Howell Mountain Forest Opens in Napa, a First in 110 Years
Pacific Union College Demonstration and Experimental Forest in Napa. Trail: 4.5 mi, 370 ft elevation gain, loop
Category: Trails
A Long-Distance Nature Trail Through San Francisco
San Francisco Crosstown Trail: 17 mi, 2,043 ft elevation gain, point-to-point
An Experienced Park Visitor’s View of Point Reyes
For those who are unaware of Point Reyes Station, it is a small town adjacent to Point Reyes National Seashore and the quaint town of Inverness. It’s the type of...
Behind the Name at the East Bay Parks
How often have you encountered a trail, campsite—or even an entire park—with an odd or mysterious name? Eighty-five years ago, visionary academics, public officials, and hikers, living mostly in Oakland...
Healing the Body, Mind, and Cultural Divide: It’s More than a Walk in the Park
One Saturday morning late last spring, I pulled into Garin Regional Park in the hills above Hayward. I didn’t have the $5 for parking, but intuiting why I was there,...
Walking the Entire Bay
Thirty years after the project officially began, the idea for the San Francisco Bay Trail seems both delightfully obvious and considerably difficult. To link Bay Area communities across nine counties...
A 21st Century Gateway to Castle Rock State Park
Driving south along Skyline Boulevard (Route 35), the forest thick with Douglas fir and a green canopy of madrones casting shadows on the road, I find myself saying out loud,...
Six Parks, One Campsite, and 32 Miles
East Bay Skyline National Recreation Trail: 32.9 mi, 5,725 ft elevation gain, point-to-point
How to Become a Curious Pilgrim in Nature
Walking attentively in a natural landscape appears to be trending now as a form of pilgrimage, folded into the inquiry called spiritual ecology. I’ve become quite curious about the particulars...
