LITMIR.BIZ

      The park, while popular year round, comes alive with greenery and wildflowers in winter and spring, but rain can also make the area muddy. If you visit around dusk, you can watch the sun set behind the San Francisco skyline.

       GET MOVING

      From the Point Isabel Dog Park parking lot at the end of Rydin Road, enter the park and make an immediate left (restrooms should be at your back and the parking lot fence to your left). Take the dirt path along the southern edge of the park and closest to the fenced-off, paved San Francisco Bay Trail. The large building to your left is a United States Postal Service bulk mail facility. (The East Bay Regional Park District acquired Point Isabel Regional Shoreline in 1975 to offset the facility’s construction.) Stay straight on this path for 0.3 mile, at which point the path bends to the left and leads you to the circular end of a parking lot that houses the pet spa and café mentioned earlier. Unless you need a break already, you’ll bear right on a paved path and head toward the bay, where you’ll take in panoramic views that stretch from the Bay Bridge to San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge.

      When you reach the water, turn right and walk along the bay for 0.1 mile. Then, follow the path as it bends right and parallels the first path you took. You are now on the paved Channel Trail (no sign) along the Hoffman Channel, a narrow body of water that can look very different depending on whether you’re hiking at low or high tide. Continue 0.4 mile on this trail, going past the parking area where you started, and then turning left to cross the channel using a small wood bridge. Across the bridge, continue straight on the gravel path within the park (not the paved San Francisco Bay Trail, which is off to your right).

      Continue 0.1 mile parallel to the San Francisco Bay Trail, and then bear left to follow the curve of the gravel path. As it bends, you’ll get views of Mount Tamalpais and the Golden Gate Bridge.

      After another 0.3 mile, you have an option to do a quick 0.1 mile roundtrip detour on a small finger of land to your right (detour mileage not included in selected route mileage). Then continue to follow the paved path as it reaches the western side of the park and curves back along the channel. Follow the paved channel-side path (called the North Point Isabel Trail) for 0.3 mile until you get back to the wood bridge. Cross the bridge and end the route in the parking lot where you started.

       GO FARTHER

      Point Isabel conveniently runs alongside the San Francisco Bay Trail. You can take this trail south 1.7 miles to explore The Albany Bulb (Hike 1), a shoreline park with sculptures, bay views, and a labyrinth.