The Ultimate Bay Area Outdoors Guide by SF Chronicle columnist Tom Stienstra. It has an interactive map of various outdoors sites linked to Tom's articles on them.

A great source for scenic hiking trails ideas is the map and articles reference at redwoodhikes.com

365 Things To Do in Marin County is a great blog created by Anne Kennedy

Fog City Secrets, insider tips | HiddenSF |

The East Bay Regional Parks District site also has an interactive map of area parks and trails.

The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy | Golden Gate National Recreation Area |

Hiking Trails section of the Ride Chronicles blog.

SF Chronicle Outdoors section

The trail itself is fairly short at 0.75 miles (one-way), but the steepness of the trail (especially the upper parts) leads to an elevation gain of over 700 feet, providing some dramatic views of Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond in the foreground and San Francisco, Marin County, and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges in the background.

Photograph by the author.

See this blog post by Dave Baselt for some great photos. In particular, especially see this photo. In my opinion, this blog article is the best of the several good online reviews of this trail I've seen.

The photo below of the trail is an especially nice one that was taken on a clear day by Trevor Cheitlin.¹

The Claremont Canyon Conservancy website has some further interesting information (history, flora and fauna, maps, etc).

Another review of this trail is here. You'll see many dogs on the trail, and that's the focus of this article.

¹For additional East Bay trail reviews by Trevor Cheitlin, see this link.

Photo credits: Alex Burke

Photo Credits

But even on a foggy day, the fog pattern can be simply breathtaking, as you see below.

Photo credits: Alex Burke

Another very beautiful twilight scene is at this link

You don't need to climb a hill or hike somewhere to see these views. Just stop at one of several vista lookout points along the side of the road and these are the sights you'll see.

If you want to see what the current visibility conditions are, there is a webcam atop the Lawrence Hall of Science that shows what the view would be like on Grizzly Peak Blvd. The webcam link is here.

Youtube also has a number of timelapse videos that condense a 24-hour day into 1-minute. For example, see the one here.

The views from Grizzly Peak require no walking or hiking to see them. Just stop and park your car at one of the several vista points along the road. For similar views that involve a hike, see the article in this blog on the Stonewall-Panoramic Trail.

Phenomenal views of the Golden Gate Bridge are available from Fort Point which is located just beneath the bridge. More info about this national historic site is here and also at the wikipedia article.

A great SF Chronicle article by Tom Stienstra: Marina Green to Fort Point

The fort is nearby other very scenic sites in San Francisco, e.g., Baker Beach, the Presidio, Crissy Field, Lands End, etc. A nice article about various sites to see terrific views of the bridge is Seven Places to Gaze at the Golden Gate Bridge.

The photo below is by Gautham Narayan .

View of San Pablo Reservoir looking eastward from the Tilden Park trail starting at Inspiration Point. Photo by Sarah Taylor found here.

Looking eastward from Tilden Park, with a spectacular view of the reservoirs and also Mt. Diablo near the top right corner. Photo by Robert Weis available from Google Maps.

Eastward view toward the San Pablo Reservoir. Photo credit: Joe DeFao. Link to a larger photo.

The Outdoor Project website has some additional information about Inspiration Point and includes some other awesome photos.

There is a great article about Tilden and Wildcat Canyon Regional Parks at the redwoodhikes.com site.

Another exceptionally scenic viewpoint is from the Stonewall-Panoramic Trail in the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve. This hike is in the hills above the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. See this blog post by Dave Baselt for some great photos. In particular, especially see this photo.

A similar view dated March 2019 on a recent cloudy day, photo by author.

From the John Muir site, there is a trail leading to nearby Mt. Wanda. The photo below is from an article about Mt. Wanda at the exceptional RedwoodHikes.com site.

Google Maps satellite view of John Muir Historic site area.

A map at the RedwoodHikes.com site has many other great East Bay and Bay Area hiking pages. A few are shown at the links below, but I recommend going to their site at the link above to see the entire Bay Area map with hot links to the various trails:

Mt. Diablo Foothills Tilden and Wildcat Canyon Regional Parks Redwood Regional Park Crockett Hills Regional Park Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve Wildcat Peak Nimitz Trail Briones Reservoir Las Trampas Regional Wilderness

Other sites: Oakland Magazine: Best East Bay Hikes

The view looking north from the parking lot at the Point Reyes Lighthouse.

Half Moon Bay is just one SF Bay Area location for great beaches. A listing of some other great Bay Area beaches. A map and additional info on Half Moon Bay beaches.

Fog City blog article on best SF beaches

Baker Beach, in the Presidio section of SF | Baker Beach info | Baker Beach blog article |

Berkeley Marina area

Canyon CA is a small village nestled between Moraga and Oakland in the SF East Bay. When you're there, you feel like you're in the “forest primeval” of the James Wadsworth Longfellow poem Evangeline.

There are awesome views available from the Marin Headlands in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area just north of San Francisco. An exceptionally scenic view is from Hawk Hill.

More Info: Hawk Hill is at 920 ft elevation. Marin Headlands site at Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy National Park Service page on Hawk Hill Golden Gate National Recreation Area at redwoodhikes.com

Nearby: Fort Cronkite