Bay Area Ridgetop Hikes and Bike Rides

Ridgetop Views

Peak hikes get a lot of attention. But what about ridgetop rambles? These hikes and bike rides in the Bay Area traverse amazing ridges for some seriously cinematic outdoors.

Week: 07.22.2020
Regions: Northern CA

Go See Grandmother

Hike to the Grandmother Oak in Hood Mountain Regional Park

Grandmother Tree Hike Hood Mountain Sugarloaf park Sonoma
Grandmother’s calling, so you must go. The Grandmother Tree is the largest known coast live oak in Sonoma County, and she resides in quite the beautiful setting. Visit her via a 5-mile (round-trip) hike high in Hood Mountain Regional Park.
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Gateway to Glacier National Park

Kalispell Montana Summer Adventure Plan

Kalispell Montana Summer Adventure hiking Glacier National Park
It’s known as the Soul of Montana: Kalispell is one of the West’s ultimate mountain towns—only a 30-minute scenic drive to the west side of Glacier National Park. Make the friendly mountain town your home base to these top adventures.
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Ridgetop Rolling

Bicycle Ride the Nimitz Way Trail in Berkeley's Tilden Regional Park

Bicycle Nimitz Way Trail Tilden Berkeley
Tilden Regional Park is the flagship of the East Bay Regional Parks system. And its best views? Find them along Nimitz Way, a paved, multi-use ridgetop trail. We recommend biking this trail for about 4 miles.
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A View Comes into Re-focus

Hike to Sweeney Ridge Between Pacifica and San Bruno on Sneath Lane

Hike Sweeney Ridge Trail Sneath Lane Discovery Site
Situated at 1,200 feet on a ridgeline between Pacifica and San Bruno, the scenery from Sweeney Ridge and the San Francisco Bay "Discovery Site" is quite grand, thought it's history isn't.
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  1. Serene Las Gallinas

    A serene stroll alongside marshland, passing ponds and grasses frilled in seasonal wildflowers, with Mount Tam a beacon in the background … how nice. As part of the esteemed Bay Trail, San Rafael’s Las Gallinas Valley Birding Loop and Wildlife Ponds comprises about 3.5 miles of wide-open trail.

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  2. Paint Brushy

    This time of year you’ll have good reason to head for the hills—the electric-green rolling hills of Brushy Peak Regional Preserve in Livermore. This 4.5-mile loop hike is like stepping into a plein air painting.

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  3. Sponsored

    2025 POST Wildflower Walks

    Get flower empowered! POST’s complimentary 2025 Wildflower Walks guide blooms with the best places to see a variety of florals across the Peninsula and South Bay this spring.

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  4. All right, Almaden!

    Take a trip through time on this 5-mile loop in Almaden Quicksilver County Park. Explore the ruins of an old cinnabar mine and enjoy the first hints of wildflower season.

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  1. Sponsored

    Weekend in Reno Tahoe

    Weekend plans? Reno Tahoe! Just a few hours by car or a short flight away, Reno Tahoe springs to the moment with great ways to combine adventure and relaxation in its beautiful mountains-meets-desert setting.

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  2. Hiker walking along the North Bluff Trail on Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park

    Purely Wild

    Channel Islands National Park lives up to its nickname as “North America’s Galapagos.” This less-traveled national park is an undeveloped and isolated series of five dramatic and distinct islands reached by boat. Hike the largest of the islands, Santa Cruz.

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  3. Woman hiking the South Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon

    Truly Grand Day Hike

    One of the best spring day hikes in the Grand Canyon? See layer upon layer of the park’s grandeur—including the river—on this 3-mile (one-way) journey to Skeleton Point via the South Kaibab Trail.

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  4. A woman stands amid an array of yellow and purple flowers at Descanso Gardens in Los Angeles

    Petal Paradise

    Tulips, lilacs, and daffodils—flower power is in full bloom at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge. Sprawling across 150 acres surrounded by mountains, the gardens are putting on their best show right now.

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