Hikes & Outings

Sierra Club Led Hikes

Sierra Club-Solano Group hike leader Kenn Browne guides hikes along the south shore following the Napa River/Mare Island Strait to its convergence with San Pablo Bay and the Carquinez Strait at Pier 35. Walk under nests of great blue herons and ospreys perched high above on abandoned light poles and pass by the oldest munitions storage magazines

on the Island, which celebrated their 150th anniversary in 2007. The 4 mile roundtrip hike is on level paved and dirt roads in an area slated as part of the Preserve but not yet open to the the public. For more information call Kenn at 707-319-1846. The hikes are now scheduled to coincide with our Second Saturday Access Days. Although Kenn takes some months off, we are committed to ensuring your access to the Historic Southshore. Plan on a hike taking place with various expert guides and U.S. Navy escort. Meet at the “Palmer Hut” at the Visitor Center entrance through the gate at the south end of Railroad Ave.

Sierra Club Led Hikes to the Historic Southshore

Outings are offered by non-profit groups through arrangements with the property owners, the U.S. Navy or the City of Vallejo. From time to time the U.S. Navy also offers tours of its remaining environmental cleanup at the south shore area.

Because The Preserve is not currently open as a regular regional park, outings, hikes, events and other programs are scheduled and hosted by these groups for public access.

Plans are underway to allow regular public access, but additional surveying for plants, animals, historic features and cultural landscapes that exist now, must be completed first. Then, we will create a plan to protect and restore what’s here through a community process of planning, design and fundraising for what we want to add such as trails and visitor services. And, an operations and maintenance approach must formulated. It’s a lot to do and we will need money and volunteers, but dreams that come true do require team effort to be accomplished. In the meantime, join up on one of the outings offered or propose one!

All dates are the second Saturday of the month. Times change seasonally. In the longer days of April through October, the hours are 9am to 7pm. November through February, hours 9am to 5pm. Numerous guided outings and van tours to the former Naval Ammunition Depot have been an integral part of the San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival–now hosted by the Mare Island Heritage Trust – a project of Arc Ecology for the past 14 years. In response to requests for regular public access to the Preserve and due to our commitment to the property being developed as a public trust park for the benefit of all Californians, we host public access to the Preserve once a month through an agreement with the City of Vallejo. To ensure public use of the parkland we will continue to offer outings, events and programming regularly until the Preserve is fully developed. (Click here for Schedule Calendar)

Through our Second Saturday Access Days you are invited to experience the magic and majesty of this remarkable part of Mare Island still largely off-limits to the public except through guided outings, tours and special events. Access is primarily pedestrian, (although bicycles are permitted on the paved roadway only) including walks, stops at the cemetery and at the interpretive center in its beginning stage in a former ordnance storage magazine, Building A-167. Outings are primarily on paved roads, but may include guest guides and a theme, such as the cemetery, native plant identification, the heron rookery and osprey nest observations, history, etc.

Second Saturday Access Day hosted by Mare Island Heritage Trust – a project of Arc Ecology

Outing Overview