Chilling on the California Coast
The Bay Area Ridge Trail doesn’t offer many opportunities for a mid-hike mimosa. We found one at mile eight of the Vallejo-Benicia Waterfront hike along the Carquinez Strait. If we’d hiked in the opposite direction, we might not have finished. We found no mimosas when we returned six weeks later to cross the strait on the Benicia-Martinez Bridge.
We are hiking the 405-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “Mimosas on the Ridge Trail at Benicia”
The trail to Bumpass Hell at Lassen Volcanic National Park gently rises along a lightly wooded ridge with views of Lassen and other iconic peaks before plunging into a steaming geologic cauldron. Acidic water boils. Mud belches. The stench of sulfur hangs in the air. We brought the grandsons.
Bumpass Hell (Aug. 5, 2022) – 2.7 miles
Continue reading “A Hike to Lassen’s Bumpass Hell … and Back”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Petaluma travels through classic and contemporary neighborhoods, the city’s historic downtown and riverside parks. It also climbs to views of the city at Helen Putnam Regional Park.
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Continue reading “Bay Area Ridge Trail Samples Petaluma Streets, Highlands”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Jack London State Historic Park begins with a two-mile hike up a connector trail. The connector traverses a wide service road that passes historic vineyards and buildings on parkland once owned by the early 20th century adventure author before climbing through a shady redwood forest. The actual Ridge Trail segment veers left up a forested single-track trail before breaking into open meadows with views of the mountains to the east.
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Continue reading “A Ridge Trail Floral Spectacle at Jack London State Historic Park”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park parallels Ritchey Creek as it ascends steadily through the shade of mixed woodlands and redwood groves. The park’s redwoods – an unusual feature this far inland – and much of the forest in the upper elevations of the park was heavily damaged by the Glass Fire in October 2020. Watch out for poison oak.
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Continue reading “Hiking the Burn Scar at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Moore Creek Park in Napa County ascends steadily up to a ridgeline through a rich mixed woodland and onto a grassy hillside with views of the multi-hued canyon canopy below and mountains to the west. At roughly the half way point, the trail drops steeply to the creek, where the footpath makes five water crossings as it rises and falls through the woods. The Ridge Trail segment ends at a rocky wide spot in the creek that’s perfect for a Wine Country picnic.
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Continue reading “A Wine Country Canyon at Moore Creek on the Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail passes through the Pacific Union College Demonstration Forest at Angwin. The trail drops gently along an unpaved service road through a heavily thinned woodland for 1.5 miles before dipping sharply down a footpath that winds along a hillside. The trail offers tantalizing glimpses of an unrealized view.
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Continue reading “Vista Angst at Pacific Union College on the Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Lynch Canyon Open Space Park begins on a farm road along Lynch Creek before climbing through oak-studded pastures to rocky hilltops with views of the Napa Sonoma Marsh, San Pablo Bay, Mount Tamalpais and Mount Diablo. Benches and picnic tables are placed at regular intervals along the trail. Morning fog obscured the views on the day we hiked.
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Continue reading “Cranky Cattle in the Mist above Lynch Canyon on the Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail crosses the San Francisco Peninsula Watershed on the Fifield-Cahill Trail between locked gates at Sweeney Ridge and Skylawn Memorial Park. A short section also passes through the cemetery itself. Entering from Sweeny Ridge, the watershed trail undulates past coastal chaparral with views of The Peninsula, San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean before reaching a forest of Douglas fir. The watershed includes three reservoirs: San Andreas Lake, Crystal Springs and Pilarcitos.
Watershed hikes and bicycle rides require reservations with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and are led by volunteer trail leaders. Book a reservation here.
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Continue reading “Ridge Trail by Reservation at San Francisco Peninsula Watershed”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Mount Burdell Open Space Preserve rises steadily from San Marin High School in Novato through bucolic cow pastures and past giant oak trees. About a mile from the peak, the trail levels off with a sweeping view of the preserve and surrounding mountains before rising steeply on the aptly named Cobblestone Trail to the summit. Stone walls at the apex were built by Chinese immigrants who quarried cobblestones used to pave the streets of San Francisco in the late 19th century.
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Continue reading “A Cobblestone Legacy at Mount Burdell on the Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Novato climbs south from the Vineyard Road trailhead through Indian Tree Preserve until it ends abruptly at a hillside trail junction. The forested segment is most notable for its many stands of madrone trees and manzanita bushes. Traveling north from Vineyard Road, the Ridge Trail passes through the Verissimo Hills and Little Mountain preserves to Novato’s O’Hair Park, with views of Stafford Lake, the Indian Valley Golf Club and the back yards of homes adjacent to the trail.
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Continue reading “Madrone and Manzanita at Indian Tree Preserve on the Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail from White Hill Preserve to Samuel P. Taylor State Park travels southwest from Castro Valley up a moderate grade through grassy meadows and groves of mixed trees. The trail flattens out at the Gary Giacomini Preserve and becomes incredibly rocky as it reaches stands of pygmy cypress that grow in the thin serpentine soil along San Geronimo Ridge. The rocky surface finally yields as the trail drops steeply into a canyon filled with ferns and redwoods before leveling off at the state park, paralleling San Geronimo Creek for the final two miles.
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Continue reading “A Toe-Stubber at San Geronimo Ridge on the Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail through Loma Alta Open Space Preserve climbs two miles and 1,000 feet up to a grassy hilltop before descending a similar number of miles and feet to the opposite trail head. On a clear day, the view from the peak includes San Pablo Bay, Mount Diablo and the San Francisco skyline.
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Continue reading “Paying it Forward at Loma Alta on the Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Lucas Valley Open Space Preserve involves a moderate climb past Skywalker Ranch to Big Rock Ridge. The ridge tops out at 1,800-feet, Marin County’s second-highest peak. The trail is mostly open but includes a woodland or two. On a clear day high on the trail, hikers can see the San Francisco skyline roughly 25 miles to the southeast. Skywalker Sound, a Lucasfilm post-production unit, is based at the ranch southwest of the ridge.
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Continue reading “Hiking Magic above Skywalker Ranch on the Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Bolinas Ridge begins in a shady hilltop forest and ends in a canyon filled with redwoods at Samuel P. Taylor State Park. A plateau of grassy pastureland with views of the Point Reyes Peninsula and Tomales Bay lies in between. The trail undulates gently for the first five miles before gradually descending into the state park.
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Continue reading “Atop Bolinas Ridge on the Bay Area Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail gently dips and rises through a shady mixed-growth forest and sandstone outcroppings at Sanborn County Park and Castle Rock State Park. The well-used path roughly parallels Skyline Drive along the eastern ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains above the Silicon Valley.
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Continue reading “Casual Hiking at Castle Rock on the Ridge Trail”
Mount Madonna County Park currently is home to the southern-most section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. The 3.4-mile segment begins at Blackhawk Creek with a gentle climb through a mixed woodland before soaring more than 1,000 feet in just two miles. The trail then levels off for a winding final mile through a shady redwood forest.
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Continue reading “Southbound to Mount Madonna on the Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail follows the path of the John Nicholas Trail at Sanborn County Park. The wooded trail on a hillside above Saratoga drops 1,200 feet from Skyline Drive to Lake Ranch Reservoir. The Ridge Trail portion of the route ends at the reservoir. The nicely crafted footpath opened in 2014. It still holds a hint of new trail smell.
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Continue reading “A Hillside Ridge Trail Hike above Saratoga”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Robert Louis Stevenson State Park traverses rugged volcanic terrain as it travels southeast from the Mount St. Helena Trailhead across the Table Rock, Palisades and Lower Oat Mine trails. Table Rock includes a pair of natural amphitheaters and a manmade labyrinth. The Palisades Trail runs along the edge of a ridgeline with an often steep slope to one side. From there, the rocky Lower Oat Mine Trail plunges downhill to the edge of Calistoga. This is a difficult trail. Only one of us completed it.
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Continue reading “Trouble in Napa’s Palisades on the Ridge Trail”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail parallels more than 20 miles of riverbed on the Coyote Creek Parkway. The northern half of the flat, paved trail is a shady stretch of green that meanders through San Jose neighborhoods and local parks. The southern half begins at the wetlands adjacent to Metcalf Park before transforming into a more open and rural hike through riparian habitat between San Jose and Morgan Hill.
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Continue reading “San Jose to Morgan Hill via Coyote Creek on the Ridge Trail”