Drury-Chaney Loop (Humboldt Redwoods State Park, CA)

Drury-Chaney Loop, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, June 2024 Situated in the northern reaches of California’s Humboldt Redwoods State Park, the level and easy Drury-Chaney Loop spends its entirety in a beautiful old growth redwood forest adorned with ferns and redwood sorrel. These are not the largest coastal redwoods in the area (those are found further …

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Bull Creek Flats Loop (Humboldt Redwoods State Park, CA)

Bull Creek Flats Trail, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, June 2024 Outside of iconic Redwood National Park, about an hour and a half north on Highway 101, there is perhaps no better place in the world to view California coast redwoods than Humboldt Redwoods State Park, a massive, 53,000-acre tract with about 17,000 acres of old-growth …

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Hikes in Diablo Foothills Regional Park

Twin Ponds Trail, Diablo Foothills Regional Park, March 2020 Covering a portion of a scenic hogback fanning out westward from Mount Diablo, Diablo Foothills Regional Park is—at 1,060 feet—relatively small and has only one peak that exceeds 1,000 feet. Yet, at least in winter and spring, the area is exceptionally picturesque. The terrific trail network, …

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Hikes in Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline

Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline, Eastern Unit, March 2024 An eight-mile channel used as a highly-trafficked shipping lane, Carquinez Strait is the gateway from the Sacramento River Delta to San Francisco Bay and separates Solano and Contra Costa counties. While much of the shoreline is residential or industrial, some portions have become protected parklands, including a …

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Hikes in Brushy Peak Regional Preserve

West Side Loop Trail, Brushy Peak Regional Preserve, January 2023 Brushy Peak Regional Preserve is set in the hills just below its namesake, a scrubby round top that rises above a largely treeless section of the Diablo Range in eastern Alameda County. The recovering pasture lands in the 1,979-acre park sure feel like the very …

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Claremont Canyon & UC-Berkeley Hikes

The Big "C," UC-Berkeley, January 2024 When Berkeley residents talk about walking on the “fire roads,” chances are they are referring to the network of hiking and biking trails in Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve or on adjacent lands owned by the University of California, Berkeley. Together this milieu of paths crisscrosses woody and scrubby terrain …

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Top 5 Hikes in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park

Belgum Trail, Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, March 2020 The wilder and more rugged cousin to neighboring Tilden Regional Park, Wildcat Canyon Regional Park spans nearly 2,800 acres of the Berkeley Hills, San Pablo Ridge, and Wildcat Creek watershed in the East Bay. Whereas Tilden is woodier, Wildcat Canyon has more open, windswept pastures with wide-reaching …

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Hikes in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park

Mezue Trail, Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, May 2020 Abutting neighboring Tilden Regional Park to the south, the East Bay’s Wildcat Canyon Regional Park is lesser-known but arguably wilder and more dramatic, subbing out Tilden’s woodier landscape for treeless, windswept pastures with wide-reaching views. Access is by way of El Cerrito, San Pablo, and Richmond to …

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Top 10 Hikes in Tilden Regional Park

Wildcat Peak, Tilden Regional Park, May 2021 Of the 73 parks in the East Bay Regional Park District, Charles Lee Tilden Regional Park is certainly one of the best-known and most-visited. Sure, part of that is convenience and close proximity to the bustling hubs of Berkeley and Oakland. But the real draw of this scenic …

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