Hiking the San Francisco Bay Area

Lace up your boots and sample forty of the finest trails the San Francisco Bay Area has to offer. This guide covers every corner of this beautiful and diverse region, leading you to roaring waterfalls and wind-whipped mountaintops, verdant forests and wildflower-covered meadows. See majestic redwoods in the nature lover's cathedral in Muir woods, watch for whales along Lighthouse Trail at Point Reyes National Seashore, or wander through military history in The Presidio. Veteran hiker and Bay Area native Linda Hamilton will introduce you to these trails and many more. Inside you'll find: up-to-date trail information; accurate directions to popular as well as less-traveled trails; difficulty ratings for each hike; detailed trail maps; zero-impact camping tips. Whether you are a day-tripper or long-distance hiker, old hand or novice, you'll find trails suited to every ability and interest in the Bay Area.

A native to the Bay Area, Linda Hamilton was elated to rediscover the incredible beauty of her home region, beyond the crowded highways. Her first (of so many) solo hiking adventure occurred at age four, when she happily wandered off alone to explore nature, scaring the daylights out of her family. After nine years of teaching high school English, drama, and college composition, and with an MA in English under her belt, she set out to achieve the daunting goal of writing for a living. Her work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, American Heritage of Invention and Technology Magazine, MyFamily Travel newsletters, Americaslibrary.gov, and many online business sites. When not on foot or hugging her laptop, Linda is singing, drawing, traveling, kayaking or laughing with her husband Doug in their Oakland home.