Bay Area Ridge Trail
| Bay Area Ridge Trail | |
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Tunnel to Alpine Lake in Marin County
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| Length | 550 mi (885 km) |
| Location | San Francisco Bay Area, United States |
| Use | Hiking, Bicycling, Horseback Riding, Birdwatching, Environmental Education |
The Bay Area Ridge Trail (Ridge Trail) is a planned 550-mile (890 km) multi-use trail (currently over 365 miles are complete) along the hill and mountain ridgelines ringing the San Francisco Bay Area, in Northern California. When complete, the trail will connect over 75 parks and open spaces. The trail is being designed to provide access for hikers, runners, mountain bicyclists, and equestrians. It will be accessible through trailheads near major population centers, while the trail will extend into more remote areas. The first trail section was dedicated on May 13, 1989.
William Penn Mott, Jr., the twelfth director of the National Park Service, is credited with sparking the idea for the Ridge Trail in a speech he gave in March 1987 at a state parks and recreation conference. While working for the East Bay Regional Park District in the 1960s, Mott's office was on a ridgeline in the East Bay, and the views from the office inspired his vision of a hill-and-ridge trail encircling the Bay and linking its communities. The plan would later attract bipartisan support, with George Miller joining Mott.
In May 1987, the Greenbelt Alliance held a meeting to strategize how to approach the San Francisco Water Department and convince them to open their watershed lands to the public; Mark Evanoff convened the meeting and Brian O'Neill, Superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, proposed a potential strategy to pursue the goals outlined in the report by the President's Commission on Americans Outdoors. Later that year, a planning committee was formed with membership from nearly 40 public agency, recreation groups, and individuals. Eventually, this committee became the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council.
Dinesh Desai, a retired engineer, and Bob Cowell, a retired fire chief, completed the first hike of the Ridge Trail in 1999, despite its incomplete status. The pair followed existing trails and planned alignment where no trails existed, including a crossing of the Carquinez Strait by kayak.
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