A Press Democrat Blog

Trailhead

A blog about Bay Area hiking…. mostly

BLM’s annual eagle viewing hikes in Lake County

Thursday, at 2:11 by

Reprinting this story from today’s Press Democrat on an interesting series of hikes in Lake County. See below:   By MARY CALLAHAN  |  THE PRESS DEMOCRAT  |  January 18 The Bureau of Land Management launches its annual series of guided hikes to view bald eagles along Cache Creek in Lake County on Saturday, though the forecast suggests rain could cancel the first outing. There are five additional hikes on the calendar, scheduled at 10 a.m. each Saturday from now through… Read More »

Where should you hike with your dog?

Monday, at 9:23 by

I’m not a dog owner, but I certainly see plenty of dogs on trails, from rigorous ones to easy local walks. A reader asks the question below. Feel free to respond in the comments, or if you’d prefer, email me and I’ll add the responses to this blog entry. “I’ve just recently started following your blog on PD.com and was wondering if you could recommend any good, local hiking areas that are dog friendly? I go up to Shiloh a… Read More »

Some tough climbing in Lucas Valley

Wednesday, at 11:12 by

Having hiked more than 150 miles of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, I wouldn’t have predicted that one of the toughest parts would be just outside San Rafael in the hills of Marin County. But it is what it is. Last weekend, I hiked about 13.5 miles on several Marin ridge trails, including about five miles of trail that are part of the Ridge Trail. The trail section was in the Lucas Valley Open Space Preserve, but the hike included… Read More »

Start 2012 with a hike. Please.

Tuesday, at 9:06 by

For many people, New Year’s Day is time to start on a resolution, or embrace some superstition or tradition. Black-eyed peas, anyone? For me, it’s a chance to take a hike. After whatever occurred, or didn’t occur, the big night before, a brisk walk on the first day of the year feels right. And unlike most of the country, it usually can be done in fairly moderate weather rather than in frigid conditions. The last few years, I’ve sprinkled my… Read More »

Looking for ideas for New Year’s Day hiking spots

Tuesday, at 3:00 by

As the headline suggests, I’m in need of suggestions of where to hike on New Year’s Day. Some of the suggestions will appear in a column to be published next week in the newspaper (aka, the non-digital edition of this thing you’re reading). Feel free to leave some ideas here in the comments, or email me, if that’s more your speed. I’ll be hiking on New Year’s Day somewhere on the other side of the globe, but otherwise, I’m sure… Read More »

Trekking up Hood Mountain

Tuesday, at 10:50 by

With Sugarloaf Ridge State Park now closed, there’s one less option for local hikers. And the park is truly closed. All of the parking areas outside the park grounds are now marked with no-parking signs and citation warnings so even treks up to Gunsight Rock or to the waterfalls just before the Sugarloaf entrance gate are difficult given that there’s nowhere to park. But there’s more than one way to skin a….whatever. Our group headed to Hood Mountain Regional Park,… Read More »

John Wayne, Chinese shrimpers and a great view

Tuesday, at 1:40 by
VLUU L100, M100 / Samsung L100, M100

More than a century ago, a tiny alcove on San Pablo Bay near San Rafael was a bustling shrimping village. Hundreds of people from the Guangdong province of China had settled in the area, and were busy catching and selling shrimp. Of course, that didn’t last for long, but amazingly, a lot of the remnants of the actual village are still around. They form the historical showpiece of China Camp State Park, an interesting – and endangered – state park… Read More »

Mono Lake safe, Sugarloaf Ridge not

Friday, at 11:04 by

I’ve never been to Mono Lake, located just east of Yosemite, but I’ve heard the 1-million-year-old watering hole is gorgeous. It’s also having an early Christmas as it just got removed from the state parks’ closure list. How did they do it? More than 4,000 signatures to the governor’s office helped, but more important was the role of a local nonprofit foundation that stepped into the void and will handle collections of parking fees and help keep an eye on… Read More »

Falling back into the hiking routine

Wednesday, at 1:48 by
A fellow hiker atop Gunsight Rock

It’s been a busy few months for me (go figure!), so my regular rhapsodic schedule of long all-day hiking outings has been interrupted. But I’ve managed to do a bunch of short hikes recently, squeezing in a quickie here and there when time permits. Or even when it doesn’t. I hope you’ve been doing the same. The fall is an amazing time to get out and see the seasonal transformation of nature, and a cool morning quickly heats up with… Read More »

Napa’s people-powered park

Thursday, at 12:19 by

  A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of exploring Napa’s Skyline Wilderness Park, a true diamond in plain sight that often gets overlooked. It was a terrific hike full of wildflowers and great views. Turns out it’s a fascinating park based on its geology and terrain, and also somewhat of a model in its organizational structure. Basically, local folks created it, local folks run it, and local folks will decide its future. So when you hear about… Read More »

GUEST COLUMN: Saving Jack London State Park

Wednesday, at 12:00 by

By Lynn Millar I am a walker, a blogger about walking and a writer. The pending closure of Jack London State Historic Park next summer hits me particularly hard. Last year, the park celebrated its 50th anniversary. A library room opened in the museum at the House of Happy Walls. Several years earlier volunteers restored Jack London’s cottage on Beauty Ranch. He spent the last years of his life here, writing, entertaining friends and running a ‘scientific’ ranch. Jack London… Read More »

Overlooking Sonoma

Monday, at 10:27 by

With time to kill on a weeknight before a downtown Sonoma appointment, I headed to the Sonoma Overlook Trail. I had hiked on property on either side of the Overlook Trail (the interesting Bartholomew Park path and a exploration of the Montini Ranch property), but the three-mile overlook trail was new to me. It’s a popular spot for locals, some jogging, some walking. I counted about 20 other people during the hour-long roundtrip – and four deer that had no… Read More »