Red Rock Island occupies a peculiar jurisdictional position. The Contra Costa County portion makes up the bulk of the island's territory, but portions also fall within Marin and San Francisco Counties. The island has been privately owned since the 19th century, passing through various hands. Over the decades, proposals have surfaced to develop it as everything from a casino to a resort to a private residence. None have materialized. The island lacks utilities, infrastructure, and safe mooring, and its exposure to wind, current, and fog makes construction impractical. For now, it remains what it has always been: a rock.

The island was originally known as Moleta by Spanish explorers, and its distinctive reddish color comes from iron chert, a sedimentary rock rich in iron oxide. In the 19th century, attempts were made to mine the island for its mineral content, but the deposits proved too small to justify the effort. The island's most notable feature is its sheer improbability as private property. In a bay surrounded by public parks, military installations, national recreation areas, and wildlife refuges, Red Rock exists as a stubborn anomaly -- a piece of the public landscape that someone can call their own.

From the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, Red Rock Island is impossible to miss. Its dark red surface contrasts sharply with the blue-gray water, and its bare, treeless profile gives it the appearance of something ancient and elemental. Cormorants and gulls use it as a resting station. The currents around the island are strong and unpredictable. Access by boat is possible but not easy, and there is nowhere to land safely in rough conditions. The island's very inhospitality has been its preservation. Whatever developers and dreamers have imagined for Red Rock, the island itself has remained indifferent, enduring in the middle of one of America's busiest harbors as the one piece of it that no one has managed to change.