A Fine Selection of Bay Area Hiking

books:

	• 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: San Francisco, 2nd: Including North Bay, East Bay, Peninsula and South Bay (60 ... Jane Huber Menasha Ridge Press, 2007 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Favorite North Bay Hiking Book

I've really been searching for a great introductory book to get me started hiking at all the great state parks in the North Bay section of the Bay Area and this book came up. [...].

Each park has an introductory section detailing distance, trailhead location, directions to the trailhead and much, much more. I usually use the introductory information to start my hike and then when I'm finished I go back and read the details. If I find I've gotten lost or found an unmarked trail, I can usually discover which is the correct direction.

So far, I've only made it to five parks here in Sonoma and Napa County, but with the help of Huber's book, I'm looking forward to exploring farhter and discovering a new favorite hike.

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A Fine Selection of Bay Area Hiking

The San Francisco Bay area has some of the best hiking in the state. Indeed, when I found myself with time off from work this April I left southern California and flew my father in from Idaho to enjoy a week in the region. Between Point Reyes National Seashore, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the many state and local parks in the Santa Cruz mountains, Bay area hikers pretty much have it all. I'm actually envious of all the area has to offer and periodically threaten to move there until I remember that home prices are positively prohibitive. Still, spring is a wonderful time to visit and this new edition of Huber's 60 Hikes within 60 miles, San Francisco, is a good place to start.

This book has all the nice features found in the "60 Hikes, 60 miles" series, including a nice locator map, decent trail sketch maps, and a list of author hiking recomendations broken down by hiking distance, best places to take kids, and areas where you can actually walk a dog in the canine unfriendly Bay area. Each hike also includes a "key information at a glance" section where readers can learn the mileage, elevation gain, a rough estimate of hiking time, and the GPS coordinates for each trailhead. In all, the book provides solid information for each trail.

But what makes this book so special is the care Huber has taken in selecting the trails. As the webmaster for bahiker.com, she is very familiar with all the Bay area has to offer, but this guide does an excellent job of selecting some of the best. Included are several hikes on Mt. Tamalpais, Point Reyes, and numerous walks among redwoods. The latter are my favorites and I have hiked the routes she describes in Henry Cowell Redwoods (often overlooked) and Big Basin State Park on multiple occasions. Berry Creek Falls in Big Basin has to be one of the top hikes in the state. Huber has also gone to great effort to select a variety of different trails for readers. Hikes range from 3/4 of a mile to over 11 with the vast majority falling in between 4 and 7 miles. Literally anyone can find a hike suited to their abilities within this book. Finally, Huber is something of a self trained naturalist and she shares her extensive knowledge of plants and animals found along the trails in her detailed route descriptions.

I try to get to the Bay area a couple of times a year to hike. For the most part, my explorations have been confined to Marin county and the Santa Cruz mountains, both of which can feel quite remote despite their close proximity to the city. I've hiked several of the routes Huber describes here, and am interested in doing many more on my next trip. I am also keen to explore the many regional parks in the East Bay area now that I have read this book. In all, this is a great guide to Bay area hiking. If you are a resident or frequent visitor, it will be a nice addition to your outdoor library.

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Terrific Resource

This book is a terrific resource for people who like to walk and find themselves in the Bay Area. I found the book because it is mentioned on Jane Huber's wonderful website (www.bahiker.com). I bought the book out of gratitude, but I should have bought it out of pure self-interest. Having an actual book to page through, WITHOUT being hooked up to a computer, is a joy, and I rediscovered the simple truth that cross-referenced lists on paper (and a good table of contents and index) can be superior to links on the screen. With the book, it is a snap to compare hikes by location and difficulty at an information-packed glance. Huber organizes the book so that every question I can think of is answered, easily, clearly, helpfully. Hats off!

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Bay Area parks and preserves offer a dramatic variety of landscapes, from rugged redwood-forested canyons to breezy coastal bluffs, grassy rolling hills to sunny chaparral-coated hillsides. Well-known destinations such as Point Reyes National Seashore, Mount Diablo State Park, Mount Tamalpais State Park, and many other more obscure jewels of the Bay Area park system are just a short drive from the heart of San Francisco. Completely updated and including five new hikes, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: San Francisco, 2nd guides readers to a splendid assortment of trails in the 9 counties surrounding one of the world's most beautiful cities. Whether hikers crave a quick and easy get-out-of-town stroll or a challenging day-long trek through wilderness, this book is the perfect trailblazer, for City natives and first-time visitors alike.

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