Customer Reviews

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

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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 be crossed or various public agencies will have to purchase, at great expense, considerable additional land in the part of the country that boasts the most pricy real estate in the nation. I think the most cost effective way to do this would be by use of eminent domain. Unfortunately, local government officials would much rather condemn private homes to build a new Walmart or sports arena than to pay property owners for the use of a trail through their lands. As a result, eminent domain now has a pretty bad name and is being restricted by concerns citizens who (rightly) do not trust their local government to use it wisely. I have no solution for this problem (though it should be noted that some landowners, notably George Lucas, have graciously allowed trail building and public access through their property.) I do, however, think the author's claim that these problems will be solved and the trail completed by 2012 is overly optimistic. If all the relevant public agencies work together, maybe, but this leads to... Problem 3: multiple agencies means multiple regulations which can kill through hiking opportunities. Already hikers need a special permit on East Bay Skyland lands, fees in various county and state parks, etc. This is reasonable for day hikes, but unrealistic for longer backpack trips.

So in conclusion, I think the Bay Area Ridge Trail shows a lot of promise. It certainly covers a lot of nice country which this book glowingly describes. And, as the author notes, it remains a work in progress. Whether it becomes the preeminent urban-wildlands trail, or just an expensive proposition in doing "something" remains to be seen. I am cautiously optimistic that it will become more like the Tahoe Rim Trail and less like the unfortunate Backbone Trail. It could easily be more scenic than both, if the sharp black and white photos in this book are any guide. But only time will tell.

UPDATE: August 2010. After having completed over half of the BART Trail including most of the North Bay, most of the East
Bay and most of the Peninsula, I would NOT recommend that anyone bother to buy this book. Reasons are as follows:

1) All information necessary to hike the trail, including online printable maps, is available free at the official website.

2) The "ridge" aspect is false and misleading. Although there are beautiful places to hike, you often hike on paved bike trails alongside of busy highways and freeways, over bridges along side of freeways (Golden Gate Bridge, Carquinez Strait bridge, George Miller Bridge), sidewalks through residential areas, and even along railroad tracks such as in Napa).

3) The trails are absolutely poorly marked and the non-profit (tax supported) demonstrates a repeat poor attitude
when contacted about problems or errors on the "trail." You'll discover that the BART markers are almost always
placed where the crew can easily step out of their truck, place it, and leave. Where there is actual dirt, the
markers are sparse or missing altogether. Sometimes the markers are placed in a different location than their "official"
downloadable maps indicate the trail should be. Plenty of junctures with options to hike opposing directions w/o markers.

4) The "trail" isn't anything other than a designated ROUTE through dozens of public parks (state, regional, county, and utility owned such as East Bay MUD). You could simply look at a map of the S.F. Bay area & decide how you wish to
circle the Bay in your own way with the same results. In some cases, the trail stops without any logic for stopping where
it does and without signage. i.e. In the City of Benicia, the "trail" officially stops at an major traffic intersection. The Western most aspect of that same segment stops overlooking the Carquinez Strait Bridge with no way to continue and
no marker to indicate you've found the "official" end point for that location while other segments do have an "official"
marker ending a section.

5) The "trail" is like a bowl of noodles. It isn't a single loop around the Bay, but a tangle of offshoots in various directions.

In short, the book is pretty much a waste of money. The "trail" does NOT consist of 500 miles as the reader is led to
believe and never will. It consists of maybe 200 miles of dirt with the remainder being paved in one fashion or
another. Due to the high density of population in the San Francisco Bay area, the "trail" will never be much different. In
fact, I suspect that the entire goal of the non-profit that bears the trail name is simply to continue its existence for
the sake of maintaining their public funded jobs.

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I decided that hiking the BART trail would be a nice challenge & began to pursue hiking on it in order to cover it over a years time. Since the trail is over 500 miles in total length, a hiker can complete it in less than year by doing weekly hikes of only 10 miles or so. And its a great idea for a trail because its pretty much a beginner trail but with great views and minimum hiking experience works just fine.

After having completed roughly 50 miles of trail, I've got a few things to share with people.

First, the "official" book titled "Bay Area Ridge Trail" by Jean Rushmore has some negatives to it.

The text describes the trail in a clockwise manner. Meaning, if you prefer to hike the opposite direction to more easily overcome prevailing wind or to hike from higher to lower rather than climbing from lower to higher, you have to follow the book trail segments in a backwards reading. A good example is hiking the section between Olema, CA, and Muir Beach, CA. The author describes the hike in two segments while hiking Northbound. But, thats actually the harder way of doing it and not as nice for novice hikers. To hike it Southbound FROM Olema is the easier route as that direction allows the hiker to move downhill more than uphill from the beach and with the prevailing wind at your back while hiking that 22 or so miles.

Secondly, the directions within the book on following the trails are buried within all of her descriptive text. So, if you prefer to simply follow a trail segment one day without reading about her description of flowers and such, you can't do it. You'll have to underline the direction within the reading material to be able to make use of them. And making use of the directions is sometimes needed because the trail, it turns out, isn't marked at all junctions. The directions on navigating the trail twists and turns are blended in with her observations. The only trail information that is separated out of her descriptive text are the maps of the route (which are not detailed enough to keep you on track) and the trail head locations.

Thirdly, the title of the route itself is a bit misleading. The "Bay Area Ridge Trail" conjures up all sorts of mental visuals for hikers. But, the truth of the matter is, there are places where no "ridge" nor open space exists on the "official" route. i.e. hiking through urban San Francisco is one example or across the Golden Gate Bridge which is a genuine, heavily travelled freeway with sidewalks.

One item all hikers will learn is that certain segments cannot be hiked at all without making a reservation with a government agency i.e. San Francisco Water Department. In order to hike over their property in San Mateo County, hikers can only go on escorted hikes. No hiking off the trail. You must travel at their speed. And, most importantly, the dates are of their choosing and not open to requests for something else. It isn't a horrible thing, but its just an example of how one must approach the trail as a hiker because the "trail" isn't really anything but 500 plus miles of routing which crosses hundreds of properties owned by different people and agencies.

Finally, I was a bit disappointed in that I discovered sections where the trail is either poorly marked or not marked at all. i.e. in the hills around the Boy Scout property above Woodacre, CA. There is no marking at all on Sir Francis Drake Blvd near Samuel P. Taylor State Park where hikers have to exit the roadway and walk back into a fire road about a 1/4 mile before a BART trail marker is posted. When I contacted the official website with my observations that the markers had either never been installed or were missing, they didn't have the decency to respond. In my humble opinion, they are in the midst of creating their own publicly funded bureaucracy to keep themselves in a job, yet don't have time to respond to hiker suggestions for trail maintenance. I might add that the effort to replace the 2 inch x 2 inch trail marker literally would take one of their people about three minutes. But they didn't bother to respond. Wasn't that sweet?

So, the book by Jean Rusmore will get you going. But, its not organized as well as it could be. And the trail itself, despite twenty some years of bureaucracy, has all sorts of gaps where the hiker must turn back due to private property (i.e. above Big Rock in Marin County) or stop & drive to the next segment miles down the road.

Still, as I mentioned, its a worthy challenge. At a minimum, it encourages people with novice experience to actually get out & hike which is great for exercise. And, it affords people the chance to actually circle the entire San Francisco Bay on foot which allows a perspective on the region that probably less than 1% of the population ever attains.

My advice: buy the most recent edition of the book because older editions wouldn't even be useful with newer trail information. And, buy the book used. I bought a new version & I'm already underlining the information needed because I don't want to read her descriptions of every flower or bug. :)

There you have it.

The problems with the trail that other reviewers mention are there. But they are things that are being worked on. I have been treated very well by the staff at the Ridge Trail Council. But. This review is about the book.

I am creating GPS tracks of the trail and will end up hiking all the completed sections and probably other sections as well. And I depend on the book for directions and a general outline. For what it is, it gets the job done well. I think that as the Ridge Trail Council gets more money and works more on their website, most of the information in the book would be better in an online format. Because things change. Especially in the Bay Area. Public transportation routes and stops change frequently.

I think Ms. Rusmore has done a creditable job of telling the tale of the trail, getting people to the trailhead and giving most readers most of the information needed. There could be a better map and description of the trail as it moves through San Francisco. Maybe I can help with that.

This is a big trail in a major urban area. I think it's wonderful that it goes through San Francisco and marvelous that it crosses the Golden Gate Bridge. Five long trails cross that bridge. And the Bay Area Ridge Trail crosses other bridges, as well. After all, it is the Bay Area.

If you plan to hike the Ridge Trail, you will want this book. It is essential. And what better way to get exercise, see beautiful scenery, and experience the whole Bay Area? Walk well.