Gallery: Steep Ravine
Slicing down a narrow canyon on the flanks of Mount Tamalpais, Steep Ravine is one of the most adventurous hiking trails in the Bay Area. Steep Ravine is also a fantastic showcase of trailbuilding techniques, as it features retaining walks, rock steps, several bridges, and even a 14-rung wooden ladder.
From January to April 2023, the California State Parks Bay Area Trail Crew, with support from the California Conservation Corps, replaced several bridges along the trail. I reached out to folks on the crew to learn more about the project and to assemble this gallery.
2023 was one of the wettest years on record in California, and the crews persevered through some heinous conditions to get the project done. Not only did the crew need to clean up the damage from fallen trees, but trees falling during the project period damaged some of their in-progress structures.
One day, the CCC crew spent the day hauling cement bags in the pouring rain. In the words of State Parks crew member Oscar de Leon: “it looked like a warzone.”
Nine months later, I hiked Steep Ravine to see how the work is holding up. The answer: beautifully. Below is a gallery of the in-progress photos, as well as the photos I shot in January 2024 that exhibit the beauty of this particular trail.
Steep Ravine is located on the ancestral and present lands of the Coast Miwok.
Crew members harvested a fallen redwood log and milled it in two for bridge stringers.
Photo courtesy of Cristian Contreras.
Decking the bridge stringers.
Photo courtesy of Cristian Contreras.
Completed bridge, photographed 9 months later in Jan 2024.
Cris Contreras with his log round staircase to the new bridge.
Photo courtesy of Cristian Contreras.
Completed staircase and bridge.
Photo courtesy of Cristian Contreras.
Nine months of patina.
Splicing together steel I-beams for bridge four. The I-beam sections were lowered in on a highline system from Panoramic Highway.
Photo courtesy of Cristian Contreras.
Mounting braces on the new steel bridge stringers.
Photo courtesy of Cristian Contreras.
Crew members Logan and Oscar tighten hardware on the I-beams of Bridge 4.
Photo courtesy of Oscar de Leon
Bridge 4, completed.
Photo courtesy of Oscar de Leon
Photo courtesy of Oscar de Leon
Completed bridge, nine months later.
Photo courtesy of Oscar de Leon
The iconic 14-rung ladder.
