Explore the best rated trails in Alameda, CA. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Lincoln Hill Pathway and NWP Railroad Trail. With more than 90 trails covering 681 miles you’re bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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This segment of the California Coastal Trail (also known as the Half Moon Bay State Park's Coastside Trail) runs parallel to the Pacific Coast along what used to be the Ocean Shore Railroad. The...
The Corte Madera Creek Path is open in two disconnected segments that can be linked via a bike ride on low-stress S. Eliseo Drive or a walk or run on its sidewalk. Both sections closely follow the...
The NWP Railroad Trail runs on an arrow-straight course through Larkspur and Corte Madera in ritzy Marin County. Its name is derived from the railroad that once made use of the corridor: the...
Nimitz Way links Tilden Regional Park and Wildcat Canyon Regional Park via the ridge between Wildcat Creek and the San Pablo Reservoir on the northern outskirts of Berkeley. The paved 4-mile trail...
The Centennial Way Trail follows the path of the BART line between San Bruno station and South San Francisco station. The BART, of course, runs underground while the trail doesn't. The 10-foot-wide...
The Mori Ridge Trail is one trail of many in beautiful Sweeney Ridge, a prime bicycling and hiking area in San Mateo County. The natural surface path runs from a junction with both the Sweeney Ridge...
The Lower Silver Creek Trail runs in a nearly straight line between Ocala Avenue and Dobern Avenue (Abed Court). Between Foxdale Drive and Logsden Way there's a short (about 0.25 mile) on-street...
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This 2.5-mile trail segment through San Francisco's Presidio is part of 340-mile network of multi-use trails collectively known as the Bay Area Ridge Trail that climb Bay Area mountain ridges and pass...
About 35 miles south of San Francisco, the Cowell-Purisima Trail offers a beautiful escape into nature which can be enjoyed by both walkers and bicyclists. Travelers in wheelchairs can also access the...
The Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail links its two namesake communities via a former logging railroad corridor that largely parallels St. Mary's Road. Uniquely, mules hauled lumber on the corridor...
The Albertson Parkway is located in South San Jose, just steps away from the sprawling Santa Teresa County Park, which features preserved land and unpaved trails in the rolling Santa Teresa Hills. The...
The Upper Silver Creek Trail courses through Silver Creek Linear Park, offering a nice play area and picnicking at the southern end and tennis courts and a basketball court at the northern end....
The Aquatic Park Trail travels along a hairpin-shaped route through Aquatic Park and around a small lake narrowly separated from the San Francisco Bay. The trail runs parallel to, and across...
The Yerba Buena Creek Trail follows its namesake creek through Evergreen Park behind the community center, paralleling Yerba Buena Road and Park Estates Way.
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Tucked in the quiet Oakland hills neighborhood of Montclair, the Shepherd Canyon Trail (a.k.a. Montclair Railroad Trail) is a popular community rail-trail that has come to symbolize the power of...
The Great Highway Bike Path parallels its namesake road on the western edge of San Francisco, offering stunning views of the Pacific Ocean throughout. The trail provides direct access to the San...
The Evergreen Creek Trail follows its namesake creek between San Felipe Road and Yerba Buena Road. To the north of the gravel trail is suburbia (with a row of trees separating the trail from the...
The Sandra Marker Trail runs for a mile on an east-west course through Larkspur, linking the Redwood Highway/San Clemente Drive Paths in the east with the popular NWP Railroad Trail in the west. Both...
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This 4.5-mile paved trail encircles Lake Merced in southwestern San Francisco. The western leg of the loop is also referred to as the Lake Merced Measured Mile and is part of a larger, regional effort...
The Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area provides users with a wide variety of recreational activities. In addition to its several miles of biking, walking and equestrian paths, the park also...
The Mill Valley/Sausalito Multiuse Pathway is a convenient connection between neighborhoods, schools, shopping, restaurants, and both a skate and dog park. The short dirt section at the north end is...
The bulk of the High Canal Bridge Pathway runs alongside its namesake waterway, offering scenic views and a sense of serenity in the middle of the ritzy Marin County communities of Larkspur and Corte...
The area surrounding the Iron Horse Regional Trail has an important history as part of the San Ramon Valley's agricultural and ranching past. Today, the Iron Horse Trail connects two counties and...
The Embarcadero Bike Path is an important connector between the local commuter rail, schools, and a commercial area on Palo Alto's west side and the outskirts of Stanford University. The paved...
If you're looking for a gentle rail-trail in Marin County that offers stunning views of both San Francisco Bay and Mt. Tamalpais, the Tiburon Historical Trail is for you. Known alternately as the...
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The Bear Creek Trail is an 8 mile-long paved trail in Stockton, California. The trail has connections to neighborhoods as well as parks and schools. The trail begins on Lower Sarcamento Road...
The Permanente Creek Trail offers a linear route through the suburban city of Mountain View, beginning at Shoreline At Mountain View and heading south to Rock Street. The paved pathway includes safe...
The Corte Madera Creek Path is open in two disconnected segments that can be linked via a bike ride on low-stress S. Eliseo Drive or a walk or run on its sidewalk. Both sections closely follow the...
Silver Creek Valley Trail follows its namesake creek and paralleling Silver Creek Valley Road. The passes through a country club neighborhood and through open space over a steep hill. The trail offers...
The Napa River Trail parallels its namesake river through the City of Napa from Kennedy Park to just south of Trancas Crossing Park. It is currently open in two disconnected segments. The southern...
Joe's Trail at Saratoga de Anza parallels the south side of the active Union Pacific Railroad tracks that travel through a residential area of Saratoga, a California community just south of the San...
The Isabel Avenue Trail runs north-south on the western boundary of Livermore in the eastern San Francisco Bay area's Tri-Valley region. As its name suggests, the path primarily serves neighborhoods...
The Penitencia Creek Trail follows its namesake creek through a suburban greenbelt in northeast San José. On the northeastern end, the trail passes by a series of percolation ponds, and you can take a...
The Highway 237 Bikeway parallels State Route 237 between McCarthy Boulevard in Milpitas and Calabazas Creek in Sunnyvale. The trail consists of two main segments: the first is between McCarthy...
The trail through the Cal Park Hill Tunnel offers a quick, smooth ride through the hill that separates San Rafael from the ferry terminal in Larkspur and southern Marin County. As part of the 70-mile...
The Evergreen Creek Trail follows its namesake creek between San Felipe Road and Yerba Buena Road. To the north of the gravel trail is suburbia (with a row of trees separating the trail from the...
The San Francisco Bay Trail is a colossal effort to create a 500-mile multiuse trail encircling its namesake bay. Along its course, the trail will link 47 cities through 9 counties, providing numerous...
The Miller Creek Trail is a short paved path that runs on the former alignment of Lucas Valley Road. The trail follows both its namesake creek and the newer alignment of Lucas Valley Road on the...
The Baquiano Trail is one trail of many in beautiful Sweeney Ridge, a prime bicycling and hiking area in San Mateo County. The trail climbs 550 feet from a junction with two hiking trails in the west...
As it winds up to the eastern peak of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, this picturesque trail offers an exhilarating combination of far-reaching views, history and challenge. The trail follows the...
The Mori Ridge Trail is one trail of many in beautiful Sweeney Ridge, a prime bicycling and hiking area in San Mateo County. The natural surface path runs from a junction with both the Sweeney Ridge...
The Sabercat Creek Trail can be found along its tree-lined namesake waterway in the Mission San Jose community of Fremont, a coastal California city off the San Francisco Bay. The 2-mile paved pathway...
The Los Alamitos Creek Trail runs along its namesake creek between McKean Road and Almaden Lake Park, where the trail is also known as the Lake Almaden Trail. From its southern endpoint to Camden...
Running from Solano Community College on the southwest edge of town and into the town of Fairfield, the Fairfield Linear Park Path provides convenient bike access to the action on campus and in the...
The Petaluma Trails consist of 5 trails, each one through a unique and scenic part of historic Petaluma. There is a two-mile circular loop through Shollenberger Park and a one-mile trail that links...
The Barberry Walkway runs parallel to Barberry Lane between Corda Drive near Meadowfair Park and Dina Lane. There are plans to extend the walkway along the outskirts of the park to Quimby Road.
Nimitz Way links Tilden Regional Park and Wildcat Canyon Regional Park via the ridge between Wildcat Creek and the San Pablo Reservoir on the northern outskirts of Berkeley. The paved 4-mile trail...
It is difficult to travel through suburban Santa Clara County for more than a few minutes without noticing an abundance of cyclists and runners in the area. If you are strolling to downtown Los Gatos,...
The Redwood Highway/San Clemente Drive Paths combine to parallel their connecting roadways on the edge of Corte Madera. The combined trail is more scenic than your average sidepath: to the east, views...
The Crocker Park Recreational Trail loops around Crocker Park businesses in the town of Brisbane. The 2.5-mile, gravel trail begins and ends on Park Lane across from the dog park, although you can...
The Isabel Avenue Trail runs north-south on the western boundary of Livermore in the eastern San Francisco Bay area's Tri-Valley region. As its name suggests, the path primarily serves neighborhoods...
The Highway 237 Bikeway parallels State Route 237 between McCarthy Boulevard in Milpitas and Calabazas Creek in Sunnyvale. The trail consists of two main segments: the first is between McCarthy...
The Umbarger Road Parkway parallels its namesake road for just over 0.5 mile between Plumas Drive and Tuers Road in a narrow strip of greenspace surrounded by suburbia. The similar Barberry Walkway is...
The trail through the Cal Park Hill Tunnel offers a quick, smooth ride through the hill that separates San Rafael from the ferry terminal in Larkspur and southern Marin County. As part of the 70-mile...
The Lincoln Hill Pathway provides an uninterupted alternative to busy Lincoln Avenue (and busier US 101) via an "urban canyon" between the soundwalls of US 101 and the SMART commuter rail project. The...
The Lower Silver Creek Trail runs in a nearly straight line between Ocala Avenue and Dobern Avenue (Abed Court). Between Foxdale Drive and Logsden Way there's a short (about 0.25 mile) on-street...
The Sandra Marker Trail runs for a mile on an east-west course through Larkspur, linking the Redwood Highway/San Clemente Drive Paths in the east with the popular NWP Railroad Trail in the west. Both...
The San Francisco Bay area's Charles F. McGlashan Pathway was once known as the Tennessee Valley Pathway, but was renamed to honor a former Marin County Supervisor and a passionate active...
The Matadero Creek Trail, also known as the Page Mill-Arastradero Connector, offers beautiful views of the San Francisco Bay and Santa Cruz Mountains as it winds its way through gently rolling hills...
The Upper Silver Creek Trail courses through Silver Creek Linear Park, offering a nice play area and picnicking at the southern end and tennis courts and a basketball court at the northern end....
A challenging walk up the hills, but beautiful views! Worth the time!
We regularly ride the section of the trail between Oak Knoll Ave and Yountville. It's an easy, flat ride, about 7 miles one way. The views of the vineyards and hills are stunning along this entire section. There are rest spots along the way, and there's a free bike tool kit and air pump at the end of the path (or beginning depending on your direction of travel) in Yountville. Though the trail is next to highway 29, it is protected, and is separated from the highway with a good amount of trees and plantings in many sections. Train tracks are also between the trail and the highway, and the Napa Wine Train passes by regularly during peak season. It's a fun, family-friendly mixed-use path.
Started at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond and traveled south (clockwise) along the bay to the Central Ave intersection and return. A good portion of the trail is wide and plenty of room for walkers and bikers. The last couple miles we rode is a bit narrower, still enough room for both. Trail condition is great. A number of interpretative signs are placed, discussing the history and nature of this area. Well worth the visit. Take time to see the Rosie Visitor Center. Luck was with us when we visited and were able to attend a talk by the National Park Service’s oldest park ranger (97 yrs old). Betty Reid Soskin is an articulate speaker and recounted her time living in the area and working in the ship yards during WWII. If given the opportunity don’t miss out. Noted that the trail in this area had great signage and shouldn’t have any trouble following the route. Some of the trail going north (counterclockwise) was on the street with designated bike lanes. Looking forward to doing other sections of this trail when we visit again in the future.
Thursday, January 3, 2019
My wife and I started this ride at the northern most entrance at the corner of San Bruno Avenue West and Skyline Blvd. We parked at a dirt church parking lot across from the trail head that a sign said was open to the public. TrailLinks indicates there is parking at the San Andrea Trail parking lot about a ½ mile down the trail along Skyline Blvd. It not really a parking lot but more of a wide spot on the road. I actually didn’t recognize it on the first pass as there was only one car parked there.
Heading south from the trail head (you begin on the two lane paved San Andreas Trail) you begin a rolling incline as you ride along next to Skyline Road. After about 3 miles you will top out as you head toward the San Andreas Lake and begin a long 400 foot drop over the next mile or two to the San Andreas Dam. Pedaling is optional and by this time you have passed at least one bathroom…expect to see more.
By the time you reach the dam, you will be on the Sawyer Camp Recreational Trail. The view from the dam was spectacular, particularly as it is quite green this time of year. There are plenty of tree covered sections to make you really feel you are outdoors. A pretty nice feeling for being in the “city”. There are also several historic sites marked along the trail.
After crossing the dam your drop further down into the creek. The trees provide quite a bit of shading which would be good in the summer months but got quite chilly for our ride. There are picnic tables and of course, another bathroom.
You will eventually end up along the shore of the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir. Again, spectacular views and a ton of friendly deer. We also began to encounter more and more hikers as this section is easily accessible from the entrance at the Sawyer Camp trail head next to the Crystal Springs Road and is pretty flat all the way to the bottom of the San Andreas Dam. Not too much of a problem for our week day winter ride, but I expect this would get very crowded on weekends and summer.
We made our turnaround at the Sawyer Camp Trailhead (10 miles from our start) but not before making a side trip about a mile and a half north UP Hwy 35 to the Crystal Springs Golf course for lunch. The menu was typical bar food. The cheeseburger was huge and tasty. I would suggest splitting one as it came with a very large order of fries (my wife got onion rings). It was a small restaurant/bar overlooking the driving range.
My wife and I have Specialized Como electric bikes so the pedal assisted ride back up the trail was not difficult. But the incline was not that steep and was steady over a couple miles. Good gearing and little patience should not dampen your ride.
Total round trip (including the 1-1/2 mile one way side trip for lunch) was 22 miles.
This was our first ride of 2019 on a route we had never been before and we have lived in the Bay Area for 30 years. A hearty thanks to TrailLink for highlighting this on their web page!
It’s tough to go a constant speed on your bike because it’s congested on the weekends. Lovely otherwise
After reading about the Arroyo Mocho Trail, I headed out to reconnoiter my future commute route to work (Livermore) from San Ramon. The first 4-5 miles of this trail is hazardous for those with novice or beginner level riding skills. Those first few miles are mostly loose gravel with some gaping cracks in the paved sections. After that, the trail turns to a smoother, paved trail. Mountain, Gravel, Cyclocross or otherwise 'wide tires' are recommended for those with less experience riding in loose terrain.
The start of the trail by the fish viewing area is a FIRE TRAIL. The second half, after crossing the road, is paved asphalt. Unfortunately I showed up with my road bike and not my mountain bike, so my ride was a short one.
A friend and I rode this trail as part of a two-day bike ride in East Bay – riding the Iron Horse Trail and the Contra Costa Canal Trails. On the first day – we road mostly the Iron Horse and then rode the Eastern Section of the Canal Trail to the end and back. This section of the Canal trail started out a bit rough but only for a small portion – maybe 100 yards – then the surface was smooth and it was a great ride along the canal through nice neighborhoods. We spent the night near the intersection of the Iron Horse and the Canal Trail and rode the Western Section the next day before heading back down the Iron Horse Trail. The western section of the trail was great as well – nice surface – easy to follow with a minimum of street crossings. Both of these trails have a lot of street crossings, but almost all of the crossings give a preference to the trail. We only had to wait at a few. Definitely a nice place to ride!
A friend and I rode this trail as part of a two-day bike ride in East Bay – riding the Iron Horse Trail and the Contra Costa Canal Trails. This trail gets 4.5 stars – there are some sections that area not all that great, but for the most part of the 24.5 miles we rode (both ways) are fabulous! We started in Dublin and rode to the end. The trail from Dublin through Danville and Alamo was really excellent, going through nice neighborhoods, has a GREAT, smooth surface and was sheltered for the most part so wind was not a great factor either way. The Walnut Creek section was a bit sketchy with some not so nice, unattractive sections with chain-link fences and rough surface. Odd – because one of the sections was used by High School students in large groups going home – it is absolutely used as a transportation route – not just a multi-use trail for recreation. We would have thought it would be better maintained. Past that and into Concord it was nice again except that there is an unmarked break in the trail at Monument Boulevard. We simply crossed a road and ended up on the wrong trail without noticing and there are no markings at all to say turn left here and go a few feet to the Iron Horse Trail so we found ourselves dumped onto a street unexpectedly. This was the Monument Corridor Trail in Concord. When you cross Monument Boulevard, you need to pay attention. It was a bit confusing and difficult to get back to the trail we wanted. But we did and coming back figured out what the problem was. The rest of the trail was ok but a bit choppy (i.e., bumps, cracks) around the airport. There are a couple of underpasses – but you notice right away if you miss them and can see where the trail is – like at Concord Avenue. The end of the trail is through an open field on the side of an airport and can get quite windy – but it isn’t long and is just part of the experience. Overall – a GREAT ride!
Someone needs to maintain the event calendar--it says no events, but there was an organised marathon last weekend. There were tons of runners--it's safe, paved, etc. It would be nice to get one or two additional locations for restroom/water. I've been using this trail for 30 years, and it's nice to see that it gets appreciated by regular use (which also keeps it safe!)
Stayed at the Hilton on the south side of the trail and went north past the airport. It's a well maintained trail that follows the tiny Guadalupe river. If you can stay north of Julian St, you'll avoid sketchy-looking tent cities. I felt the run was perfectly safe and saw plenty of people throughout my run. I'd recommend it.
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