About Bay Nature In the Field

Throughout the year, Bay Nature Institute, in partnership with the Clif Bar Family Foundation, sponsors guided walks, hikes, and other types of outings to some of the parks and open spaces that we cover in the magazine. We find expert guides who can provide a deeper understanding of the places we visit, from Henry W. Coe State Park near Gilroy to Fort Funston in San Francisco to Tomales Dunes in West Marin.

These outings are without charge, except for fees for parking, park entrance, transport, or equipment rental (as in the case of kayak outings). Reservations are required for most outings and they almost always fill to their limit well before the date. To find out in advance about upcoming hikes, subscribe to the magazine and/or sign up on our hikes email list by writing to hikes@baynature.org. Better yet, become a member of Bay Nature’s Publisher’s Circle with a donation of $500 or more, and receive priority spaces on all Bay Nature In the Field programs.

Upcoming Bay Nature Hikes & Events

Sunday, September 19: We'll head over to Arrowhead Marsh in Oakland for a morning of briding and learning about the history of this marsh, and the challenges of managing rare species in a major urban area. Read more>

Recent Hikes & Events

Here are a few of the places we've gone in recent months:

August 2010

We headed up north to Salt Point State Park, on the Sonoma Coast, on a beautiful sunny day in late August. Geologist Tom Williams and retired park ranger Bill Walton helped illuminate the geological and human history of the park, subject of our July 2010 article Stories in Stone.

July 2010

We took a walk in the hills of Berkeley to see the rocks scattered among the homes above Marin Circle. Check out our feature School of Rock to learn how geologists and climbers have pioneered their fields here. Or check out our hike route, with photos, on EveryTrail.com.

June 2010

About 30 adults and kids joined us for family-friendly turtle-spotting with expert Matthew Bettelheim, at Stow Lake. we saw dozens of turtles, and even a few native western pond turtles! Learn all about California's only native turtle, and about those other escaped pet turtles, too, by reading the feature "Native Son."

May 2010

Two groups of Bay Nature hikers headed out to track wildlife, and enjoy the Diablo Range in late spring, one at Round Valley and the other at Morgan Territory, both in the hills between Clayton and Livermore. All this in connection to our feature Through the Eyes of the Lion.

April 2010

Docents from the Land Trust of Napa County led two groups on the Table Rock, Palisades, and Oat Hill Mine Trails near Calistoga. One of the best springtime hikes in the Bay Area! Read all about it in our feature Upscale Wilderness.

March 2010

Geologist Phil Stoffer and former ranger Miles Standish each showed a group of Bay Nature folks around Castle Rock State Park, the subject of our article Climbing the Waves at Castle Rock State Park.

January 2010

Bay Nature and Environmental Traveling Companions took a group of Bay Nature folks for a paddle on Tomales Bay during a short window of sun in a week of rain. We were searching for the ducks described in our article Rafting Time for Diving Ducks.

December 2009

Guides from Blue Waters Kayaking took us on a high-tide paddle through the one-year-old Giacomini Wetland, whose restoration is described in our article Just Add Water.

November 2009

East Bay Parks acquisition chief (and conservation visionary) Bob Doyle took Bay Nature readers on the first-ever public hike at Tyler Ranch, the park district's newest purchase and home to its 100,000th acre. A great way to celebrate 75 years of East Bay Regional Parks!

October 2009

Naturalist David Wimpfheimer and guides from Blue Waters Kayaking took us on a high-tide paddle through the one-year-old Giacomini Wetland, whose restoration is described in our article Just Add Water.

September 2009

Naturalist Cat Taylor took us "batting" at Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area in Pleasanton. After a potluck dinner, we headed down to the Arroyo del Valle to watch the emergence of several species of bats. Taylor wrote our July 2009 article A Night Out with the Bats.

August 2009

Naturalist David Herlocker took us on a tour of the oak galls of Mount Burdell Open Space Preserve in Novato, in conjunction with our article Old Blue: the Call of the Galls.