The San Francisco Bay Trail

My brother and I, who are both fond of walking, exploring, and challenges (which we insist on pronouncing SHALLENGE! As if both French and overly demonstrative) decided that we were going to walk the whole of the Bay Trail. It took us many discussions and 10's of miles into the challenge (SHALLENGE!) before we had come to some understanding ( I won't say finalize, because I doubt it will be fully finalized even when we finish) as to the ground rules for the challenge (SHALLENGE!). Roughly summarized the rules are these:

1. Start to finish the path must be unbroken and consecutive, i.e. each successive segment must begin where the last left off.

2. As much as is possible and reasonable we choose the path nearest the bay. ('reasonable' has a very wide definition, as we shall see.)

But what is the Bay Trail, it is planned as a continuous 500ish mile path that circumnavigates the entire San Francisco bay. It is not fully complete yet. As of this writing there are around 350 miles of designated Bay Trail paths. This doesn't mean that the other 150 miles are impassable, just that they aren't yet official or even 'trails' as of yet. That fact is one of the reasons we required rules. When there's a Bay Trail, we take the Bay Trail, mostly. When there's not we improvise route guided by the rules. I say 'mostly' because there are sections of the Bay Trail where there are multiple paths, loops, and out and backs.

Here's the official Bay Trail website: (LINK)

As of 1/4/24 these are our totals:
12 segments
84.07 miles
31 hours, 28 mins of walking