Bay Area Ridge Trail: The Official Guide for Hikers, Mountain Bikers and Equestrians

by Jean Rusmore

The official guide to the ever-growing Bay Area Ridge Trail, a proposed 400-mile route that circles the ridgeline of the San Francisco Bay, crossing over nine counties. Five new trails and 13 more miles await discovery in this new edition, bringing the mileage of the completed Ridge Trail to 225. It also includes new or rerouted sections of at least six trails and details five trails that were only briefly mentioned in the 1st edition update.

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0899974694
• ISBN13: 9780899974699
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Wilderness Press
• Length: 313 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Summary of the Present; Some Questions about the Future

One of the more interesting hiking developments over the last few decades has been the creation of longer "scenic" trails. Modelled upon the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, these new trails cover many miles (though they are generally shorter than the aforementioned routes) and offer the opportunity for extended recreation. Some of these, the Tahoe Rim Trail, for example, have turned into stellar routes worthy of a week (or longer) backpack trip. But others, most notably the Backbone Trail of the Santa Monica National Recreational Area, are essentially expensive "feel good" projects with little recreational value due to extensive regulations on camping and use. The Bay Area Ridge Trail, one of the largest of these projects, is about 60% complete. It covers some truly scenic land and when finished, it will extend almost 500 miles. This book, now in its second edition, is an excellent guide to the completed portions of the trail. But as I read it, I was unsure how the trail would ultimately turn out. Will it become a fabulous mid range distance hike, open to users from all over, or will it be merely an expensive resigning of existing routes that will only see day use, and then only over portions of the trail? Rusmore is an experienced hiker, having cut her teeth on the San Gabriel mountains in southern California before moving to the more beautiful, but less rugged, Bay Area. She has explored the area extensively for decades and her guidebooks are very detailed. Every stretch of trail described in this book that I have hiked is accurate. In addition to very detailed trail descriptions, this book includes topo maps showing both the main (hiking) route and alternative biking and equestrian routes. She also includes notes on side routes where appropriate and such camping options as are available. Some sections of the Ridge Trail can be hiked continuously, and she gives added treatment to these areas, most notably the East Bay Skyline Trail and the trail in the Marin Headlands. In all this is a very well done book and those hoping to hike the parts of the trail now open, as well as those seeking extended day hikes and a few point to point backpack trips would be well advised to buy this book. But having read the book, I worry about the future of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Three concerns come to mind. First, camping opportunities are not very abundant. This problem can effectively kill a trail as a through hike. Indeed, the Backbone Trail is effectively pointless for this very reason. Of course, it is true that people might simply seek day hike opportunites, but the Bay Area has no shortage of these (despite its relatively small size, the Bay Area is by far the largest chapter of California Hiking and has numerous hiking opportunities.) To justify a trail of this scope and expense, camping opportunities for a through hike are a must. And this leads to problem 2: to complete this trail, either some private land must b