Bay Area Ridge Trail

Our progress so far: 325 trail miles out of 405 … the end is in sight!

Stats

Total miles hiked
(including round trips, returns, getting lost)

0

Total elevation climbed (ft)

0

Hours on the trail

0

Number of hiking days

0

Segments Complete

Progress

80%

Our mission

Dawn likes an ambitious goal. Dan had an idea: “How about we hike the Bay Area Ridge Trail? All 394 miles of it.” Dawn was immediately on board, and the idea began to grow: We could create a new blog and social content; we could find sponsors to raise money for trail development and hiking equipment; we could write a book. We need some tension, so let’s hike it in 100 days.

Then reality set in. Most of the hikes are out and back, doubling the length of many trails and even extending those where car shuttles are possible. As the projected hiking and vehicle miles grew, our tally of family commitments began to squeeze days and occasional weeks off of the projected calendar. Summer heat is coming. Fires are inevitable. And after spending 13 months pretty close to home, we may want to spend some time with friends or take a trip or two once our COVID-19 vaccine is fully functional.

And so, we decided to simplify things. Let’s hike the trail at our leisure – one or two segments a week with occasional long weekends to knock off some miles. Let’s evolve our Coastside Slacking blog and social media instead of starting from scratch. Let’s make a gift to ridge trail development and include a link to the donation site at the end of each post rather than try to seek sponsorships. Let’s buy our own shoes.

Let’s have some fun.

The trail

As envisioned by a coalition of national, state and regional parks administrators in 1987, the Bay Area Ridge Trail one day will connect the San Francisco Bay region with a continuous 550-mile loop along the region’s ridgelines. The first two segments of the Bay Area Ridge Trail were dedicated in 1989 at Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve, just down the road from our home on the San Mateo County Coastside, and at nearby Wunderlich County Park. Today, some 400-miles of existing and newly developed trails can be hiked, and more are being added each year.

More information

Find more information about development of the project plus detailed maps and descriptions of each trail segment at the Bay Area Ridge Trail site .


Trail Segments

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