19 Dimond Park
20 Montclair Railroad Trail and Shepherd Canyon Park
22 Upper Rockridge Stairway Walk
26 Lafayette Reservoir Rim Trail
CENTRAL EAST BAY AND THE TRI-VALLEY
30 Garin and Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Parks
32 Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park
33 Las Trampas Regional Wilderness
35 Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge
36 Vargas Plateau Regional Park
37 Mission Peak Regional Preserve
Appendix III: Conservation and Trail Organizations
TRAILS AT A GLANCE
Note: Half circles indicate that a portion of a trail is suitable for a particular use; see the individual trail descriptions for details.
Hikers descend steps with a great view on the Derby Canyon/Clark-Kerr Trail (Hike 9).
INTRODUCTION
THE BAY AREA IS AN AMAZING PLACE to call home. The winning combination of a moderate climate, ample sunshine, and stunning natural beauty make it the perfect place to get outside. While there are numerous world-class wilderness areas within a few hours’ drive, it’s not realistic to spend every weekend in Yosemite or Pinnacles National Parks. Sometimes it’s nice to experience the outdoors right outside your front door, without a long drive, and maybe even using public transit.
When parks and trails are closer to where you live, you’re more likely to use them, whether for a weekend outing or a stroll at the end of a long workday. But to use them, you need to know where they are. The forty trails featured in this guide are designed to help you discover a variety of urban and natural areas throughout this unique region. And there is so much to see and do here; as of this writing, the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) manages 73 parks, more than 1250 miles of trails, and nearly 125,000 acres in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) manages around 29,000 acres of open space and 90 miles of trails. And that doesn’t even include all the other city, state, and nationally owned and operated parks scattered throughout the East Bay’s cities and towns.
The trails described in this guide extend as far north as Richmond, as far south as Fremont, and as far east as Mount Diablo, and they cover many places in between such as Oakland, Berkeley, Dublin, Pleasanton, and more. Within and around these cities and towns, you can enjoy everything from regional parks to a national wilderness area to city parks and stairway walks. You’ll walk among redwoods, along bayside shores, and up to high peaks with views of the whole region. And all of these experiences are accessible via an AC Transit bus ride, BART train ride, or short drive.
The routes are distributed throughout the region on purpose, so that if you’re an East Bay resident, wherever you live, there’s a trail (or several) near you. If you’re a San Francisco resident, you can get to most of these trails in less than an hour. And if you’re visiting the area, you’ll get to see just how diverse and interesting the East Bay is.
