7/23    A friend of mine is coming to N Cal for 2 days. What's a good place
        to hike? I'm thinking of either Chabot Lake (close to Berkeley,
        and it's a lake) or the Big Basin. What about other places, like
        Mount Diablo? What are the pros/cons of these places? ok thx
        \_ For serious hills and a beautiful hike , Mt Tam down to Stinson
           or vice versa.
        \_ I'd vote for the Marin headlands.  There's flat parts and hills,
           beaches, scrubland and forests.  There's ususally a strong wind so
           it's never too hot, and there are some awesome views.  Also, it's
           kind of neat to have a picnic lunch in a WW2 anti-aircraft gun
           emplacement.
        \_ Go to Muir Woods but hike from the beach to summit parking lot.
           It's a beautiful rainforest.  Make sure you take the trail on the
           left.
                \_ how far is this from Sausalito?
           \_ Can you drive to the beach?  Havn't been there for ages.
        \_ Lake Chabot's busy in parts, secluded in others.  If you do the hike
           around the lake, it's about 8.3 miles, probably about 0.75 mile
           of it decent uphill.  There are good places to picnic and it's
           fairly nice.  Shade varies depending on the section; not sure how
           pleasant it would be on a hot, cloudless day.
           \- yosemite valley --psb
            \_ prefer <1.5 hr drive...
               \- you can get to ymte pretty fast if you go at the right
                  time. and a lot of the drive is fairly nice. ymte valley
                  is a world class sight and i think it is worth the extra
                  say 2hrs each way ... it's a lot nicer than pt reyes or
                  mt diablo. --psb
        \_ Berkeley Aquatic part late at night!
           \_ Get mugged?
        \_ Hiking?  RIDE BIKE!
        \_ Just got back from Big Basin.  There are some magnificent trails
           and a couple of very nice waterfalls (no swimming, though).  It
           takes a while to get there, though, and the road (236) is winding.
           If you're in Berkeley/Oakland, Chabot Regional park is no more
           than 15 minutes away, and there are over 27 miles of trails out
           there (it goes all the way down to Castro Valley).
        \_ Redwoods Park (in the Oakland hillsish area) is actually quite
           beautiful, and surprising for being as close as it is.