is a pure delight, and something I didn’t really plan on specifically. Most people ride this course in the other direction, but taking it this way and coming back to the city at sundown is really spectacular.

When I get home, Rachael is feeling back to normal. We celebrate by going to a show at the movie house just around the corner, seeing a delightful new film we highly recommend to filmgoers: Knives Out. So there are three good things about being back: bagels with peanut butter, craft beer, and a good movie. We’ll miss Spain, but there are compensations.