Directions to Meeker Slough

Take 580 towards the San Rafael Bridge.

Option 1: Get off on Marina Bay Parkway. Cross Regatta Blvd and continue on Marina Bay Parkway, going through the Marina Bay development.

Option 2: Get off at Regatta Blvd. Make a left on Marina Bay Parkway and go through the Marina Bay development.

Once on Marina Bay Parkway, watch your left carefully for the small sign for Bayside Drive, and turn left. Our meeting location is the roundabout at the end of Bayside Dr. We will walk together to Meeker Slough.

If you are late, park anywhere along Bayside Drive and walk past the roundabout into the Bay Trail. Make a right and continue along the paved path. You should see us as soon as you see the bay water.

Description

The peaceful slough sandwiched between the Berkeley Global Campus and the Marina Bay developments lets you watch the changing tide, its marine life, and the undulating estuary grasses with views of Brooks Island and even Oakland near the horizon. Plenty of wildlife to observe with pelicans, herons and cranes posing for you. There is little shade and no running water but there are a couple of benches on which you can sit and paint. The nearest bathroom is at Shimada Park, a two min drive (or a 15 minute walk along the Bay Trail). There are approximately ten parking spaces closest to the Bay Trail. Park there, or park along Bayside. This is an “always windy” location, with few shady spots. Bring your own water. If using acrylic, bring retardant to delay the drying time of your paints.

History

The Meeker Slough is a creek in Richmond that drains into the flatlands of the Marina Bay development. It has long been plagued by pollution from the explosive and pharmaceutical industries established at the turn of the 20th century in what is now known as Campus Bay, a UC Berkeley owned property housing a Field Station and several other buildings. At one time it was on a list of the ten most toxic places in the Bay Area, but now it has been “restored to a productive tidal salt marsh, home to the endangered California Ridgway's rail (Rallus obsoletus).” The ground remains so toxic that some of it had to be buried under a large cement slab, visible only from above. The Field Station forbids employees and visitors from digging, due to contamination from cadmium, arsenic, lead and PCBs.