North Bay Trails: Outdoor Adventures in Marin, Napa, & Sonoma Counties

I absolutely love this trail guide! I recently moved to the North Bay area and wanted to get a feel for all the wonderful open and wild space I'm so lucky to inhabit. This has become my go-to book for hiking ideas in the area. The guide is super-easy to follow, and has lots of great natural and historical background on the various locations. As a result of this book, I now have several favorite hiking spots. They include Armstrong Redwoods State Park, Jack London State Historic Park, Shiloh Ranch Regional Park, and the Sonoma State Beach area. Most of the trails are good for beginner/intermediate hikers, with a few more difficult ones thrown in for variety. Some locations have only one hike listed, while others may have 2 or 3, sometimes more. The best thing is that the book gives you an accessible introduction to a certain park/area, and then you can explore more on your own once you are familiar with a place, which is what I've done. If you're new to hiking or just want a good guide for the North Bay area, you can't go wrong with this book.

I just started getting really involved with hiking and the North Bay of the Bay Area has some great parks, but I needed an introduction to get me started and prepared before I hike each park. This book details each and every hike from trailhead and distance to what to look out for on each trail. If you live in the North Bay, I highly recommend this as a primer.

This is a very well written and well-researched book. Very easy to follow - as we know trails are often hard to follow with questionable signage - but this book has never failed me. I have been on a dozen or so of it's hikes and have never had a serious problem as it is a most reliable reference. Well Done Mr. Weintraub!

I found North Bay Trails and the author's previous work, East Bay Trails, to be excellent. It provides great direction and is written from a hiker's perspective without confusing and unclear information that haunts so many guidebooks. The maps are always accurate and as fine as a bound format allows while the excellent photos help us choose where to go. The historical background is fascinating and the information on wildlife and flora keep me and my child going from discovery to discovery along the trail. This book has guided us to wonderful places we would not have thought or known to hike rather than take us to the often hiked Mt. Tam and Pt. Reyes areas (although his picks in these areas are jewels). This is a must-have if you want to hike the glorious North Bay - now, if Weintraub could just pack our lunch...

David Weintraub's North Bay Trails will please California residents who want to locate hiking areas north of San Francisco. This is the first comprehensive guide to cross county lines to include Marin, Napa and Sonoma Countries, exploring scenic routes and trails for both avid hikers and casual walkers. An excellent reference promising lasting value.