Throughout the year, Bay Nature Institute organizes 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, as well as invitations to exclusive hikes and special events.

Upcoming Bay Nature Hikes & Events

May 12: Samuel P. Taylor State Park hike. There's no better way to get excited about saving state parks than to visit one with a great naturalist! Join us for an interpretive hike at Samuel P. Taylor State Park with Paul da Silva, professor of natural history at the College of Marin. Learn more>

Find even more events from dozens of partner groups at baynature.org/events.

Recent Hikes & Events

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

May 2012

A birding expedition for families with children at Muir Beach with author Scott Sampson of PBS's Dinosaur Train.  

A discussion about the pros and cons of gathering wild foods with foraging authors and experts, including Forage SF, at Mrs. Dalloway’s bookstore in Berkeley. 

March 2012

A Hidden Villa farm tour and a hike (near Los Altos) with Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District docents.

We braved the rain to check out waterfalls at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Sonoma County with members of the Volunteers in Parks program. 

January 2012

Bay Nature joined with Urbia Adventure League for a special indoor-outdoor urban nature event hosted by the Randall Museum. 

November 2011

On November 16, about 180 people joined us at the David Brower Center for a panel discussion about local food landscapes. Check out our coverage of the 40%+ of the region that's still ag land!

On November 19, we headed up to Napa Skyline wilderness for a wonderful autumn hike in the park we profiled in our article, Citizens' Domain.

October 2011

We took a strenuous 8.5-mile hike from East Bay Regional Park District's Black Diamond Trail Staging Area to Kreiger Peak, and covered an array of land bank properties not yet open to the public.  

We learned about urban farming and celebrated the fall harvest with LandPaths at the Corn Festival at Bayer Farm in Santa Rosa. 

September 2011

Porpoise expert Bill Keener, naturalist Armando Quintero, and expert kayak guides from Environmental Traveling Companions took a group of Bay Nature fans out onto Richardson Bay, where we spotted seals, sea lions, and harbor porpoises, along with common murres, western grebes, and more. All to go along with Bill Keener's July 2011 feature Safe Harbor, about the return of harbor porpoises to SF Bay.

August 2011

We took a night-time trip to Del Valle Regional Park with top-notch naturalist Cat Taylor, in search of some of the medium-size predators featured in our article The Middle Way, by Glen Martin. 

May 2011

On the occasion of our feature The Color of Flight, lepidopterist Liam O'Brien took a group of intrepid Bay Nature readers on a walk through Huckleberry Regional Botanic Preserve on a strangely cold and blustery day. The butterflies made themselves scarce, but a great time was had by all!

April 2011

Solano Land Trust volunteers took us out for an exploration of the vernal pools of Jepson Prairie, profiled in Vernal Splendor, our April 2011 On the Trail feature. What a remarkable place! Check it out our videos of the hike: wildlife and wildflowers.

March 2011

Naturalist David Herlocker showed us around Mount Burdell featured in an essay by Rebecca Solnit from our anniversary issue. He even found a gopher snake , baby vole, and more little wonders! Then, on March 27, we dodged the rain with lepidopterist Liam O’Brien and folks from San Bruno Mountain Watch on a butterfly search in connection with Linda Watanabe McFerrin's essay Last Dance on San Bruno Mountain.

January 2011

We had a great turnout of people -- and gulls! -- for our gull walk at Palo Alto Baylands with Alvaro Jaramillo of San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. Missed the walk? Check out our feature A Squabble of Gulls.

November 2010

A couple dozen hardy hikers spent a delightful day in the Pinnacles. We had some drizzle, but also wonderful, mist-shrouded views, and plenty of insights from park staff. That indeed had us pining for the Pinnacles the next day. Check out our article by Paul McHugh, then head down there!

September 2010

A group of us went birding at Arrowhead Marsh, a great spot for seeing California clapper rails, and an easy transit-accessible Bayshore walk. And a few of us did spot a clapper rail! You can learn more about the challenges of managing urban and urban-edge lands for both human access and wildlife in our feature Habitat and Humanity.

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

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.