Touring * Fitness * Beginner * Historic * Artistic *

From Interstate 980 in downtown Oakland, exit at 11th/12th Streets, go through several traffic lights, and make a left onto Fifth Street just beyond the 880 underpass. This will take you to Broadway and the Oakland/Alameda Tube. From the south, exit Interstate 880 at Broadway. Turn left on Broadway and left again into the Oakland/Alameda Tube. Once through the Tube, you'll be on Webster Street, which you should follow to its dead end at Central Avenue. Go right onto Central and then left on McKay Avenue to the Crab Cove entrance. There's a parking fee during peak hours.

Map: For a free trail map, call the East Bay Regional Parks District at (510) 562-PARK (7275) and ask for the Crown Memorial State Beach brochure.

Crown Memorial State Beach reigned as the "Coney Island of the West" from the late 1800s until World War II. Neptune Beach, as it was known then, was the hot spot for concerts, prize fights, carnivals, and baseball games. Now the beach, with its sand dunes and shoreline trail, is a gem of a different, quieter kind.

Just for fun, start by taking a short but sweet skate north from the Crab Cove parking lot on lawn-bordered pavement, past a nicely tended condo complex. This section ends at Central Avenue, where you'll turn around and head south on the coastline. As you pass Crown Memorial State Beach, note the designated swimming and wading areas in case you want to take a dip later. Signs say no alcoholic beverages are permitted at Crown Beach, but beer and wine are okay at the picnic areas. The Sand Castle picnic area has bathrooms, parking lots, and, for just a short (but seemingly endless) stretch, some of the worst pavement around. (It's scheduled for repaving before July of 1996.) You may want to walk on the lawn, if it's dry, until you reach the better asphalt several yards down from the snack bar. The pavement is very good from here on as the trail borders Shore Line Drive, and water fountains and toilets are abundant.

Near the southern end of Shore Line, you'll see the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary at the end of the Marsh Overlook. The asphalt ends when Shore Line jogs inland. History buffs can finish the day by visiting the Crab Cove Visitors Center at the north end of the trail, where the story of Alameda Beach is told.

• East Bay Regional Parks - Trail information and maps.

• Bay Farm Island Loop