Tracy Salcedo Chourre - Hiking Through History San Francisco Bay Area: 41 Hikes from Lands End to the Top of Mount Diablo

In memory of my grandparents,
Petra and Antonio Salcedo
Muriel and Howard Blakiston

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Names: Salcedo-Chourre, Tracy.

Title: Hiking through history : San Francisco Bay Area : exploring the regions past by trail / Tracy Salcedo-Chourfe.

Description: Guilford, Connecticut : FalconGuides, [2016] | Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

T.p. verso. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016004081 (print) | LCCN 2015050610 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493017973 (e-book) | ISBN 9781493017966 (paperback : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: HikingCaliforniaSanFranciscoBayAreaGuidebooks.| TrailsCalifornianiaSan Francisco Bay AreaGuidebooks. | San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)Guidebooks.

Classification: LCC GV199.42.C22 (print) | LCC GV199.42.C22 S2368 2016

(ebook) | DDC 917.94/604dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016004081

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The author and Rowman & Littlefield assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

The sources I pulled from to write this guide are so numerous that to lay them out in detail would constitute another book-length tome. Suffice it to say that without the work of an army of Bay Area historians, whose research has been compiled in books, park brochures, pamphlets, historical walking guides, and online in blogs and on websites for the various parks, cities, and towns discussed herein, this guide would not have been possible. Likewise, I am indebted to state, regional, and national park officials and volunteers throughout the region. Without their foresight in conservation and hard work in preservation, these trails and the historic landscapes would not exist.

My familys long history in San Francisco, spanning six generations on my mothers side and a scant but equally story-full two on my fathers, has been my backbone in this endeavor. I thank my entire family, including those far away (Uncle Walter, Denise Jackson, and Jan Juliann Leitch among them), for the tales theyve told and the support theyve provided.

Im lucky that my writers group includes two historians and a journalist, whose support of my work has been invaluable. Thank you to Ann Peters, Arthur Dawson, and Jim Shere.

Thanks too to my coworkers at Streetwise Reports, who not only support my side job but also suppress their snickers when, after a long weekend on the trail, I hobble stiffly around the office.

Thanks to my sturdy, patient companions on the trail: Bettina Thats the Golden Gate Bridge. Shouldnt you make a note? Hopkins, Kerin McTaggart, Julianne Roth, and Patrice Fusillo.

A huge thank-you is due the editors, mapmakers, and designers who put Falcon-Guides together. I am forever grateful for the work you do to make the guides I write the best they can be.

Finally, my everlasting love and gratitude to my sons, Jesse, Cruz, and Penn.

Standing on a trail on the slopes of Mount Tam, I watched the fog do what it always does under a summer sun: burn back to sea. It floated like an old gray quilt on the Pacific, fraying on the edges as it slipped through wooded ridgelines, slowly revealing the arc of Stinson Beach far below.

On another trail, the shocking orange of a tiger lily flashed amid ferns next to a waterfall that ran even in a drought.

And on another, I stepped into the slot between two massive redwoods, steadied myself with a hand on each trunk, and looked up at the impossible straightness.

On other paths, I slipped my hands through blooming sage and lupine to scent myself with their perfume. I walked labyrinths. Made way for lizards. Straddled fault lines. Peered into mine shafts. Walked through hand-hewn tunnels. Waited for cattle to cross. Waited for newts to cross. Listened to eucalyptus creak and moan. Peered into a Fresnel lens. Pressed my palms against the mossy stonework of a dead authors ruined home. Held my breath as a hawk with a king snake in its talons swooped low over the trail and then dropped the twisting serpent into thick brush, then tiptoed as I carried on, expecting the wounded reptile to slither out of the grass underfoot.

These are not traditionally historic things, but they are part of the history of any experienced hiker in the Bay Area. As for real historywell, that is as abundant along the regions trails as oak trees and sword ferns. No point in lingering on the specifics here, as the stories of explorers, gold miners, ranchers, soldiers, padres, and empire builders are better told in the context of the treks described in this guidebook.

But as you climb these hills and delve into these valleys, consider the untold stories. Consider that San Franciscos Mission Dolores was established in the same year that the United States declared its independence. Written history in the Bay Area goes back only that far. Behind, the regions history is unwritten, the stories disappearing as the native storytellers have passed away, their thousand voices speaking in hundreds of languages lost.

The stories we create ourselves as we walk along the seashore, or among the redwoods, or down San Franciscos busy Embarcadero, may fall away as well, unless we share them. Thats what this guide, hopefully, will do best: provide a deeper context for your personal tale of the trail.