2-3 Night Trips Near San Francisco

The Emigrant Wilderness and the Desolation Wilderness aren't too far from San Fransisco.

…Quickest drive to the Sierras will be to the Wrights Lake trailhead in Desolation Wilderness. About 3 hours, 15 minutes *IF* you drive early in the morning when there is no traffic (leave at 6 am).

Reserve a trailhead in advance at recreation.gov. Or walk into the permitting office at Pollock Pines for a walk-in.

Summer is for the Sierras ;) Nobody around here (the Bay Area) bothers backpacking locally when the Sierras are open for business in the summer or early fall. Just not even close to the same thing.

– Elizabeth

drive to calistoga. have a nice lunch. park car in town , perhps behind/next to, the hrdw store. hike up historic wagon road built by chinese labors around steept drops on corners, to nearly the top of "the high rocks trail", and you can overnight there on the flat to the west of the pass. drink wine to a beautiful sunset. (you'll prob want a water filter). in the morning, awake and drop backt ot town to another nice lunch and a beer.

Stanislaus NF
Emigrant Wilderness
Kennedy Meadows TH
Crabtree TH
Gianelli TH

Carson Iceberg Wilderness
Arnot Creek TH
Disaster Creek TH
Clark Fork TH

Eldorado NF
Caples Creek TH/Silverfork TH

Desolation Wilderness
Rockbound TH
Twin Lakes TH
Lyons Creek TH

Mokelumne Wilderness
Carson Pass TH
Woods Lake TH
Caples Lake TH

*I'll elaborate more when I'm at an actual computer.

Joseph,

We’ve posted quite a few trip reports of 2-3 nights near San Francisco. You can find info about them in our photo gallery

Usually the trip details are available in the captions of the first couple images (including gpx files etc).

Recommendation for which one is best depends on your timing. Big Sur is too hot and full of flies between June and August, IMO. Best time there is late September to May. Coe is also very hot in the summer. For hikes near San Francisco, I’d stick with the peninsula or Marin. Referring to our photo gallery, and assuming you’re looking for a hike in June or July, look at:

Marin County overnight via CalTrain
Santa Cruz to Monterey Backpacking
SanFran to SantaCruz via the Coast Backpacking
SanFran to Pt Reyes Loop Backpacking
Thanksgiving Palo Alto to Santa Cruz Backpacking
Pt Reyes CA Circumambulation