While exploring the Baylands Park area in Sunnyvale, I stumbled across a large, grassy hill at 213 W Caribbean Dr. A one-mile loop circled the hill, and I figured it was just another public trail waiting to be explored. But something about it seemed different. It wasn’t listed on popular hiking resources like AllTrails, and apart from a marker on Google Maps calling it part of the “San Francisco Bay Trail”, information was scarce.
Intrigued, I decided to dig deeper. What I found was surprising: the “grassy hill” wasn’t just a hill; it was a carefully managed pile of shit. Sunnyvale capped off this trash landfill with soil and vegetation, transforming it into a haven for local wildlife and native plants.
Walking the gravelly loop, I could see how the area has been reclaimed by nature. Birds (mostly Canadian geese) were everywhere and the views of the nearby ponds / lakes were beautiful. Even though I enjoyed my walk, Google Maps shows I missed out. Pictures from April 2024 reveal this same hill was once filled with goats; their massive numbers easily topped the hundreds. It beats me why there would be so many, but that surely would’ve been a sight to see.
