Urban Exploration: San Mateo

Woke up yesterday with the intention of joining BanAdam at Chabot...  but I wasn't quite ready to give more money to the East Bay Park Dist...  so I hit the road with no destination in mind, but when I hit 92 I realized there was a place nearby that required no inspection, no parking or launch fees, and perhaps even a chance at a confused striper...  Parkside Aquatic Park!

I had to pass by Quarry Lakes on the way:

After checking the parking lot around the Aquan boathouse for any lures NCKA'ers might have dropped or forgotten during AOTY( no nice...), launched into the not-so-fresh-smelling channel...

Trolled rapalas all the way to the end at 3rd, checking out the expensive houses along the shoreline.  The sun was out, and I was hoping a lonely widow would come out offering me ice tea in the boathouse...  didn't happen...

But I found a dead fish...  starry flounder?

I tried a promising-looking deep area at the end, but nothing doing...  Now I was done fishing and decided to explore the little canal near the end. 

What's down here, I wonder??

Didn't take long to reach some sort of trash barrier...  I thought for sure I'd find a body in there if I looked long enough...

Yucky.  Time to turn around.

I head back past Parkside again, underneath 92...  and I see another canal...  this one has a low bridge with a very narrow passage...  had to take my hat off and hold my paddle parallel to the boat to get thru!

Wow..

 Now that's hard up for new water....

 Nice Effort

Then I was in a canal behind people houses... There was a surprising amount of wildlife there, a turtle, tons of birds, especially ducks...  

Then I hit the 101 "overpass"...  the Death Tunnel...  long, dark, and spooky, the cave walls carrying messages from the ancients...

At least it was something "different"...

Then I went home, washed up, and made fajitas.

The End.

That was interesting.

GF and I have paddled that second channel and I know where your talking about.  I have seen some really small bait fish up there, but nothing else.  I have seen some smaller fish in the main channel where that goes out to.  There is a nursery over by there I think that is third or fourth street.  In the summer time there are tomatoe plants and other things on that bank.

Exploring is exploring,,,,,,you win some you lose some, but in the end you were always someplace you've never been before, for me more often than not I never go back,,,,,,,but sometimes you find a gem,,,,

Thanks for the tour

Hey Eric, next time come up to Petaluma and we will float down the river a ways and fish. I hope that you disinfected the hull of your beautiful boat. 1 month until abalone season.

I didn't expect to find a sweet fishing spot or anything... just tripping out on where my kayak can take me.... thru the city...  to the fairgrounds...

What other watercraft can just as easily navigate foot-deep flood channels or the deepest oceans?

Oh, I forgot this little gem, bubbling out from some local business, no doubt:

But I found a dead fish...  starry flounder?

Yep.

That was a cool adventure, Eric, and kind of gross at times!
Nice touch with the Quarry Lakes greeting.