Towering above California’s wine country, Bald Mountain (2,729’) is the highest point in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and one of the tallest peaks in the Mayacamas Mountains, a subset of the Coast Range in the North Bay. While the main draw of Sugarloaf Ridge is the nearby 25-foot seasonal waterfall, hearty hikers can trek to …
Continue reading Bald Mountain Loop (Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, CA)
Fremont Peak, one of the highest in the Gabilan Range south of the Bay Area, takes its name from the 19th century explorer, military officer, senator, and presidential candidate John C. Fremont, whose survey expedition passed through the area in 1846. Facing objections from the Mexican authorities who controlled the area at the time, then-Captain …
Continue reading Fremont Peak Trail (Fremont Peak State Park, CA)
Rising to 3,304 feet, Chalone Peak is the highest point in California’s Pinnacles National Park and a worthy challenge for peak-baggers who seek to brave the exposed sun and 2,000 feet in elevation gain to reach the summit. The Chalone Peak Trail juts off from the end of Bear Gulch Cave in the eastern section …
Continue reading Chalone Peak Trail (Pinnacles National Park, CA)
Every national park has one: a trail that, despite lacking any particularly notable beauty, exists seemingly to be hiked only by those seeking the satisfaction of completing every trail in the park. In Capitol Reef National Park, a former focus of this blog, it is the much-maligned Old Wagon Trail. In Pinnacles National Park, it …
Continue reading South Wilderness Trail (Pinnacles National Park, CA)
Sporting one of California’s finest talus caves and shoreline access to a picturesque, rock-hewn reservoir, the Bear Gulch Cave Trail is one of the most popular hikes in Pinnacles National Park. Here a jumble of boulders, so large and tightly-packed that it blankets the ground with darkness, forms subterranean passages home to a resident colony …
Continue reading Bear Gulch Cave – Rim Trail Loop (Pinnacles National Park, CA)
2019 has come and gone, and it was an excellent year for hiking. Over the course of the year, I added 43 posts to Live and Let Hike and notched nearly 150,000 site visits (81,000 visitors). As always, the travel was diverse, spanning hikes and scenic drives from 13 states (plus the District of Columbia), …
Originally the work of volcanoes 23 million years ago, the rocks of today’s Pinnacles National Park were moved, upended, chiseled, and weathered by water, wind, and the infamous temper of the San Andreas Fault in central California. The result is a wild paradise of formations, boulders, spires, and talus caves, less than a two-hour’s drive …
Continue reading Condor Gulch – High Peaks Trail Loop (Pinnacles National Park, CA)
At 3,849 feet, Mount Diablo is one of the highest and most prominent peaks in the San Francisco Bay Area and perhaps the most well-known mountain in the East Bay. Taking its name from a linguistic accident in the early 19th century, this “Devil’s Mountain” makes for a very long and imposing climb for modern …
Continue reading Mount Diablo via Eagle Peak and Mitchell Canyon (Mount Diablo State Park, CA)
Most visitors seeking views of Yosemite Valley from above will drive out to the end of the Glacier Point Road for a fantastic, but crowded, vista. Those looking for a greater challenge with arguably greater payoff, however, should consider the all-day hike out to North Dome (7,542’), which has maybe the best vantage point of …
Continue reading North Dome Trail, inc. Indian Rock (Yosemite National Park, CA)
The redwood groves of Muir Woods National Monument, while lovely, have a people problem. Within a half-mile radius of the park’s tiny visitor center, there are scores and scores of visitors. Yet the western stretches of the park—or better yet, the areas belonging to Mount Tamalpais State Park that surround Muir Woods—solitude and wildness are …
Continue reading Ben Johnson-Bootjack Trail Loop (Muir Woods National Monument, CA)
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