Mission Peak is one of the more prominent mountains of the Bay Area, defining the horizon east of South Bay. At just over 2,500 feet elevation, it sets the stage for hikes with pretty serious elevation gain. There are several trails, but Hidden Valley is the most direct and most popular route to the summit. It’s a wide gravel path and very easy to follow, but sustains a demanding grade for most of its 3 miles.

Gray Whale Cove State Beach is a popular hiking destination of its own, but the journey up Montara Mountain quickly leaves the sea-level trails for panoramic slopes above. This hike follows trails and a fire road to reach North Peak of Montara Mountain. The road is fairly mellow gradient, but some of the trail sections are very steep and loose. Most of the trails are just shortcuts from the fire road, however, so it’s possible to avoid the steepest parts by detouring on the road.

Dipsea is well-known by trail runners in Marin County, and by many in the greater Bay Area, as the course of an annual race as well as an every-day favorite for fitness. This 7-mile footpath links some of the best scenery between Mill Valley and Stinson Beach, passing through Muir Woods and Mount Tamalpais State Park. It begins in an urban forest, dives into deep redwood groves, climbs to rolling grassland and panoramic ridgelines, and finishes at the beach.

This trail combo packs a lot of Marin County’s best scenery into a relatively compact, moderately challenging loop. There’s a sandy beach, elevated ocean views, mountainside meadows, redwood forests, and (after recent rainfall) lots of little waterfalls. The loop connects Stinson beach and Pantoll Station via Dipsea, Steep Ravine, and Matt Davis Trails.

The Bay Area is rich in natural scenery, but waterfalls are not a common sight. Alamere Falls is one of the few, and it shatters all expectations. To call it the most spectacular in the Bay Area would be an understatement, because It’s one of the best waterfalls you’ll see anywhere. It’s a 40-footer that plummets over sea cliffs to a sandy beach and meets the ocean—one of only a few waterfalls in California that fall into the sea.

Mount Diablo is the prominent mountain that rises east of the Bay Area, visible from San Francisco and most of the cities around. At 3,849 feet above sea level, and the highest point for many miles, views from the top are simply incredible. You can see out over the Bay and all the terrain that surrounds it. The Grand Loop, shared here, is a circuit linking multiple trails around the mountain’s higher elevations.