Martial Cottle Park Perimeter Trail is Open!

SUMMARY: Our first walkies there

Backfill: Added May 15, 2020 because I was sure I had already done a post but apparently not. Don't know where it is. Maybe Facebook? Anyway--here you go--

Martial Cottle Park -- nearly 300 acres behind my house. I have been waiting for a decade and a half for it to open so that I could have a place to walk my dogs that's actually park-like, not neighborhood-like.

And of course now I'm in pain and Tika is old and struggling. But we went today anyway; I could hardly wait and felt good enough to go.

We walked across the top segment, left to right.
Branham on the right. Snell at the bottom.

Approaching the entrance in our neighborhood, past a neighbor's flowering tree.
Very excited, first time this is available to walk into.
And it looks great! Beautiful wood fences. Dog Poo station! How cool is that? 

Tika and Boost checking peemail.
Apparently there have been male dogs here prior to our visit. Heh.  

It is a park. There are rules.
Boost, being a Border Collie, read them and she said that we're good.

Riprap just inside the entry, in front of big gates into the agricultural area that will be leased to an organic farming company. 
This is part of the swale all along the path that might be flooded during rainfall.

Some neighbors wanted much, much more space between the trail and their back fences.
I think this is more than enough. And I, too, live in a house whose back yard faces the park.

All of this area will be landscaped. So much work that they still have to do, so we can't walk on the dirt.
Who wants to walk on dirt anyway, when we have such a nice path?

Wonderful path! The property is flat and square, but who wants another straight-away to walk down? I love the meandering, and the dotted line for people going in different directions. 
You can see how they've just finished plowing out the swale to catch rainwater and replenish the groundwater.

And the view of the mountains looking south! Mount Chual at the left; Loma Prieta next to it with radio towers (epicenter of 1989 Loma Prieta quake is under the far side of that); on the right Mount Umunhum but this photo doesn't show the radar tower. 

Caution: Congested Area.  ... Well, maybe someday...
(Looking north towards Branham.)

Now we exit the gate at the right side of the map (north actually). There's poo bags here, too. Yay! So thoughtful!

Looking back at the entrance on Branham. Such nice fencing!
And a brand new sidewalk, with an elevated side wall for people to rest on briefly if their sciatica is so bad that they need a long rest after a short walk. Not that I'd know about that.