One of the special rewards of a rainy season hike is the sight and sound of a trailside waterfall.
Out of the Blue
This massive South Bay preserve, which is still being assembled, forms a critical link in the chain of protected landscapes in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Two Napa Trail Guides
Go looking for a hiking guide to the Napa area, and you’re immediately faced with the choice between two books with almost identical titles. With very similar photos on their covers. Even the authors’ names are somewhat similar. The first, … Read more
Mindego Ranch Hikes
On the Ridge Trail at Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve near La Honda, face east and you can see from Mount Hamilton to Mount Diablo. Face west and the most prominent feature amid thousands of acres of grasslands and woodlands … Read more
Making a Strait Loop
Thanks to a collaboration between the regional Bay and Ridge Trails, a new loop trail will soon link the north sides of the Carquinez Strait.
Book Review: Peninsula Tales and Trails
Peninsula Tales and Trails, by David Weintraub, Graphics Arts Books, 2004, 384 pages, $19.95 By any standard, Peninsula Tales and Trails is the most detailed, comprehensive guide to Peninsula parklands and trails ever written, offering much more than just directions … Read more
Book Review: Stairway Walks in San Francisco
Stairway Walks in San Francisco, by Adah Bakalinsky, Wilderness Press, 2004, 212 pages, $14.95 “A good walk is an organism of mysterious nuances that can affect us in subtle ways, from quiet harmoniousness to ebullience, from languor to exuberance,” writes … Read more
Bay Area Ridge Trail
The Bay Area is home to several regional trails, from the Bay Trail near the water’s edge up to the Bay Area Ridge Trail, which traverses the high points of our landscape. The ultimate goal of this latter project is … Read more
The Summit Loop Hike
This strenuous 5.3-mile hike circumambulates Mount Diablo’s summit, and traverses many of the mountain’s geological and botanical features. When I was there in early April 2006, the air was startlingly clear, and the snowy masses of the Sierra Nevada and … Read more
Tracking Richmond’s Bay Trail
On an overcast day this winter, seven of us met for a bike ride through Richmond on the Bay Trail. We rode along Cerritos Creek, under two busy freeways, and out to the shoreline. At Point Isabel Regional Shoreline, we … Read more