San Mateo Hiking Section

All Hikers: Welcome! The San Mateo Hiking Section offers moderate hikes two times a week. For our hike schedule, see the Chapter calendar for all Sierra Club Calendar events.

You can preview our upcoming hikes for the current six months in the link below showing the calendar.

Due to several Sierra Club policy changes, many of our hike leaders have opted out from leading hikes in the future.

This has resulted in many of our planned hikes being cancelled.

Please note: There are several updates in this version 3/28/26.

To view the pdfs click the following link:

San Mateo Hiking Section 6 month Calendar January to June 2026

Hikes start at 10:00 AM, unless otherwise specified. Bring water and lunch, poles if you use them.

All hikers must bring a completed new Medical/Waiver Form and sign the SignUp Sheet / Waiver.

Please note that as of 2/22/26 the Sierra Club now requires all hikers to submit their Medical/waiver form to the leader.

The leader then will scan the forms and submit to the Sierra Club Safety group for secure storage and archiving.

Hope to see you out there!

Where We Hike

The San Mateo Hiking Group primarily hikes on trails located up and down the San Francisco Peninsula. We also hike from time to time in the North Bay, South Bay, and coastal areas. Our favorites list includes many of the Mid Peninsula open spaces, and county and state parks. You may find us at Russian Ridge, El Corte de Madera, Skyline Ridge, Windy Hill, Edgewood, Purisima, Stevens Creek, Huddart, Coal Mine Ridge, Sam McDonald, Butano, Big Basin, Pescadero, Monte Bello, Henry Cowell, Portola, Pulgas, Phleger, Wunderlich, and many more. We often venture out farther afield to Mt Tamalpais, Sierra Azul, Mt. Umunhum, the East Bay, and to many coastal areas as well.

We like the redwoods all year round, but the ridges are especially wonderful in the springtime for the wildflowers. Many of our hikes explore the beaches and coastal preserves as well as city hikes in San Francisco.

Our Wednesday hikes are longer and more strenuous (7-9 miles) than our Thursday hikes (5-6 miles). Our group is usually 12-20 people and most of us have been hiking with the group for many years.

We welcome new hikers and leaders too!

Here are some of the 2025 Spring Flowers I have found:

Spring Blooms 2025

Here are views of some of our favorite places: