Ridge Trail Shares Routes with Long-Distance Trails
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Ridge LinesSUMMER 2004 OF THE BAY AREA RIDGE TRAIL COUNCIL Ridge Trail Shares Routes with Long-Distance Trails of the state, and others travel through In addition to taking advantage of many states. The Ridge Trail shares topography and preserved open space, alignments with six long-distance today’s long-distance trails benefit trails, and also crosses paths with the proposed San Francisco Bay Area continued on page 2 Water Trail. These trails, with the shared segments listed in the sidebar, include the American Discovery Ridge Trail Trail, California Coastal Trail, Cali- Shared Routes fornia Riding and Hiking Trail, East American Discovery Trail Bay Skyline National Recreation Delaware to California Trail, Juan Bautista de Anza National discoverytrail.org Historical Trail, and San Francisco • Golden Gate Bridge to Bolinas Bay Trail. Ridge Fire Road and Randall Some of the long-distance trails— Trail the Bay Area Ridge Trail, San Francisco Bay Trail, Coastal Trail, California Coastal Trail and East Bay Skyline National Recre- Mexico to Oregon ation Trail—follow prominent land californiacoastaltrail.org features, as evident from their names. • Mt. Tamalpais, Bolinas Ridge This is also true for the Bay Area • Coastal Trail in Marin Headlands Water Trail, which has access points and south across Golden Gate on land for water-based users (kayakers, Bridge etc.). Other long-distance trails com- • San Francisco Presidio, batteries memorate history, like the Juan west of Lincoln Blvd. Bautista de Anza Trail, which follows • Fort Funston to Mussel Rock, the route of Spanish settlers. The San Francisco to San Mateo American Discovery Trail combines County driving routes with trails to encourage people to explore the entire country. California Riding and And the California Riding and Hik- Hiking Trail ing Trail, created in the 1940s, • John Muir National Historic Site provided the route for many of the to Carquinez Strait, Martinez trails we enjoy today. • Mt. Tamalpais, Bolinas Ridge Planning and creating long-dis- • Cross-Marin Trail, Samuel P. tance trails is a challenging Taylor Park undertaking. To make it easier, more • Wunderlich County Park to than one trail often shares a route. Huddart County Park, Due to the need to cross the bay, the San Mateo County Ridge Trail, Bay Trail, Coastal Trail, and American Discovery Trail all East Bay Skyline National The Al Zampa Memorial Bridge officially opened on November 8, 2003. Hundreds turned out to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, and Recreation Trail celebrate and walk across the bridge (above). The pedestrian/bicycle lane, the route of the Ridge Trail ebparks.org, ebmud.com and Bay Trail, opened this May. Photo by William Hall, courtesy of Caltrans. The Coastal Trail on the Ridge Trail and Bay Trail both Bolinas Ridge in Mt. Tamalpais State Park (below) is the route of the Ridge Trail, California Coastal cross the Carquinez Bridge. The trails • Wildcat Canyon Regional Park Trail, and American Discovery Trail. The Bolinas Lagoon and Pacific Ocean are in the distance. share corridors through many of the to Anthony Chabot Regional Photo by Don Lundell. area’s parks: the Ridge Trail, Coastal Park Trail, Discovery Trail, and California Juan Bautista de Anza National rail enthusiasts in the San Fran- to the trail planning that took place Riding and Hiking Trail parallel Boli- Historic Trail cisco Bay Area are fortunate to decades ago, and the hard work of nas Ridge in Mt. Tamalpais State Arizona to San Francisco Thave the Ridge Trail and several many trail advocates, the Bay Area is Park; and the Ridge Trail and Anza nps.gov/juba other long-distance trails to explore. traversed by a number of long-distance Trail both follow the East Bay Skyline • John Muir National Historic Site, Although most of these trails are still trails, which often share routes, giving National Recreation Trail. The John Martinez not complete, enough segments are in users the chance to explore the best of Muir National Historic Site in Mar- • East Bay Skyline National place to create an extensive trail net- what the region has to offer. Some of tinez is on the Ridge Trail, Anza Recreation Trail work. Sometimes the long-distance these trails are contained within the Trail, and California Riding and Hik- • Presidio, San Francisco Bay Area, some extend to other parts ing Trail routes. trails overlap, and these stretches are • Lexington Reservoir to Coyote particularly interesting to visit. Creek Parkway, Santa Clara This spring, the Ridge Trail County gained two new segments on shared alignments. The Al Zampa Memorial San Francisco Bay Area Bridge—commonly known as the Car- Water Trail quinez Bridge—opened to pedestrians bayaccess.org and bicyclists in May and is also the • Benicia waterfront route of the San Francisco Bay Trail. • Martinez waterfront The new Ridge Trail segment in San San Francisco Bay Trail Jose’s Almaden Quicksilver County Perimeter of San Francisco Bay Park is shared with the Juan Bautista baytrail.abag.ca.gov de Anza National Historic Trail. • Benicia-Martinez Bridge to The idea of long-distance trails was Carquinez Bridge, in Benicia envisioned as far back as the 1920s when Benton MacKaye proposed link- • Martinez waterfront ing paths together to create one long • Golden Gate Bridge route—the Appalachian Trail. Thanks THE VIEW FROM HERE Dear Friends, NEWS There’s a joke you sometimes hear in philanthropy circles: a passerby sees a man drowning and yells, “Would $10 help?” It’s not the funniest joke, but it Marin County Acquisition Secures Trail Access makes the point that despite the best efforts of many On March 20 the Marin County Open Space District reopened the old rail- organizations, we may never end hunger, child abuse, road grade that leads from Sir Francis Drake at the top of White Hill Grade into or poverty. The Ridge Trail Council’s mission is much Loma Alta Open Space Preserve. Although this trail had been dedicated years more tangible: while it may take us another 17 years to earlier as part of the Ridge Trail and was frequently used by the public, the complete the trail, progress can be measured mile by landowner had blocked access to the trail with a cyclone fence. The owner had mile as we open up new trails. acquired the land two years ago with hopes of building a house and using the old This past week I met with candidates for a new staff position at the railroad grade as the entrance road. council—a development manager. This position was created thanks to the Under the leadership of Marin County Supervisor and Ridge Trail Board generous donors to our Advancement Fund (see Annual Report). Invari- Member Steve Kinsey, the county recently acquired the property, which adds 20 acres to the Loma Alta Open Space Preserve. At the dedication, the fence was ably, all the candidates talked about the importance of our work and how pulled down and trail users began once again to enter the preserve from this loca- much they wanted to be a part of preserving something for future genera- tion. This summer the district will finish work on the trail underneath the new tions to enjoy. One asked me: “What would you do if someone gave White Hill Bridge which will connect to White Hill Open Space Preserve and $500,000 tomorrow?” I quickly replied, “Buy more land and build more continue to the Gary Giacomini Open Space Preserve. trail.” Our mission and our fundraising effort are so closely integrated that every dollar goes in some way to expanding or maintaining the trail. Future Ridge Trail Property Protected And then the next day I did get a chance to consider just that—how to spend $1 million from a grant we successfully secured from the Coastal Con- In late March the Muir Heritage Land Trust announced its acquisition of the scenic Dutra Ranch, a 158-property near Martinez that will have a one-mile seg- servancy. We received applications for this funding in March but ment of the Ridge Trail. The land trust raised $790,000 for the purchase, unfortunately had to turn down half because the requests totaled $2 million. including $100,000 from the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council. Other funders We too are seeking funding for our own trail projects: we’re in the included 2,000 individuals, the Coastal Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation midst of a $175,000 capital campaign for a 1.6-mile trail crossing a private Board, L.J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation, J.M. Long Foundation, David ranch in Napa County. So there are many good projects coming forward, B. Gold Foundation, Strong Foundation, Firedoll Foundation, Martinez Horse- and with our new development manager on staff, we will be able to do an men’s Association, and Bay Area Barns and Trails. even better job of getting funds to these projects. The Dutra family had farmed the land and raised cattle on the ranch since In the meantime, if you have an extra $5 or $500,000, there’s a trail 1917. The trust will continue the current agricultural use of dry-land grazing. there waiting for you. Preservation of the land will complete a significant recreational and wildlife corri- dor; preserve key habitat for special status and native species, including the Happy trails, Alameda whipsnake and red-legged frog; provide an important trail link; and pre- Holly Van Houten serve a piece of agricultural history. The land trust has protected three other Executive Director adjacent properties: Sky Ranch, Gustin Ranch, and Stonehearst (through a con- servation easement). Together these properties comprise more that 660 acres of permanently protected open space on Franklin Ridge, which has a landscape of oak woodlands, grassland, riparian corridors, and seasonal wetlands.