Bay Area Ridge Trail

A Mill Valley resident and native Northern Californian, Elizabeth Byers has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of her life. As a child and teenager, she explored the beautiful mountains of Carmel Valley and Big Sur near her home. Her love of the outdoors led her to study environmental planning in college and graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. She began working in the land conservation field in the mid-1980s, for 16 years as a project manager, program director, and writer at the Trust for Public Land (TPL) and then as a consultant for many nonprofits and agencies, including the Garden Conservancy, the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, and TPL. In 1988, while at TPL, Elizabeth became one of the founding board members of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, and she stayed connected to the organization over the years. She coauthored the second edition of The Conservation Easement Handbook, copublished by TPL and the Land Trust Alliance in 2005, and was a photographer and project coordinator for the 2014 Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy publication Alcatraz Gardens: Remembered, Reclaimed, Reimagined. She is a mom to two children in their 20s who grew up on the lower slopes of Mount Tamalpais. Elizabeth hiked, biked, and photographed the Ridge Trail to update this guidebook, often with family and friends, and this journey reconfirmed for her the magnificence of the Bay Area landscape. Jean Rusmore, the author of this book's first three editions, grew up in what was once the small town of Anaheim, California, in the county that boasted orange and lemon groves as its namesake. She took her first backpacking trip at age 16, when she and a cousin ascended the slopes of Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountains with some food and a jacket rolled up in a blanket. Her outdoor experience was enlarged through her husband, Ted, whom she met at the University of California, Berkeley. They skied and backpacked with their six children, and all looked forward to their annual Sierra backpacking trip. When the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District was established, Jean and her friend Frances Spangle decided to write a book about the new foothill preserves, Peninsula Trails, followed by South Bay Trails, both published by Wilderness Press. When the first segments of the Ridge Trail opened, they wrote pamphlets about each leg. These were later combined and published as the first edition of this book.

Overview Map


Foreword


An Inspired Vision to Connect People, Parks, and Open Space


Acknowledgments


The San Francisco Bay Area


The Bay Area Ridge Trail


How to Use This Book


Trail Sampler: Trips for Many Reasons


North Bay





The Golden Gate Bridge
Marin Headlands from the Golden Gate Bridge to Tennessee Valley
Marin Headlands from Tennessee Valley to Shoreline Highway
Mount Tamalpais State Park and Dias Ridge Trail
Mount Tamalpais State Park and Bolinas Ridge
Bolinas Ridge and Samuel P. Taylor State Park
Samuel P. Taylor State Park to White Hill Open Space Preserve
Loma Alta Open Space Preserve and Loma Alta Fire Road
Lucas Valley Open Space Preserve
Indian Tree Open Space Preserve
Stafford Lake Watershed to O'Hair Park
Mount Burdell Open Space Preserve
Petaluma: Helen Putnam Regional Park and City of Petaluma
Jack London State Historic Park and East Slope Sonoma Mountain Ridge Trail
Jack London State Historic Park and North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve
Spring Lake Regional Park and Trione-Annadel State Park
Hood Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve
Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Robert Louis Stevenson State Park: Lower Oat Hill Mine Trail
Robert Louis Stevenson State Park: Table Rock and Palisades Trails Spur
Robert Louis Stevenson State Park: Mount St. Helena Spur
Moore Creek Park
Skyline Wilderness Park and Napa Solano Ridge Trail
Rockville Hills Regional Park and Vintage Valley Trail
Lynch Canyon Open Space and McGary Road
Hiddenbrooke Open Space
Blue Rock Springs Park to Vallejo-Benicia Buffer
Vallejo-Benicia Waterfront
Benicia-Martinez Bridge


East Bay





Carquinez Bridge and Crockett
Crockett Hills Regional Park
Fernandez Ranch
Martinez City Streets
Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline and John Muir National Historic Site
Contra Costa Feeder Trail #1
Pinole Valley Watershed
Pinole Valley Watershed West and Sobrante Ridge Regional Preserve
Kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Area to Tilden Regional Park
Tilden Regional Park to Redwood Regional Park
Redwood and Anthony Chabot Regional Parks
Anthony Chabot Regional Park
East Bay Municipal Utility District Lands and Cull Canyon Regional Recreation Area
Cull Canyon Regional Recreation Area to Five Canyons Parkway
Five Canyons Parkway to Garin/Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Parks
Vargas Plateau Regional Park
Mission Peak Regional Preserve and Ed R. Levin County Park


South Bay





Penitencia Creek
Alum Rock Park and Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve
Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve
Joseph D. Grant County Park
Coyote Creek Parkway North
Coyote Creek Parkway South
Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park
Mount Madonna County Park
Santa Teresa County Park and Calero Creek/Los Alamitos Creek Trails
Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve and Lexington Reservoir County Park
Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve: Mount Umunhum
Sanborn County Park: John Nicholas Trail
Sanborn County Park and Castle Rock State Park


The Peninsula





Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve to Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve
Skyline Ridge and Russian Ridge Open Space Preserves
Windy Hill Open Space Preserve
Wunderlich County Park to Huddart County Park
Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve
Skylawn Memorial Park
San Francisco Peninsula Watershed
Sweeney Ridge
Skyline College, Milagra Ridge, and Pacifica
Mussel Rock to Lake Merced


San Francisco





Lake Merced to Stern Grove
Stern Grove to the Presidio
San Francisco Presidio


Appendix 1: Information Sources and Contacts for Parks and Watersheds on the Bay Area Ridge Trail Route


Appendix 2: Transportation Agencies That Serve the Bay Area Ridge Trail Route


Index


About the Authors