2018's Top 10 Adventures in Northern California

Looking to spice up your hiking life? Give your partner a rose—Mount Rose! The 10-mile out-and-back peak hike goes up to one of the grandest views in all of Lake Tahoe. Get ready for a solid hiking day! The first few miles are a nice steady incline traversing sagebrush, lodgepole

Lush vineyards aren’t the only things rolling in Sonoma Valley these days. Casual cruiser biking is one of the best ways to see the sights and taste the wines! The key: Pedal the country roads and paved bike paths that start right from the historic plaza. Rent a bike at one of th

Out with the old, in with the New Year—and a new calendar! Download your complimentary 2019 Hiking Calendar from Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) and try a different hike every month of the year (New Year’s resolution: a hike a month!). The POST Hiking Calendar gives you the bes

Hundred-foot redwoods, a shaded canyon, and views overlooking Half Moon Bay. This 10-mile loop hike in Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve is a roller-coaster of uphill and downhill along with easygoing stretches through some of the Bay Area’s most beautiful landscape.

Many years ago we dubbed it the “Grand Walk” and said it was one of the most scenic and stunning trails in the West. We were wrong. This is the most scenic urban hike in America!

Granite mountain-scape, superb sunset views, crystal lakes, and shoreline campsites … the trip to Paradise Lake in Tahoe National Forest lives up to its idyllic name. Just a few hours from the Bay Area, this 15.6-mile (round-trip) out-and-back hike or backpack overnighter along t

In its bustling urban setting, UC Berkeley’s campus may seem like an open book, but it’s actually home to spots that are off the beaten path, even for students. Now there's a "Cal Secret Spots" guide, created in collaboration with the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and

If you’re crazy about the ocean, the beach, and waterfalls, Bolinas’s Coast Trail is bound to become one of your all-time favorite spring hikes. It’s got one killer cliffside view after another and a classic climax: Alamere Falls, a 50-foot tumbler that launches off a cliff into

Downward dog, meet goat. As in Goat Yoga at Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay. The fifteen or so baby goats roaming the barn-turned-yoga-studio here are the yogi partners you never knew you needed. During the 45-minute session you’ll flow with these furry friends as they nibble at your

Along the banks of the East Fork Carson River, brushing the California–Nevada border, sits a series of hot spring pools surrounded by high desert. The springs have for years been a sanctuary for rafters and kayakers making their way down the river, but ambitious hikers and backpa

Lingering wildflowers and sweeping Pacifica views … this 1,900-foot peak hike up Pacifica’s Montara Mountain has it all, including a beach ending! Start at the Gray Whale Cove trailhead on the southeast side of its namesake parking lot (arrive early, parking fills quickly here).