A Walk in Byxbee Park
Jun. 14th, 2026 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerThis afternoon we went out for a hike/walk in Byxbee Park. It's part of the City of Palo Alto nearby and is a park we've been to many times. We like it because it's nearby, so easy to get to, and is a mellow location on the edge of the bay.
We had planned to go farther afield today, specifically about Russian Ridge up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We've been putting that off for several days now, as something keeps coming up. Something came up again this morning when Hawk was feeling a bit ill and decided to lie down for a nap. So Russian Ridge goes back on the stack— we're talking about going as soon as tomorrow— and Byxbee became our activity for today after lunch.
One thing we noticed right off was that Byxbee recently got a "haircut". Actually, the first thing we noticed right off the bat was that Byxbee fuckin' stinks today. There's a wastewater treatment plant right next to it. They don't always stir the shit, but apparently today was a let's-stir-all-the-shit day, and the wind was blowing right past it, too.
But, hey, I mentioned the "haircut". The wild grasses have been mowed recently. It makes some of the displays, like the fence with the no-trespassing sign in the pic above, look pretty silly. It's not a scratch 'n' sniff pic, so you can use your imagination for the smell of sewage wafting over it.
Now, as if it weren't bad enough that the smell of sewage and shit wafts over the park, while you're in it you're standing atop garbage.
For decades up until 2011 Byxbee Park was a garbage dump. I mean, it wasn't called Byxbee Park back then. It was probably called "Palo Alto Dump, downwind from the sewage treatment plant". Lots of cities nearby all had dumps right up against the bay. There are similar spots in Sunnyvale and Mountain View. In the late 20th century they all realized that was kind of bad, and they started taking steps to convert the dumps to parks. They stopped accepting new trash then spent years covering it up, letting it simmer down, and monitoring it with pipes and gauges to make sure the methane and other gases from rotting garbage wouldn't explode. Then they called it parkland. Because the best parks are the ones built atop explosive poisonous garbage gas.
Another thing we noticed was different this visit is snails.There are snails on all the signs in the park. I wonder if trimming the grasses has driven them to other places. The sign in the pic above, BTW, is an identifier for one of the making-sure-this-shit-doesn't-literally-explode monitors.
It's not really wildflower season anymore; we've had a few months of dry weather now. But some of the hardier plants up here are still green and flowering. Plus, this garden area is actually watered. You can tell because there are purple colored utility chests (not shown in the pic) that indicate pipes with recycled water. Mmm, probably fresh from that sewage treatment plant!
We had planned to go farther afield today, specifically about Russian Ridge up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We've been putting that off for several days now, as something keeps coming up. Something came up again this morning when Hawk was feeling a bit ill and decided to lie down for a nap. So Russian Ridge goes back on the stack— we're talking about going as soon as tomorrow— and Byxbee became our activity for today after lunch.
One thing we noticed right off was that Byxbee recently got a "haircut". Actually, the first thing we noticed right off the bat was that Byxbee fuckin' stinks today. There's a wastewater treatment plant right next to it. They don't always stir the shit, but apparently today was a let's-stir-all-the-shit day, and the wind was blowing right past it, too.
But, hey, I mentioned the "haircut". The wild grasses have been mowed recently. It makes some of the displays, like the fence with the no-trespassing sign in the pic above, look pretty silly. It's not a scratch 'n' sniff pic, so you can use your imagination for the smell of sewage wafting over it.
Now, as if it weren't bad enough that the smell of sewage and shit wafts over the park, while you're in it you're standing atop garbage.
For decades up until 2011 Byxbee Park was a garbage dump. I mean, it wasn't called Byxbee Park back then. It was probably called "Palo Alto Dump, downwind from the sewage treatment plant". Lots of cities nearby all had dumps right up against the bay. There are similar spots in Sunnyvale and Mountain View. In the late 20th century they all realized that was kind of bad, and they started taking steps to convert the dumps to parks. They stopped accepting new trash then spent years covering it up, letting it simmer down, and monitoring it with pipes and gauges to make sure the methane and other gases from rotting garbage wouldn't explode. Then they called it parkland. Because the best parks are the ones built atop explosive poisonous garbage gas.
Another thing we noticed was different this visit is snails.There are snails on all the signs in the park. I wonder if trimming the grasses has driven them to other places. The sign in the pic above, BTW, is an identifier for one of the making-sure-this-shit-doesn't-literally-explode monitors.
It's not really wildflower season anymore; we've had a few months of dry weather now. But some of the hardier plants up here are still green and flowering. Plus, this garden area is actually watered. You can tell because there are purple colored utility chests (not shown in the pic) that indicate pipes with recycled water. Mmm, probably fresh from that sewage treatment plant!
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An opportunity to take a bit off the top appeared yesterday morning when I was doing 
