The Skyline Watershed Ridge Trail — a long-closed stretch of SFPUC watershed land off Highway 35 — opens to the public Monday, August 24. It's free with an online permit, but the tiny lot fills fast. Here's how to actually get in, including the SamTrans bus that stops a two-minute walk away.

A stretch of Peninsula ridgeline that's been off-limits to the public for generations opens Monday, August 24 (external source, opens in a new tab). The new Skyline Watershed Ridge Trail — six miles, out-and-back, run along San Francisco Public Utilities Commission watershed land — is free to hike, but there's a catch or two worth knowing before you drive out.

The basics, first. The trailhead sits on Highway 35 (Skyline Boulevard), just south of the Highway 92 junction and Skylawn Memorial Park, in San Mateo County. Gates are unlocked every day from 6 in the morning until 6 at night, starting Monday. You need a free permit, which you apply for online through the SFPUC's trail page (external source, opens in a new tab); it's valid for the calendar year and covers a group of up to six people. Screenshot it or print it and carry it with you. It's open to hikers, runners, cyclists (no e-bikes) and equestrians — and no dogs, which is the detail that'll ruin your Monday if you show up not knowing it.

Now the real problem: parking. The lot has 22 standard spaces (plus five trailer spots and two ADA spaces), and that is it, for a brand-new trail with views people have been waiting years to see. SFPUC's Tim Ramirez told KQED (external source, opens in a new tab) flatly to get there early because the lot fills fast. Translation: a 9 a.m. arrival on opening weekend is optimistic. Go right at the 6 a.m. gate, or go on a weekday, or don't drive at all.

The move nobody's mentioning — take the bus. The SamTrans 294 stops at Highway 92 and Skyline Boulevard, a roughly two-minute walk from the trailhead, according to Hiking by Transit (external source, opens in a new tab). It runs seven days a week, though only every one to two hours, so check the schedule and don't miss your return. One warning if you go this way: you'll be crossing Highway 92 with no signal and no marked crosswalk, so be patient and cautious. But it sidesteps the parking scramble entirely, and for a trail this capacity-constrained, that's the whole game.

Why bother. The new stretch finally closes a gap in the Bay Area Ridge Trail (external source, opens in a new tab), the 500-mile loop that's roughly 75% built and will eventually circle the whole region. The watershed it crosses holds the highest concentration of rare and endangered species in the Bay Area, per the San Francisco Estuary Institute, and it's been closed to casual access precisely because it's so sensitive. Ramirez described the views to KQED as reaching the bay, downtown San Francisco, Mount Diablo and the ocean. Interpretive signs along the way lay out the story of the Hetch Hetchy system that pipes drinking water to 2.7 million people. There are two pit toilets, at miles 2 and 5, and no water — bring your own.

If you only have a couple of hours: you don't have to do all 12 miles round-trip. Hike out along the ridge until the views open up wide — that's the payoff, and you can turn back whenever you've had your fill. And if the ridge trail's permit-and-parking dance feels like too much, the adjacent Watershed Discovery Trail is a flat, half-mile ADA-accessible loop with its own interpretive signs — an easier introduction to the same landscape. Just note that the more fragile stretch immediately north, the Fifield-Cahill Ridge Trail, remains open only by reservation for free docent-led hikes.