Jamie Ferrell, Author at Secret San Francisco

Hi there! I grew up in Santa Cruz and graduated from UC Berkeley in 2018 with an English major and Spanish minor. After teaching ESL for a few years, I joined the Secret Media Network as a Staff Writer. I love to write about California history, hidden gems, museum exhibitions, and local wildlife.

30 minutes from SF: This 1.3-mile highway-turned-hiking trail leads to a sheltered, clothing-optional beach famous for whale sightings

Just 30 minutes down Highway 1, Devil's Slide is an ultimate hidden gem in the Bay Area. Twelve years ago, Caltrans turned the decommissioned section of highway into a gently graded, 1.3-mile pedestrian a...

Escapes

1.5 hours from San Francisco: National Geographic named this 6,800-mile, coast-to-coast trail among its ‘100 hikes of a lifetime,’ and it starts at a rugged Bay Area beach

The American Discovery Trail is a massive, continuous trail stretching 6,800 miles coast-to-coast from California to Delaware. While it's been around for a few decades, National Geographic's Stephanie...

Secret Guides Things To Do Visit San Francisco

37 Lovely Indoor Activities In San Francisco For A Rainy Day

San Francisco has some rainy days in the forecast, which is great for our environment but not always so great for our plans. If you're feeling shipwrecked at home, we're sure these indoor activities w...

Escapes Wellness & Nature

This unfinished 1,230-mile California trail quietly links dozens of secret beaches, WWII bunkers, and Gold Rush towns — after 50 years of development, it’s about 70% complete

The California Coastal Trail (CCT) is a long-running public initiative first proposed in 1975, with the goal of building a continuous network of trails spanning the entire California coastline, from the M...

Escapes

1.5 hours from SF: Roaring Camp is running summer rides to a hidden dinner party in the redwoods

About 1.5 hours away from San Francisco in Felton, California, Roaring Camp Railroads is a recreated 1880s logging-era town hosting one of the area's most quintessentially Californian experiences in the r...

Wellness & Nature

45 minutes from SF: The $8 mountain peak where you can watch Marin’s elusive ‘rolling fog’ phenomenon this summer

Mount Tamalpais, often called “Mount Tam,” is a striking mountain peak located about 17 miles north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Widely considered an emblem of Marin County, the mountain is cele...

Music

The country’s longest-running free nonprofit music festival kicks off in San Francisco this Sunday — here’s one last trick to try and get free tickets

The legendary Stern Grove Festival kicks off in San Francisco this Sunday, ringing in a summer of free open-air concerts in a historic urban park on Sloat Boulevard. The series has been around since 1938,...

Escapes

1 hour from SF: National Geographic named this unfinished 400-mile trail among its ‘100 hikes of a lifetime’ — the new 14.1-mile section is one of the longest sections ever dedicated at once

National Geographic’s latest book, 100 Hikes of a Lifetime U.S.A. by Stephanie Pearson, highlights some of the most breathtaking, must-do trails across the country. Fortunately for Bay Area residents,...

Escapes Food & Drink

1.5 hours from SF: After nearly 2 decades of development, the Napa Valley Vine Trail has completed about 70% of its 47-mile path — it connects 236 wineries

Did you know about this scenic public trail project taking shape in Napa Valley? The Napa Valley Vine Trail began as a simple yet ambitious idea in the late '90s to create a car-free path that lets pe...

Things To Do

30 minutes from SF: This century-old county fair kicks off its 8-day run today with drone shows, humanoid robots, duck races, and retro videogames

Start the summer with a bang at the San Mateo County Fair! The popular county fair has been around for a century, and today is the first day of its 2026 run. This year's theme is "In Bloom," a nod to the...