Starting this Wednesday, July 1, Bay Area hikers are kicking off the coast-to-coast America 250 Relay, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States with a copy of the Declaration of Independence in hand.
The relay follows the 6,800-mile American Discovery Trail, an enormous route that starts in Point Reyes and stretches all the way across the nation to end on the Delmarva Peninsula in Delaware.
The America 250 Relay begins on Wednesday at Limantour Beach with about a week of planned segments in the Bay Area, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on the Fourth of July. Then, it’ll continue its five-month journey eastward, making steady progress every day through Thanksgiving.
Bay Area route segments
Here in the Bay, the America 250 Relay will take place according to the following schedule:
- Wednesday, July 1: Limantour Beach to Point Reyes Five Brooks Trailhead (13.7 miles hiking)
- Thursday, July 2: Point Reyes Five Brooks Trailhead to Muir Woods Visitor Center Overflow (18.1 miles walking)
- Friday, July 3: Muir Woods Visitor Center Overflow to Golden Gate Bridge North Vista Point (11.6 miles walking)
- Saturday, July 4: Golden Gate Bridge North Vista Point to San Francisco (8.8 miles walking)
- Sunday, July 5: Oakland Bay Bridge to UC Berkeley (10.5 miles hiking)
- Monday, July 6: UC Berkeley to Walnut Creek Heather Farm Park (28.3 miles running/walking)
- Tuesday, July 7: Walnut Creek Heather Farm Park to Antioch Worth Shaw Community Park (36.2 miles running/walking)
- Wednesday, July 8: Antioch Worth Shaw Community Park to Sacramento (65.5 miles cycling)
After a day off on Thursday, July 9th, the relay takes off from Sacramento and continues its California segments through Auburn, Foresthill, French Meadows, and Tahoe.
Participants are invited to join local relay events along the route on foot or by bicycle. You can sign up to join the relay at DiscoveryTrail.org.
America 250 Relay route
The America 250 Relay traverses California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado, at which point it splits off into a northern and southern route. The northern route proceeds through Nebraska, Iowa, and the northern parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, while the southern route travels through Kansas, Missouri, and the southern parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
The two routes reconvene in Cincinnati, at which point the relay will continue east through Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and Delaware, finishing on Thanksgiving Day at Cape Henlopen.
A closer look at the American Discovery Trail
The American Discovery Trail began with late-20th-century efforts to create a truly cross-country, non-motorized route from ocean to ocean. But it wasn’t until 1989 that the American Hiking Society and Backpacker Magazine formally proposed today’s permanent trail, and a team of volunteers and coordinators managed to scout, map, and negotiate a full working corridor to traverse public and private lands. The full, continuous trail route finally launched in the late 1990s.
The route is composed of paths and backroads that traverse 325+ communities, 15 states, and over a dozen national parks.
🌐 Learn more: American Discovery Trail
