Who says you have to travel far from home to go on a great hike? In Best Hikes San Francisco Linda Hamilton details the best hikes within an hour's drive of San Francisco perfect for the urban and suburbanite hard-pressed to find great outdoor activities close to home. Each featured hike includes detailed hike specs, a brief hike description, trailhead location, directional cues, and a detailed map. A native to the Bay Area, Linda Hamilton was elated to rediscover the incredible beauty of her home region, beyond the crowded highways. Her first (of so many) solo hiking adventure occurred at age four, when she happily wandered off alone to explore nature, scaring the daylights out of her family. After nine years of teaching high school English, drama, and college composition, and with an MA in English under her belt, she set out to achieve the daunting goal of writing for a living. Her work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, American Heritage of Invention and Technology Magazine, MyFamily Travel newsletters, Americaslibrary.gov, and many online business sites. When not on foot or hugging her laptop, Linda is singing, drawing, traveling, kayaking or laughing with her husband Doug in their Oakland home.