Where to see Pink Water in the Bay Area

Having hiked through Bair Island, Mallard Slough Trail and San Francisco Bay Trail Loop at Sunnyvale Baylands Park, Bay Area’s wetland and salt ponds weren’t exactly strange to me. Seeing pink water in the salt ponds in the area, however, was new! And exciting, too!

I’ve seen a lot of pictures of pink lakes and wondered if I’d ever be able to see one. I finally did and it was such a delight!

It was a November day and the rain clouds of the season hadn’t moved in, yet. And that meant it was a blue-sky day and the waters of the pond looked lovely reflecting that beautiful blue. The wetland that bordered the salt pond colored the picture with green grassland with some yellow highlights. What stood out most from the image before me was the pink water on the edges of the pond; it was something I’d never seen before.

The pond itself was alike a painting; of the salty, white shore sliding into some pink water and the pink fluid blending into pink-blue shades before gradually becoming blue. And that blue water was punctuated with small white structures. Were they rocks covered in salt or just clumps of salt, I’m not sure, but there were some neat reflections to see! 

Why is this pond pink?

This is a salt pond. Located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay, these ponds are filled with water from the Pacific Ocean. As such, the water is salty and is also home to some microbes that play a big role in the color of the water and in the salt production process.

The micro-organisms that grow in this briny water lend the water a pink tinge. The more the saltiness, the more the microbes. The more the microbes, the darker the color of the water. And the darker the water is, the more the sunlight it absorbs and the more the evaporation!

Some of the micro organisms that seem to be coloring this water pink are Dunaliella Salina and Halobacterium, according to Santa Clara County Parks.

How to get to this pink pond?

Now this pink pond (Salt Pond A12) is part of the fairly large network of salt ponds of the San Francisco Bay. I found my way here through Alviso Marina County Park in the South Bay. This park lies beside the Alviso Slough, some wetland and couple of salt ponds.

Alviso Marina County Park

This park in the South Bay gets its name from the area’s historic past as a ranch that once belonged to Ignacio Alviso, who built a dock that allowed trading boats to come in from the bay.

In the mid 19th century, this part of South Bay had a busy Port of Alviso and the adjoining areas became a commercial hub that dealt with transportation, mining, salt harvesting and canning, as the old buildings and ruins beside the road leading to the park, will tell you. In course of time, this bustling area experienced flooding, and also saw the deterioration of the port as railways became the more popular mode of transport for commerce. 

This part of Alviso, now Alviso Marina County Park is known for its salt ponds and wetlands that is home to several plants and critters. It attracts a large number of migratory birds too. 

Things to know before you visit

• The ponds that you see here lie beside Alviso Marina County Park. To get there, set your destination as 1195 Hope Street.
• The park has a decent-sized parking lot.
• There are restrooms in the area
• There are a few trails that will take you through the wetlands and around the salt ponds here.
• Visitors are expected to stay on the trails (the boardwalk and the unpaved trail around the ponds) and not step down onto the shores of the ponds.
• The park might have some crowds on the weekends and around sunset time.
• If you walk a mile or so out onto the trail, you’ll be rewarded with some quieter surroundings.
• Drone and pets are not allowed on the trails so as to avoid disturbing the avian life of the wetlands, which is a part of the larger Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

And if you’d like to know when it was that I got to see pink water in these salt ponds in the South Bay, it was mid November (2023).
Watch: A short video from the hike on Alviso Slough Trail

My visit to this park and the Alviso Marina Slough trail was for Hike-27 of my 52 hikes. If you want some motivation to explore your background, try the 52 hikes challenge. You can get started by signing up here and starting your own 52 Hikes.

More —
Bay Area Trails
San Francisco Bay Area trip ideas
Want to see — A deep-blue lake? 😉

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