Directions to Cook’s Point at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline Park
The first and most important thing to remember is that Point Pinole is a huge park with two entrances. Each has a parking lot. You are going to the Point Pinole Regional Seashore entrance at the end of Atlas Road. You are not going to the Giant Highway Staging Area.
On Highway 80, take the Richmond Parkway exit west, towards the bay. Cross San Pablo Ave. Turn left on Atlas Road. When you get to the intersection of Atlas Road and Giant Hwy, you are going to see a sign for Pinole Point Business Park, with a fountain, at the Stop sign. Do not turn left on Giant Highway or you’ll end up at the Giant Highway Staging Area. Stay on Atlas and go on the bridge over the creek and to the parking lot at the end. There is water, benches, information, and restrooms at the parking lot.
GPS Coordinates: https://goo.gl/maps/TFv1dn29h7kQEsnaA
Car entry fee: $3; Dogs: $2 per dog, however, there is rarely a person collecting fees at the kiosk on weekdays.
We will walk 13 minutes over a gravel road going north, so a backpack or a cart with big wheels will work best. The path is very wide and shaded by eucalyptus. You are headed to Cook’s Point, which is a beach that on the Google Map is labeled Point Pinole Regional Shoreline Scenic View Take a cell phone photo of this map before you leave the house in case you are late and reception is bad. Or you can try following the map included below, which is more detailed than a Google Map.
Description
Cook’s Point is quiet, beautiful and offers many shaded areas from which to appreciate the wonderful views of San Pablo Bay to the north and Whittell Marsh to the west, framed by eucalyptus groves. Whittell Marsh contains one of the oldest shellmounds in the Bay Area. The beach at Cook’s Point is sandy and lower than the path along it, which is on a low cliff. This particular part of the park is a mixture of grassland and woodland, with beaches and low cliffs, and it has many birds including the endangered black rail.
History
Point Pinole is the site of a number of former explosives factories; the largest of these was operated by the Giant Powder Company. Wikipedia says it was relocated to this relatively remote spot “following accidental explosions at its former sites in San Francisco and at Albany Hill.” The eucalyptus groves were planted to dampen the noise made by constant explosions. In 1960 the Bethlehem Steel Company acquired the property from Atlas Powder Company. It became an East Bay Regional Park in 1973. In 2008 the park acquired the adjoining Dotson Family Marsh site. The Atlas Road Bridge was built in 2017.
