Explore the best rated trails in San Rafael, 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 82 trails covering 677 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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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...
A half mile of the East Bay Greenway is currently open from the Coliseum BART Station (at 75th Avenue) to 85th Avenue in Oakland. The paved trail parallels San Leandro Street with traffic signals and...
Named for the Ohlone Indians who once lived in the area, this trail doubles as a commuting corridor and a recreation destination for the cities of Berkeley, Albany and El Cerrito. While the Ohlone...
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...
The Novato Boulevard Path is a multi-use trail that can be used recreationally, but is more useful as a commuting route. Closely following its namesake road, the path is completely separated from the...
The Crystal Springs Regional Trail is a developing network made up of three distinct portions: the San Andreas segment, Sawyer Camp segment and Crystal Springs segment. The two northern segments are...
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 Sweeney Ridge Trail is one trail of many in beautiful Sweeney Ridge, a prime bicycling and hiking area in San Mateo County. Inaccessible by automobile, the trail must be reached by any of its...
The Joe Rodota Trail is built along the corridor of the old Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railway, which carried passengers between Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Sebastopol until it was abandoned in 1984....
The Visitacion Valley Greenway is a recreational gem tucked into a residential neighborhood in southern San Francisco. The paved pathway connects a series of small parks that offer a plethora of fun...
The Alameda Creek Regional Trail runs from the mouth of Niles Canyon in Fremont to the San Francisco Bay, allowing recreational access to the levees on both sides of Alameda Creek and its flood...
The Browns Valley Road Trail is an excellent commuter trail that parallels its namesake road from Vaca Valley Parkway to Brown Street in Vacaville.
The Sneath Lane Trail is one trail of many in beautiful Sweeney Ridge, a prime bicycling and hiking area in San Mateo County. From a trailhead in the Crestmoor neighborhood of San Bruno, the paved...
The Stevens Creek Trail is open in two disconnected segments in Mountain View and Cupertino, two of Silicon Valley's growing communities. As its name suggests, both segments closely follow Stevens...
For years, only one of the four bridges across San Francisco Bay, Dumbarton Bridge, accommodated bikes and pedestrians. Now Bay residents can celebrate the opening of another cross-bay connection,...
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 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...
The Baine Avenue Trail is a short rail-with-trail along an active Union Pacific Railroad corridor in the heart of Newark. The unpaved trail is most useful as a neighborhood connector or short...
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 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 Southside Bikeway connects downtown Vacaville via a former Sacramento Northern Railway corridor to the city's southern neighborhoods near Al Patch Park. The route is a nice, short path, ideal for...
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...
Like many trails in Santa Rosa, the Brush Creek Trail follow the path of a local waterway. Beginning at its convergence with the larger Santa Rosa Creek, the Bush Creek Trail meanders northward. With...
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 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 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...
Coursing alongside busy Fountaingrove Parkway, this sidepath is physically separated from the road with a curb and row of trees and shrubs. The trail—most useful for commuting—provides direct access...
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...
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 Baine Avenue Trail is a short rail-with-trail along an active Union Pacific Railroad corridor in the heart of Newark. The unpaved trail is most useful as a neighborhood connector or short...
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...
A half mile of the East Bay Greenway is currently open from the Coliseum BART Station (at 75th Avenue) to 85th Avenue in Oakland. The paved trail parallels San Leandro Street with traffic signals and...
The Visitacion Valley Greenway is a recreational gem tucked into a residential neighborhood in southern San Francisco. The paved pathway connects a series of small parks that offer a plethora of fun...
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 San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail offers a paved route running approximately 5 miles through Santa Clara along its namesake waterway. In the north, the trail connects to the Highway 237 Bikeway (a...
The Bon Air Road Sidepath, as its name suggests, closely follows Bon Air Road in scenic Larkspur and Kentfield. The main trail begins at a junction with the Creekside Loop at Magnolia Avenue and runs...
This innovative road-to-trail project opened for public use in March 2014. The trail, which features stunning Pacific Ocean views, makes use of a former portion of California's State Route 1, which...
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...
The Napa Valley Vine Trail is a work in progress to connect Calistoga to the Vallejo ferry terminal, a distance of 47 miles. The trail will roughly parallel State Route 29, a popular wine route and...
The Contra Costa Canal Trail forms a horseshoe shape route, traversing through the urban and neighborhood landscape of Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek and Concord. The trail follows the canal of...
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The spectacular Sir Francis Drake Bikeway (also known as the Cross Marin Trail) sits on the recycled roadbed of the former North Pacific Coast Railroad, which used to run from Larkspur to Cazadero....
Oakland's Lake Merritt Trail closely follows the lake's shoreline for a pleasant, paved trip with beautiful views and connections to several parks and attractions right in the heart of the city. The...
The Creekside Loop offers a scenic, albeit short, route around Larkspur's Creekside neighborhood. Half of the trail follows Magnolia Avenue—where it is appropriately also known as the Magnolia Avenue...
The Sweeney Ridge Trail is one trail of many in beautiful Sweeney Ridge, a prime bicycling and hiking area in San Mateo County. Inaccessible by automobile, the trail must be reached by any of its...
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...
Coursing alongside busy Fountaingrove Parkway, this sidepath is physically separated from the road with a curb and row of trees and shrubs. The trail—most useful for commuting—provides direct access...
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...
Marsh Creek Trail follows the sinuous course of Marsh Creek through the outskirts of suburbia and among the rich farmland of Contra Costa County. The 8.5-mile paved extends between Concord Road in...
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...
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...
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 West County Regional Trail is built along the corridor of the old Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railway, which carried passengers between Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Sebastopol until it was abandoned in...
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...
Beginning in 1904, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) carried freight through the city of Richmond, reaching its height during World War II when Richmond became a national leader of...
This innovative road-to-trail project opened for public use in March 2014. The trail, which features stunning Pacific Ocean views, makes use of a former portion of California's State Route 1, which...
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...
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 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 Southside Bikeway connects downtown Vacaville via a former Sacramento Northern Railway corridor to the city's southern neighborhoods near Al Patch Park. The route is a nice, short path, ideal for...
Huge sections of the asphalt are completely broken down, would be a great trail if they fixed this!
This is for commuters, not appropriate for a family ride.
I parked at the south end on roadside. Nice short walk if you’re looking for a hilly route. Lots of cattails on southern stretch.
We walked the section between shafter bridge and Samuel P Tayler campground. There was plenty of parking when we pulled in around 10am but there were several cars waiting when we got back around noon. The trail to the campground is gravel and flat. Nice simple path for easy biking. I wouldn’t do it with a road bike but a city bike or something with larger tires would be fine. Walking was also nice. The other nice feature are the restrooms near the campground.
So obviously I'm not from around here. A transplant from DC where the traffic is much worse and so is every driver (skill/courtesy) in the Capital Region.
I did several laps starting at the North Trailhead Sawyer Camp Trail (vicinity E. Hillcrest Blvd) down to the Intersection of Skyline Blvd & 35/92 and back. Most everyone was courteous and aware, which is a plus and something alien for me (DC trails are notorious for self-absorbed, totally unaware, and rather rude walker, joggers, cyclists, et al (EXCEPT Indianhead Trail in MD - an AWESOME rail-to-trail to clock in 26 mile laps if you're preparing for long-distance rides).
That said, the volume of folks on the trail, combined with the twisty-turny route (fun but not if you're supposed to be down in the aerobars) is probably not the best place to put miles on the saddle if you're training for distance cycling (sic Ironman) on a TT/triathlon bike... but road bike, mountain, or cyclo-cross sport bike would be preferred.
The trail surface varies from smooth paved, to a slightly ribbed potions that aren't that bad. Uh, at least 6 bathrooms (clean with good locks). I didn't see (wasn't really looking for) any water stations. It's somewhat hilly but not a lung-buster. Lot's of free speed (downhills) and even the false flats any momentum can be maintained.
The scenery is great and whatever flowers were blooming were a good offset to my odor-de-triathlete. Lots of tree canopy cover and a nice breeze to keep cool. One rather large deer crossed my path... good thing to keep at least one hand on the brakes.
All in all, a great place to road/mountain bike = five stars (three stars if you're riding a Tri-bike =)
Gorgeous day in Half Moon Bay - what a terrific opportunity to explore this trail! It appears that many enjoy its wonders as well...pretty remarkable, considering this is the middle of the week! There were walkers, bikers, and dogs on the path - everyone was very respectful of passing each other and sharing the width of the path.
Nice to have the ocean 'on your shoulder' as you move up and down the path, as well as seeing all the wildlife - hawks, herons, rabbits to name a few!
a very nice, clean, well-maintained trail, meandering along the creek and alongside vineyards. a few homeless people. all in all, a very enjoyable ride!
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.
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