Transit-accessible trailheads

What counts as transit accessible?

The map is intended to include transit-accessible trailheads across Northern California. In urban and suburban areas, that generally means no more than about a 30-minute walk from a transit stop to the trailhead.

In rural areas with sparse transit, stops farther from a trailhead may be included. In rare cases—primarily Pacific Crest Trail access and Eastern Sierra passes—the walk may take two to three hours or more. These exceptions provide meaningful access to named long-distance routes where closer service does not exist.

Certain shuttles, microtransit services, and public dial-a-ride programs have not yet been added.

Is the map comprehensive?

The map is intended to be comprehensive, but schedules and services change. Rural services can be particularly difficult to track over time. The statewide dataset was last comprehensively reviewed in January 2026.

If you notice a missing trailhead, service that should be included, or transit that no longer exists, please email contact@hikingbytransit.com with the details.

Access to National Forests

The lack of a mapped trailhead does not necessarily mean there is no possible access.

If interested in a particular area, turn on the protected land layer, and transit layer for nearby agencies. Many rural agencies allow for flag stops, where you can ask the driver to drop you off at a specific point along the road where there is no stop, or wave them down along the route to pick you up. CalTopo's FSTopo layer and the Strava Heatmap may also help distinguish official trails that have been abandoned from maintained routes that are actually in use.

If you are planning to make a flag stop in a rural area, call the agency beforehand to let them know the approximate area so that they can let the driver know to expect you. The protected-lands and transit layers can help research these more marginal connections.

In addition to access to trails and unpaved forest roads, the map includes some trailhead access to long-distance named hiking routes, like the Bigfoot Trail in Hayfork, even though the part of the route that is served follows paved roads.

Data sources

The protected-lands layer comes from GreenInfo Network's California Protected Areas Database. Trailhead and stop-access data come from the Hiking by Transit GeoPackage and the transit feeds identified by each access record.

Download the July 2026 GeoPackage.

Planned services

Microtransit and dial-a-ride services still planned for review include ShastaConnect, Alpine County Dial-a-Ride, MARI-GO Transit, Porterville transPORT, Merced's Micro Bus, Stanislaus Van Go!, Quincy Evening, and additional Kern Transit services.