Trails › United States of America › California › Santa Cruz Mountains

Bay Area Ridge Trail

In the Santa Cruz Mountains

Regional route813 km · 505 miGood year-round

Next nearby hike: Corral Road 5.1 mi · 8.2 kmExplore Santa Cruz Mountains →

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Bay Area Ridge Trail other trails nearby (tap a dot to open it)

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© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Full route · OpenStreetMap · Basemap: OpenFreeMap (OpenMapTiles, © OSM contributors).

7-day forecast

Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0)

Best time to hike

Year-round

  1. J13°4°179
  2. F13°4°171
  3. M15°5°137
  4. A17°6°59
  5. M20°9°24
  6. J23°11°5
  7. J26°14°1
  8. A26°14°2
  9. S24°13°8
  10. O21°10°44
  11. N16°6°108
  12. D12°4°162

Average high °C · low °C · precipitation mm per month. Highlighted: best months.

How we pick months

Best months are those where the 1981–2010 average daily high is 10–27 °C (50–81 °F), the average overnight low is 0 °C (32 °F) or warmer, and average precipitation is 200 mm (7.9 in) or less. Values are long-term monthly averages for the ~1 km cell at the trail point on the map, from CHELSA V2.1 climatologies (Karger et al., CC0), not a forecast. Higher or more exposed parts of a route can be colder, wetter or snowier.

About this trail

Please create/move all new waypoints and routes in the appropriate regional relation (as defined by https://ridgetrail.org). Thank you!

OpenStreetMap (ODbL).

Trail facts

Mapped length
813 km · 505 mi (OSM route, Waymarked Trails)
Mountain range
Santa Cruz Mountains (Southern California Coast Ranges › California Coast Ranges; GMBA)
Best months
Year-round
Country
United States of America
Region
California
Continent
North America
Route type
Regional route
Ref
BAR
Operator (OSM)
The Bay Area Ridge Trail Council
Route centre
37.8374, -122.1416
Route start
37.1572, -121.8810
OpenStreetMap
relation 13042088
Wikidata
Q4873921
How it’s scored

Hikers can rate difficulty from 1 to 10 (1 = flat, short, easy walk for anyone; 3 = gentle hills, a little effort; 5 = moderate climbs, some fitness needed; 7 = steep or long, solid fitness required; 10 = extremely strenuous or technical; long steep climbing; experienced hikers only). The community average is shown once at least 3 people have rated the trail; until then the official or computed score is used when we have one.

More trails in the Santa Cruz Mountains

All 58 →

Bridge Creek Trail

3.1 km · 8 mi · 13 km away

Byrne Trail

4.7 km · 10 mi · 17 km away

River Trl

2.2 km · 13 mi · 21 km away

Big Rock Hole Trl

2.0 km · 13 mi · 22 km away

Saratoga Gap Trl

4.6 km · 14 mi · 22 km away

Fall Creek Trail

4.5 km · 14 mi · 22 km away

Nearest trails

distance from the trail start

Corral Road

5.1 mi · 8.2 km · California

Braille Trail

5.3 mi · 8.6 km · California

Hihn's Mill Road

5.4 mi · 8.7 km · California

Hinckley Basin Fire Road

7 mi · 11 km · California

Buzzard Lagoon Road

8 mi · 13 km · California

Aptos Creek Trail

8 mi · 13 km · California

All trails in California → · All 36,834 trails in United States of America →