Canada & U.S. Other Out and About:
Day Trips 
Month by Month 

Hiking

Aņo Nuevo and Old Landing Cove Aņo Nuevo Interesting walk on the beach with an unusual sight of elephant seals. 3 stars. Easy.
Old Landing Cove   Rugged shore line by a pretty herb farm. 3 stars. Easy.
Berry Creek Falls Berry Creek, Silver and Golden Falls 12 miles of prestine redwood forests with 3 beautiful waterfalls. Hailed by many as one of the best in Bay Area, it truely is one excellent hike. Though we'd prefer it to be a little shorter.  4 stars. Strenuous.
Big Sur Big Sur: Partington Cove Lovely hike up the hill through a redwood forest to sweeping vista, then descend down to Highway 1. 4 stars. Moderate.
 Big Sur: Lime Kiln Creek Falls and Salmon Creek Falls The trail to Lime Kiln Creek Falls is a nice loop through redwood forests, whereas the trail to Salmon Creek Falls is a short path (with a little bit of scramble). Both waterfalls are delightful. 3.5 stars. Easy.
Marin Marin: Phyllis Ellman Trail Nice easy trail on golden grassy hills with views of the city and the bay. 3 stars. Easy.
 Marin: Matt Davis Trail A wonderful Bay Area sampler with a little of everything: beach, forest, golden grassy hills. 4 stars. Moderate.
Portola_Redwoods Slate Creek, Summit, & Iverson loop 5 mils of redwood forest traversed by creeks. Chances are you'll get wet crossing one of the creeks since the bridges are taken away in spring. 3 stars. Moderate.
Purisima, Moss Beach, and Brooks Falls Purisima Creek Another Santa Cruz Mountain classic: redwood forest, running creek, and ocean view. We've never done the whole grand loop yet.i> 3.5 stars. Strenuous.
Moss Beach Tidal Pools This is a fun place to walk -- lots of neat creatures to observe in the tidal pool, or if you're feeling lazy, just sit back on the beach and enjoy the view. 4 stars. Easy.
Brooks Falls At its wettest, this waterfall is supposed to evoke memories of Hawaii. We've never seen more than a trickle here, but neither have we been to Hawaii! It is, however, an enchanting loop trail through a nicely scented eucalyptus forest. 3 stars. Easy.
Yosemite Revisited Yosemite: Mist trail to Vernal and Neveda Falls and John Muir trail back to the valley Very scenic but strenuous hike (2600 feet elevation change). Big, big water falls, giant granite boulders, and sweeping views of the high sierra. 5 stars, strenuous.
Wild Flowers at Edgewood The wild flowers put on a spectacular show at Edgewood County Reserve: Perfect walk for a spring day. 4.5 stars, easy.
Wildflowers revisited 2005.[new]
Hiking in March Marsh by the Redwood City Century Theatre: An easy 3 miles, with a somewhat interesting view of highway 101, low-lying marsh extending to the bay, with the buildings of Oracle as a back drop. 2.5 stars, easy.
San Bruno Hill loop: Up and down the gentle slopes of the San Bruno hills, hikers are rewarded with sweeping bay, city, and ocean views. Perfect for a sunny day in spring, when the hills are still green and wild flowers abound. 4 stars, easy.
Cataract Trail to Cataract Falls: Cataract Trail starts from the pretty Alpine Lake and follows Cataract Creek up the fern covered hillside. A series of cascades chirps along the path, providing enough incentive for the steady climb.. 4 stars, moderate.
Bass Lake to Alamere Falls Bass Lake and Alamere Falls: Scenic 8.4 mile hike on the Marin coast. Starts off with a typical sunny and windswept coast trail of Point Reyes, goes by pretty wooded Bass Lake for a picnic and skinny (optional) dipping. Continues on to a lovely waterfall that cascades down to the beach. 4.5 stars, moderate.
Point Bonita and Rodeo Lagoon Point Bonita and Rodeo Lagoon: These are two short easy hikes that could be easily combined. Both are located on the rugged Marin headlands, offering wonderful views of the ocean and coast on a sunny day without much wind. Also, the drive along Conzulman Road down to the lighthouse is spectacular enough to add extra points for the hike. 4 stars, easy.
Baltimore Canyon and Cascade Canyon Baltimore Canyon and Cascade Canyon: Again, these are two short easy hikes that could be easily combined. Located 6 miles, both are lush canyons (at least in the winter) tucked in the seemingly residential little pockets of Marin. Baltimore, which goes through a redwood forest, is the prettier and slightly longer of the two. Cascade offers a more dramatical waterfall at the end, although also dramatically more populated (at the time of our visit, by a big group of shrieking kids). 3.5 stars, easy.
Carson Falls[new] Carson Falls: The cool thing about this hike is its varied landscape. It was strange at the beginning when we started out late on a gloomy overcast day -- a desolate ridge littered with rocks. We got lost, asked for direction (for more details see Jean's account), then went down a steep trail into the lush woods. Following the stream, a steep trail went up to the falls.  3.5 stars, moderate.
Tennesee Valley Trail[new] Tennesee Valley Trail: The cool thing about this hike is its varied landscape. It was strange at the beginning when we started out late on a gloomy overcast day -- a desolate ridge littered with rocks. We got lost, asked for direction (for more details see Jean's account), then went down a steep trail into the lush woods. Following the stream, a steep trail went up to the falls.  3.5 stars, moderate.
Mission Peak[new] Mission Peak: With its uniquely peaky summit, Mission Peak stands out on the East Bay mountain (hill?) range, looking somewhat majestic among all the smooth curves. It is a good work out climbing up all the 2000 feet, but not too strenuous. The grassy hills are still green and pretty in Spring, but the rather pebbly and gravelly path is pretty dry, and the slippery pebbles and dirt makes descending a little trickier. View of the Bay must be better on a less hazy day, but the view of quite a few colorful gliders hovering above the peak is a bonus.  3.5 stars, strenuous.