The Ridge Trail is a bold and ambitious project that Aranson and team have been working on for 28 years. The vision is a 550-mile continuous loop that traces the ridgeline above San Francisco Bay, and the trail\u2019s seven-member council is working to see it completed, mile by mile. 365 have been built, with a goal to reach 400 in three years. It\u2019s the \u201clast hundred,\u201d as the council refers to the gaps in the trail, that will be the hardest to connect.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"BART_ThoughtLeader_Image1\"](\"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/BART-ThoughtLeader-Image1.jpg?resize=600%2C400\")
<\/p>\n
A consultant on the Bay Area Ridge Trail council, John Aranson says\u00a0designing a trail is \u201cboth a science and an art.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Janet McBride, the council\u2019s executive director, is up to the challenge. A veteran urban and environmental planner, she says the Ridge Trail is a \u201cposter project\u201d for collaboration between public and private agencies. Even so, when people disagree or funding disappears, projects can stall, so Janet\u2019s focus is building partnerships to keep things moving. \u201cSome people may consider it political, but I think of it as problem solving,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Janet, who grew up in Southern California, had her environmental awakening on Earth Day when she was 10 years old. It was during the Santa Barbara oil crisis, and \u201cSave the Planet\u201d was the popular refrain. Janet had spent her childhood vacations camping at national and state parks with her family, and she loved the beauty of the beaches and woods they explored. In college, she says she rebelled against what she perceived as a \u201cseparation from nature,\u201d which led her to study environmental planning. She is very good at what she does, and her work has made a huge impact on the progress of the Ridge Trail.<\/p>\n The main obstacle to completing the last hundred is private landowners who don\u2019t want the trail to cross their property, and the whole council has to work together to find a way forward. John knocks on doors. Janet negotiates. Their colleague Emily Bauska spreads the trail love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Executive Director Janet McBride says the Bay Area Ridge Trail is a\u00a0\u201cposter project\u201d for collaboration between public and private agencies.<\/em><\/p>\n Janet says that Emily is \u201chappiness in a bottle,\u201d and her infectious energy is crucial to the trail\u2019s survival. Recently Emily attended a volunteer-led moonrise hike. \u201cThe sky had started getting that golden hour look and there were these amazing clouds,\u201d she says. The first people to reach the top of the hill cheered on the others. Then the group watched the sunset on one side of their perch and the moonrise on the other. People were enchanted by the experience, which meant Emily had done her job.<\/p>\n Emily grew up in a small town in Eastern Oregon, where she and her brother used to roam free, exploring the desert trails on their own. Their dad often took them on \u201cadventure weekends\u201d to go hiking, fishing and fossil collecting around the Northwest.<\/p>\n A few years ago, Emily hiked the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range with her friend Sammy, who showed up at the trailhead with an injured knee and zero backpacking experience. \u201cI think I should have been a little more concerned,\u201d Emily says. But she and Sammy finished the 211-mile trail in such good shape that they dropped their packs and ran up to the summit of Mt. Whitney. Emily lives for that exhilaration. \u201cWhen I\u2019m down, something that picks me up is planning an adventure,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Emily Bauska, the staff\u2019s volunteer and events manager, often rides her\u00a0bike on the Bay Area Ridge Trail after work.<\/em><\/p>\n That\u2019s the spirit that drives the Ridge Trail council. They want people to have epic thru-hiking adventures on the Ridge Trail, and to pass on the love of nature through generations. \u201cBefore we actually build a trail, we try to make sure that someone is going to be there to steward it,\u201d John says. \u201cIt\u2019s like a child. You can\u2019t just build a trail and just forget about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Urban access is also very important to everyone on the council. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge, important part of trail design,\u201d John says. They are also highly attuned to the protection of wildlife and native plants. John only uses wildlife-friendly fences, never barbed wire, and Janet says that trails create \u201cwildlife corridors\u201d that actually make it easier for animals to travel through their natural habitat.<\/p>\n John knows that he might not see the trail completed in his lifetime, but he feels good about the work he\u2019s done. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s the complexity of unlocking the trail, the challenge of building it, and having that warm feeling inside of doing something that really means something to a lot of people,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just an incredible legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"BART_ThoughtLeader_Image2\"](\"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/BART-ThoughtLeader-Image2.jpg?resize=600%2C400\")
<\/p>\n![\"BART_ThoughtLeader_Image3\"](\"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/BART-ThoughtLeader-Image3.jpg?resize=600%2C400\")
<\/p>\n
![\"BART_ThoughtLeader_Image4\"](\"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/BART-ThoughtLeader-Image4.jpg?resize=600%2C400\")
<\/a><\/p>\n