Coyote Creek Parkway North

 Waxing Gibbous Moon

I chipped away another little piece of the Bay Area Ridge Trail today, riding the Dream Machine from Metcalf Park on the southern outskirts of San Jose to Tully Road (closing in on the city) and back. I pedaled 18.4 miles but I can only claim 9.2 miles toward the 325-mile end goal. Big deal, right? Still, it was a really nice, smooth ride on a paved bike path past Hellyer Park and along some unnamed golf course with 30-foot fences. Lucky me, I got to see everything twice.

Just as I arrived at the golf course part, with about 2 miles left until Tully Road, the trash dumps and tent colonies started appearing on the banks of Coyote Creek. The wreckage grew and grew as I got closer to the city. Golf on one side of the 30-foot fence. Squalor and pollution on the other. There was a smoldering fire with somebody's sleeping bag on top of it at one point. Sending smoke signals? 

The fire was surrounded by trees and other camps. Should I have called 911? Or does this kind of thing occur every day? I just kept going, feeling heartless and hopeless. I kept thinking of that old Richard Farina book, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me.

Enough of that. 

Hellyer Park has a huge pond slash little lake surrounded by a bike path with benches and ducks and geese and coots all over the place. It was beautiful on this sunny day. The coots hardly acknowledged my presence, though. Snooty coots they were.

I passed a small group of young folks (30-ish?) bagging trailside trash so I called out "Happy Earth Day!" to them, prompting a fast and hardy reply. They seemed really pleased that someone recognized what they were doing. Those of us who act on our Earthy ideals are a small, but mighty brother/sisterhood. I think it's important to tip your cap, or your helmet as the case may be, when you see people fighting back against the plastic, scummy scourge. The people living on the creek in their filth are no different than the people tossing their fast food bags and beer trash from their vehicles. They have all given up their souls and most of them don't even know it.

On the other hand, the bicyclists and runners and Moms with strollers buzzing up and down the path with smiles behind their masks are trying their best to put a happy face on the idiotic gloom. I'm with them. The trail and the trees and the creek and the parks are little bits of sanity to be cheered and celebrated. Everyday. Every single day.

Peace and Love from Earth,

Jim