Port of Redwood City

Introduction

Redwood City and Redwood Creek were named after the redwood trees that were cut down in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the 19th century. They were floated down Redwood Creek, and shipped out to San Francisco at the creek's deepwater channel on the Bay. Today, the port of Redwood City is the only deepwater port in the South Bay and is an important bulk shipping center. Materials such as concrete, gypsum, aggregate, and liquid chemicals are loaded onto large cargo ships docked at the port. In more recent years, high-tech industrial parks have been built near the port. Despite all this industrial activity, the port has attractive parks and trails.

The Bay Trail here is a landscaped, wide concrete sidewalk that runs alongside Seaport Blvd. all the way to the Pacific Shores Center industrial park. It then runs around the center and along Westpoint Slough through a landscaped park. Side trips off Seaport Blvd. lead to a small waterfront park, the Redwood City Marina, and a stretch of trail around the Seaport Centre industrial park.

Access Information

Description and Views

Seaport Blvd.

This is the start of the trail, which is a wide concrete sidewalk running next to Seaport Blvd. To the right, you can see the corner of a large salt pond. If the Bay Trail someday goes along the edge of the salt pond, you should be able to take it all the way to Bayfront Park in Menlo Park.

The trail runs next to a marsh, with power towers

Birds in the marsh by the trail:


A skimmer feeding in the marsh

The trail is landscaped. This is a shady part. The trail reaches an intersection with Chesapeake Drive 0.4 miles from the start. You can cross at the signal and follow Chesapeake Drive to reach the boat docks.

The trail approaches the intersection of Seaport Blvd. and Seaport Court. There is a signal here, 0.7 miles from the start of the trail. Cross at the signal to reach the marina.  Also, Seaport Blvd. splits into 2 parallel roads. The main road on the east goes to Pacific Shores Center. The trail continues on running next to this road. The frontage road on the west allows access to the port facilities and a small park (see below).

The salt ponds east of the trail were originally owned by the Leslie Salt Company. There is a large tank here that looks like a container of salt.

This is a view looking up the trail, which runs next to Seaport Blvd., with salt ponds on the right.

This is a view east across the salt ponds of the hills at Menlo Park's Bayfront Park, the next off-road section of the Bay Trail to the southeast.

The appearance of the salt ponds changes with the seasons. After the salt is dried, it is scraped off the drying beds and loaded into rail cars like these above for processing.

This is a view northeast across the salt ponds to Pacific Shores Center.

One of the buildings has an interesting sculpture made of poles and cables.

The path runs between the parking lot for the industrial park and Redwood Creek.


Across Redwood Creek, you can see the boats docked at Pete's Harbor.


The path is shaded by trees, then runs under a solid line of bushes.

The path ends at the end of the parking lot of the industrial park. The area beyond is not open to the public.

Bair Island is actually a series of three islands that were former salt ponds. Parts of the outer two islands are part of the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The inner island is the only one accessible from land and was recently purchased by the Peninsula Open Space Trust. It is open to the public and is a popular place for jogging, dog-walking, and biking. Rules are posted. Levee trails lead around the perimeter of the island, with views of San Carlos Airport, Steinberger Slough, Smith Slough, and the outer islands. Other trails cross through the center of the island. The inner island is a mixture of dry mud flats, wetlands, and waterways. There are plans to restore the marshland on the island and provide new Bay Trail routes.

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