Author Names Top San Francisco Bay Area Hikes

With spring just around the corner, many hikers are dusting off their boots and getting ready to hit the
trail. Ann Marie Brown, an experienced hiker and the author of the newly released Moon 101 Great
Hikes of the San Francisco Bay Area, is ready to help them get a jump-start by offering a helpful list of
top San Francisco Bay Area hikes.


Brown, who hikes, bikes, and camps more than 150 days each year, offers invaluable recommendations on the region's best hikes for activities like wildlife-watching, backpacking, and exploring waterfalls in Napa and Sonoma, Marin, the East Bay, and the Peninsula and South Bay area. A few of the hikes at the top of her list include:

• Best for Bird-Watching: Lake Ilsanjo Loop?Annadel State Park, Napa and Sonoma
• Best Peak Vistas: Verna Dunshee Trail and Gardner Lookout?Mount Tamalpais State Park, Marin
• Best Redwood Forests: Stream, Fern, and West Ridge Trail Loop?Redwood Regional Park, East Bay
• Best Short Backpacking Trips: Berry Creek, Silver, and Golden Falls?Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Peninsula and South Bay
• Best Waterfalls: Zim Zim Falls?Knoxville Wildlife Area, Napa and Sonoma
• Best Wildflower Displays: Phyllis Ellman Trail?Ring Mountain Open Space Preserve, Marin
• Best Wildlife-Watching: Round Valley Loop (San Joaquin kit fox)?Round Valley Regional Preserve, East Bay

"The San Francisco Bay Area is the wildest metropolitan area in the United States, with precious swaths of open space surrounding and interspersed amid its urban and suburban core... coyotes still gallop across the grasslands, herds of tule elk wander the coastal hills, badgers build their underground dens, and mountain lions and bobcats stalk their prey,? Brown said.

According to Brown, who's hiked all 101 trails featured in her book, hikers who take advantage of Bay Area trails this spring will see rare wildflowers and centuries-old virgin redwoods, surf crashing against miles of coastal bluffs, waterfalls, summits, big-leaf maples, and more.

"Quite possibly, you'll wind up spending some of the best days of your life on Bay Area trails,? Brown said.

For additional information on Moon 101 Great Hikes of the San Francisco Bay Area, or to see what other Bay Area hikes top Brown's list, visit Moon.com.

Source: www.prweb.com

Source: http://www.abc-of-hiking.com/news/201103/author-names-top-san-francisco-bay-area-hikes.asp

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