Hayward Regional Shoreline stretches along San Francisco Bay from Hayward toward San Lorenzo. The East Bay Regional Park District says it covers 1,841 acres of salt, fresh and brackish water marshes, seasonal wetlands and public trails. Wikipedia gives a smaller figure of 1,713 acres.

Visiting

The park entrance is at 3050 West Winton Ave. in Hayward, and parking is free. The park is open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the gates are open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. year-round. Hiking, bicycling, jogging, birdwatching, picnicking and fishing are all allowed. Fishing is permitted from the levees but not in the marshes, and anyone 16 or older needs a California fishing license. There are no picnic tables, only benches along the trail.

Dogs aren't allowed south of Winton Avenue, which protects nesting and feeding wildlife. The district also asks visitors to stay on the trail and respect signed restricted areas.

Marshes

Cogswell Marsh is a 250-acre tidal marsh that was restored and enhanced in 1980. The district says it quickly became an important habitat once tidal action returned. Wikipedia lists the 364-acre Oro Loma Marsh, built in 1997, as another major piece. It also notes that part of the park is former commercial salt flats bought in 1996, and that a capped former landfill sits within the park. The Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center lies to the south, and the San Francisco Bay Trail runs through the park.

Salt history

The district says levees were first built in Hayward and San Lorenzo to make land for salt production. Landings set up in the 1850s carried passengers, salt and farm products to San Francisco, and old timbers from them still poke out of the mudflats at low tide. Wikipedia says the Ohlone harvested salt here before the 1850s. It names a sailor, Josh Johnson, as the first known commercial salt harvester, with Chinese laborers building the drainage channels and levees. Andrew Oliver bought the land in 1872.

According to Wikipedia, a 27-acre preserve protects the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse, and the shoreline also supports California clapper rails and western snowy plovers.

More East Bay shoreline: McLaughlin Eastshore State Park.