I saw my first coyote today. He saw me first and stood motionless while eyeballing me for a bit before wandering a few feet away to hide behind a rock. I put the camera away and boldly walked closer before giving my best “Hey little buddy. How are you?” He responded to this attention as if he had heard it before and walked to within inches of my face and gave me a look I usually only get from Oscar Wilde (my poodle mix). After a brief pause he turned and walked back up the hill and behind the rock again. He was smaller than I would have expected and his coat was rough and disheveled. After a few moments he reappeared and went to a rocky ledge where he chewed on some kibble. Wait, kibble? As in dog food?
My streak of twenty-five consecutive days of not missing one train, bus or ferry came to a screeching end today. I also had not backtracked during any of these treks, choosing to forge ahead day after day. That too came to an end. I can blame CuriOdyssey. I passed by CuriOdyssey yesterday on my way through Coyote Point Recreation Area and must admit it captured my curiodssey to the point where I had to return today to see what this place was all about. I arrived at 9:30am after walking from Burlingame CalTrain, ate a mid-morning snack of granola and yogurt, and waited for the 10:00am open time.
I was the only adult at CuriOdyssey not attended to by a child but no one asked me if I was lost or needed help so I continued on and took in the exhibits as curious adults are known to do. CuriOddysey is a nature museum and zoo in the middle of Coyote Point. All of the animals are local species and were either bred in captivity or nursed back to health after injury or illness and cannot survive in the wild on their own. Raccoons, badgers, foxes and, yes, one disheveled coyote, share an address with golden eagles, turkey vultures, great blue herons and a few river otters among many other animal varieties. The river otters here were having even more fun than me, posing for the camera and swimming about in the carefree, playful way that they are known for. Maybe it was the rain or maybe I was spoiled by the zoo, but the remainder of my hike to San Bruno, even the portions along the water and sloughs, were surprisingly devoid of birds or wildlife, however I did see a bat-ray skimming his lunch off the mud in shallow waters close to shore, the tips of his “wings” intermittently breaking the surface of the water.
The detour back to Coyote Point this morning was well worth the extra miles I had to put in at the end of the day. Extra miles? Like I mentioned earlier, I missed my 1:17pm San Bruno CalTrain (by five minutes) so rather than sit around for an hour, I decided to forge ahead, confident that soon enough I would come across a bus that would take me to San Francisco. This way I could also knock a couple of miles off tomorrow’s hike. SamTrans did not let me down and two miles later, just north of SFO, I jumped on the 292 bus and was back in San Francisco on schedule. Fortunately, I didn’t have to search for two dollars or ask a stranger to break a five – I just scanned my Clipper card and sat back for the ride.
The San Francisco Bay Trail: It's Closer Than You Think! 