This is to provide a "heads-up" for what to expect from the Telegraph Berkeley Historical Walking…read moreTour. This is also to supplement the Walking Tour, in case some of the more interesting points were missed. I doubt if this Walking Tour includes any of the really important things about Berkeley, such as Melvin Calvin's discovery of the Calvin Cycle, or the discoveries relating to vitamin B12 by Horace Barker, or the discovery by Gilbert Lewis of the covalent bond and his concept of electron pairs. Instead, the Walking Tour is more likely to disclose: (1) Anti-war demonstrations and riots; (2) Free Speech Movement; and (3) Curiosities, such as People's Park, Holy Hubert (evangelist), Pink Cloud (Berkeley Barb salesman), Pravda, the Hate Man, Stoney Burke (performs political comedy), and the successful and famous poet, Julia "Bubble Lady" Vinograd. And so, to prepare yourself for the Walking Tour, I suggest buying a copy of BLESS YOUR DIRTY HEART by Hubert Lindsey, a.k.a., Holy Hubert, and by buying two or three poetry books by Julia Vinograd. I suggest, CANNIBAL CASSEROLE to start out with. MY PHOTOGRAPHS. I took these photographs in the years 1969 to 1971. During the time I was taking freshman chemistry in Latimer Hall, us students were faced with a tough decision. Should we open the windows and let the stinky smell of our chemicals go out the window, or should we keep the windows shut to keep out the stinky smell of the tear gas that the Berkeley police were shooting at the rioters. The day after the riots, I would go out and collect spent tear gas bombs. I have a tear gas bomb that was a rubber ball with a valve on top, and another tear gas bomb that was a blue-painted can made of thick metal, with holes in the can to let the gas come out. I washed the residual tear gas out of the bombs by flushing water over the spent tear gas bombs in the bathroom sink in PRIESTLY HALL dormitory. My photographs show: (1) Bluegrass trio in Sproul Plaza with a mandolin case where you donate money, and where the mandolin case has a sign reading, "KITTY." The term "Kitty" is sometimes used to refer to a place for putting spare change. (2) Also on Sproul Plaza, people playing trombone and clarinet. (3) Holy Hubert on Sproul Plaza. One of the signs reads, "Jesus Christ is coming again to judge this world, follow Christ here on earth. Be persecuted and go to heaven not hell. Another sign reads, "REPENT-REPENT-REPENT Communist Party USSR Communist Party Red China Communist Party U.S.A. Marx-Lenin-Maotsetung ALL 3 ATHEISTS. Bible says Atheist=Fools. I won't follow fools. (4) Riot police on Telegraph Ave. escorting boy to paddy wagon. (5) Sandwich board on Telegraph Avenue. Sign reads, LEOPOLD'S RECORDS New Stones Album $5.99. (6) Boy gets put into paddy wagon, on Telegraph Avenue. (7) Four rioters on Telegraph. One of them flips bird at me. (8) Protest against Nixon and bombs. I took this photo at entrance to U.C. Berkeley campus. (9) Hippie is glad that LBJ died. See headlines from Berkeley Daily Gazette that reads, "Washington Funeral For LBJ." The sign attached to the wooden post reads, "ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL . . . ALICE STEWART & SNAKE . . . June 23." Please note that Alice Stewart & Snake also performed with Big Brother and the Holding Company, at Bimbo's in 1972. (10) Happy gathering on Telegraph. (11) People's Park with Pravda in the nude, as usual. (12) People's Park with row of four friends. (13) Happy gathering on Telegraph, near La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant. You can see GARDEN SPOT MARKET next to La Fiesta. But me and my roommates called this place the GARBAGE SPOT.

I checked out this tour on a recent rainy Sunday and as a Berkeley native learned so much I never…read moreknew about our local history, specific to Telegraph Avenue, Cal as well as Berkeley in general! It's a great tour and I'd recommend it to residents and visitors alike. It's a free app to download and my friend and I each but an earbud in our ear and walked the tour together. Totally recommend!

Highly recommend you signing up for one of Leanne's hikes. I did the Oakland waterfalls hike with…read moreher. This was a gorgeous way into Joaquin Miller park. Along the way she pointed out the history and relationships of the native and non-native plants and trees we encountered. She had answers to all of my questions. I learned about some specific birds as well. Overall, I learned a lot. The sights, sounds and terrain were wonderful. Leanne's spirit, humor and depth of knowledge made a beautiful hike so much more. Check it out.

From the owner: Nature Rhythms tailors walks, hikes and experiences to meet people's specific interests and…read moreabilities.

Lots of details about this interesting corner of the Bay Area provided by our guide Dan G. He was a…read morewealth of information, pretty funny and as a local was able to share a lot of perspective on the islands changes. Great day trip and I wish we had more time to poke around.

Wonderful tour led by Jim. History + nature! A great morning spent on the island…read more For people who are looking to visit the Naval Museum on the island, it is no longer open, but this tour is operative and you get to see the naval chapel and walk around the area. I was originally looking for information about the museum and arrived at this page: https://www.mihpf.org/tours. I hope this will help you find their tour options and dates! All digitalized, no fuss. And it turns out I was the only who signed up for today's tour, and they did not cancel on me because of that. I really really appreciated it. One last thing, the money you spend on the tour goes into helping this foundation : ) Yay!

I've been coming to the Haight in SF for years. One day I brought some out of town guests for this…read moretour of true crime over the years in this area. What an in depth view of some really creepy stuff! Robert is very entertaining and highly knowledgeable.

From the owner: Formally known as the "Murder, Music and Mayhem Tour" Robert has updated it including amazing new…read morerevelations. Welcome to the Haight and Ashbury, the Soul of San Francisco. So much more than the birth place of The Summer of Love. You will hear fist hand accounts from a lifetime of memories, " Picture yourself on a boat in a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies " walk in the footsteps of George Harrison , Joe Strummer and Marilyn Manson as we weave through Ginger Bread Houses built 150yrs ago. Gaze at the prettiest house a century ago home to surgeons learning their trade. Make sure to bring a camera ! Tour can be booked as Private for groups of 4 or more and you choose the start time. Regular tour 4pm-8pm 8pm-10pm Please call for a reservation. We are proud to introduce our new "Rosie the Riveter and the 3 bridges Tour" an excursion across the bay to see Treaure and Angel Island , past our 3 bridges to dock at the Rosie National Park and hear about the battle on the homefront for equality for women and immigrants. Lest we forget.Ferry inclusive. You can also learn how not to look like a tourist with one of our 3 x 3 tours. Choose between Mission, Fillmore and the Marina or Market, Castro and the Haight .

I accompanied some of my company's new hires on a tour yesterday. Because I'm a native of San…read moreFrancisco, I contemplated lying about where I'm from just to see if I could catch our guide sharing inaccurate or exaggerated stories. Suffice to say that I was completely blown away by Stuart's deeply researched knowledge, family history in the city, and passion - so much so that I am planning to recommend this tour to my own friends and family who have also lived here their whole lives. My colleagues even commented afterwards that they probably know more about San Francisco now than their own hometowns.

Great tour by Stuart this past Saturday. I was impressed with his friendliness and deep knowledge…read moreof San Francisco, but esp with his 'our of the box' thinking when it comes to how he runs his tours. I also loved the small group size and that he provides some pictures of what this city looked like at specific points in time. Highly recommend it!

Elliot (tour guide) was very knowledgeable, interesting, and attentive to our questions and…read moreinterests.

From the owner: Discover Marin County's most picturesque and historic town--Its history and the people who created…read moreit. Enjoy the fabulous views, the charming shops and the great restaurants. Make a day of it!

"What would you like for Christmas?". "I want you to find a person who we can spend all day in the…read morewoods with and they'll have answers for all the questions." Amazingly enough, this person exists in our own backyard. Christian has passion, knows his stuff, and as a result is an incredible teacher, a cool hang, and propagates a love for nature. I specifically wanted to level up my knowledge of mushrooms, but also hoped to gain a new understanding of plants and birds on the California coast. It was a deluge of info, and explained in a way that sticks. If you love the outdoors and want to spend time with someone who really gets it and has a contagious reverence for it, spend some time with Christian.

Redwood Coast Tours is a fantastic company and I was amazed by the mushroom tour we took with them…read morein Big Basin near Santa Cruz. Our expert guide, Christian, helped us find a multitude of different mushrooms as we meandered thru the Redwood forest. He filled our brains with practically a text book of information about mycology including mycorrhizal fungi. I highly and enthusiastically recommend Redwood Coast Tours for your educational tour on mushrooms!!

@Iso, it's 2025, GPS co-ordinates maybe? All students had some issues finding the meeting spot…read morewhich could have been easily avoided. Let me help you out; instead of cryptic and inaccurate written directions just plug this into Google Maps: 37°21'51.6"N 122°10'37.3"W https://maps.app.goo.gl/VJx6FYUZNqcBu5177 Done. No questions, no geocaching hunt to find the meeting spot with zero service. Great website, so-so experience. In summary I don't feel it is worth the $87. I've participated in free foraging events that were equivalent and in some ways better than this one. If you are a beginner who knows absolutely nothing about foraging, this might be a good one to go to. A bit misleading to say "suitable for novice and veteran foragers alike." I learned a few new things but nothing justifying the time spent driving to the location and paying the $$$. I like the mission of this project but was expecting a bit more. Best of luck to the forageSF team.

Carla helped arrange for a private day of crab fishing for my bachelorette party with Steve in…read moreTomales Bay. Steve made the day so special - he is enthusiastic and knowledgeable and went above and beyond to make the day special for us. We met at a dock and he walked us through the fishing process (which involved throwing crab nets over the side of the dock). We caught about 150 crabs which he cooked for us in a nearby garden along with veggies, potatoes, corn, garlic bread, dessert, and more. I can't recommend Steve and ForageSF enough and can't wait to do the clamming experience with Steve in the future.

My wife and I participated in a weeklong bike tour of Nova Scotia. The trip was well organized and…read moreour guides were friendly, supportive and made the experience so much better. Biking: flexible routes and there were both e-bikes and standard bike riders in our group. The GPS made it easy to navigate. Very scenic routes and mostly in low traffic areas. Accommodations: All three hotels were different but excellent. Convenient locations close to places of interest. Meals: group dinners were all amazing quality with options including vegetarian. The guides provided really good lunches and there was an endless supply of snacks. This trip exceeded my expectations and I look forward to riding with Backroads again.

I have had nothing but great experiences with Backroads throughout my past 5 experiences with them…read more This highly anticipated hike in Yosemite did not meet my expectations right from the start. Other trips included guest numbers of between 9-11 with 2 guides and one support guide. This trip had 19 with the same ratio of a team. Pretty forgivable until you factored in there were only 2 vans with 21 of us crammed during each of the long distances between each hotel and hike. The longest drive was, as expected, between our San Francisco meet-up for the 4 hour drive to the park. Two vans made for a very squished drive for many of us. The first hotel, a one-night stay, found us in a parking lot facing room. For the $$$ Backroads costs, I expect more than the cheapest view in the hotel. I expect a room with a view. I wouldn't book a room on my own without a view, and I expected more on our first night. Our first night Backroads reception, something that is a tradition and combines meeting our fellow hikers with an included cocktail and nice dinner, did not happen. We were led to a lonely back room of the hotel. Here, dressed in our finery, we waited to be greeted with an offering of a cocktail. Instead, set up in the corner of this dank room was a server with a few bottles of wine. Confused, a few of us went to the bar and purchased our own drinks. Those who wanted a second glass of wine you were out of luck because the server closed up shop before one had a chance to ask. Our guides arrived and began to stumble through an explanation as to why we weren't having our dinners inside of the hotel: something to do with the hotel confusing our Backroads trip with another Backroads trip that is also on property. The bottom line was that the hotel could not accommodate our dinner choices. We were cordially invited to join the barbecue that was taking place for the Backroads biker group. We traipsed around the chilly outside of the hotel in our finery, down to a picnic area set up with picnic tables, a buffet, and a lot of families with their children running around having a grand time. We were instructed to pick up a tin tray with a paper plate and begin our choosing from the tables of food. Basically, we were met with the leavings of the previous Backroads barbecue. No freshly stocked trays. The hamburger/hot dog tray held at least an inch of grease with a few sad looking hot dogs and hamburgers. The salads were picked over. The dessert tray held toppled over dregs of cakes. My husband, who typically goes with the flow, was even more shocked than me. We took ourselves to the hotel restaurant, with its very ample available seating, and bought our own drinks and dinner. It was great. My issue is this: this option of dining in the restaurant instead of the barbecue was not offered. It should have been. This isn't a low brow touring company. The extra cost of their guests dining independently should have been eaten by Backroads. Not on us. The next day, not a word was mentioned by the guides about the previous night's fiasco. I spoke to the support guide about it on my own. She was stunned to learn about the whole affair as she was not present for it. She must have spoken to the guides about it because, later on, the guides brought it up with apologies. Yet, no mention was made of reimbursement of our dinner. The remainder of the trip was Backroads great. The guides are always tip-top, the variety of snacks are set up with flare, the park hotels are always special. The Yosemite hikes are spectacular. I contacted Backroads via email two times about my issues. I have never had to complain about their trips, but I felt that there is a discernible slip in the quality of their product. I asked to be called via phone so that I could have a dialogue with someone. I never received a call. Instead, all of us on the group received an email apologizing for the terrible first night's confusion, and we are offered a $250. credit good for two years towards a future Backroads trip. I am not finding this an acceptable peace offering. Actually, I would have preferred my reimbursement of $200. that we spent on our first night's dinner and a phone call. We have paid in full for another Backroads trip coming up on September. This will be the make-or-break for us. I think that had we not paid for this trip, we would be looking for a different tour group. There were enough small signs that show a slip in service and a cut in costs. I spoke to many of us on this trip, some experienced Backroaders and some brand new. There was a noticeable disgruntled atmosphere regarding the tight vans. One guest told me she ate only a baked potato at the barbecue. Another told me she ate one sausage. Many keep their disappointments to themselves. I asked around. Backroads needs to step up to the plate to ensure a better product in the future.