Play: Two California armchair travel books and a third you can use right this minute.
Whether you’re out hiking the Bay Area’s trails or dreaming of adventures farther afield, chances are good there’s a guide to inspire that jaunt — now or down the road. Here’s just a handful to help you hit the trails.
SAN FRANCISCO BAY TRAIL
OK, so we’re stretching the definition of “book” just a tad, but this sleek box of 25 map cards from the San Francisco Bay Trail project holds hundreds of miles of close-to-home adventures, from an urban stroll along San Francisco’s waterfront to Fido-friendly fun at Richmond’s Point Isabel and saltwater marsh hikes at San Mateo’s Coyote Point — with hikes you can do this weekend.
When the Bay Trail project is complete, a continuous 500-mile swath of foot paths and mixed-use trails will circle the bay, running through nine Bay Area counties and 47 cities and over seven toll bridges. But it offers 350plus miles of spectacular right now.
Grab map card No. 1, for example, which takes you from Sausalito to San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge, and plot your hike. A stroll from Fort Point to Fort Mason, perhaps, with a stop at the Exploratorium’s wave organ, or a jaunt from Hyde Street Pier to the Ferry Building.
If you’re anywhere near the bay, there’s a map card just right for you. The 2020 edition includes the newest stretches of trail — the Richmond-san Rafael Bridge among them — as well as routes and descriptions, a big foldout map and an index of audio tour locations. It’s available at various Bay Area bike shops and online at the Oakland Museum of California gift shop ($20, including shipping).
THE BEST COAST, A ROAD TRIP ATLAS
This charming volume by illustrator Chandler O’leary is both a travel guide and, more importantly right now, an armchair traveler’s delight. O’leary has spent years traveling the West Coast’s backroads with watercolors and a sketchbook to record all the details that catch her eye, from the plaster walrus frieze on Seattle’s 1916 Arctic Club to the candy-colored facade of Capitola’s Venetian Hotel and San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, wild parrots and Chinatown sights.
The whimsical book ($25, Sasquatch Books) follows the West Coast’s historic highways from San Diego and Palm Springs up to Seattle, with the occasional foray to Catalina Island, Joshua Tree and Vancouver.
The coastal route, for example, runs 1,800 miles with detours for lighthouses (48), missions (21), must-see state parks (Humboldt Redwoods) and roadside giants (20plus). “Think of Part One as a smorgasbord of ideas — a place to pick and choose your own coastal adventure,” O’leary tells the reader, as she offers up spreads devoted to “The OC & the PCH, San Clemente to Laguna Beach,” “Roman Holiday, The Malibu Coast” and “The Slow Coast, Capitola to Pacifica.” (There’s an SLO coast spread, too, with San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay.)
And the inland route offers up 1,600 miles of varied terrain — Palm Springs’ midcentury modern landscapes and spiky desert charms, Oregon’s Rogue River Valley and more.
We may be sticking close to home, but this book makes it easy to dream.
150 NATURE HOT SPOTS IN CALIFORNIA
If your travel reading leans more in an actual travelplanning direction — perhaps not for this summer but someday — check out California adventure writer Ann Marie Brown’s new book. Her guide to the Golden State’s best parks, natural reserves and wild places got an honorable mention nod at the National Outdoor Book Awards last year.
Brown’s book concentrates on wilderness destinations and while the biggies — Yosemite, for one — are certainly included, so are lesser-known (and less-populated) treasures, including the burbling mudpots of Lassen Volcanic National Park and the palm oasis at the Coachella Valley Preserve.
The book ($30, Firefly Books) is divided by region. And each spread — on Point Reyes, for example, Año Nuevo and Mount Shasta — includes details on the region’s history, wildlife, hikes and activities. So when you’re ready to travel once more, you’ll have 150 ideas for where to go.