Hayward Marsh, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

The San Mateo Bridge crosses San Francisco Bay roughly half way between San Francisco and San Jose. Many commuters rushing over the bridge probably don’t know that an interesting wilderness area lies on the northeastern side of the bridge.

Hayward Regional Shoreline consists of 1,713 acres of salt, fresh, and brackish water marshes, seasonal wetlands and public trails. The view here is looking west towards San Francisco Bay with the San Mateo Bridge on the left. Cogswell Marsh, straight ahead, once used solar drying to produce salt. Hayward Marsh, to the right, is partly supplied with fresh water using Hayward municipal treated waste water. In this area there’s a preserve for the endangered Salt Marsh Mouse.

This mouse only lives in a couple of places in the marsh land around San Francisco Bay, with the Hayward Marsh the largest species habitat. It feeds on pickleweed and other saltmarsh plants, and remarkably has developed kidneys that can process the salt water it drinks.

Over the recent four-day weekend, Phyllis and I and the boys went for a hike in the Hayward Marsh. The boys ran ahead to play in the mud flats that border the Bay, and I snapped this photo of the landscape.

[Nikon D300, 18-200 VR Zoom lens at 18mm (27mm in 35mm terms), image stabilization turned off, 1/3 of a second at f/22, ISO 100, tripod mounted.]