What's green and yellow and red all over? Bay Area trails, fashionably fit for the fall season. These three hikes strut their autumn colors in high style.

Sunol Regional Park is one of the East Bay's best autumn destinations. Tucked in a remote corner among golden hills, the park offers lots of wide-open country with an impressive variety of trees. Even on a short stroll along Alameda Creek near the park's visitor center, you'll see maple, sycamore, and willow adding to the season's kaleidoscope. Get on the Canyon View Trail for a longer walk and arrive at Little Yosemite Valley's towering rock formations, cliffs, and forested hillsides. (Make a satisfying three-mile loop by returning on the Camp Ohlone Road.) Enjoy the golds and browns of the park's many oak trees, and keep an eye out for the most impressive performer of them all: Toxicodendron diversilobum—uh huh, poison oak. Its bright red foliage is pure fall genius; just don't touch! Sunol is filled with wildlife, too, including black-tailed deer and some forty bird species. Don't let this golden opportunity pass you by.

For more information and directions, click here.

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is one of the Santa Cruz Mountains' main attractions, but relatively few folks make it to the park's little-known sibling, the Fall Creek Unit just a short distance away. Walk beside Fall Creek, a year round oasis flowing beneath towering redwoods. Along the trail you'll likely encounter autumn's paintbrush on the foliage, with golden sunbeams penetrating the canopy shade. For a highlight, take the short side-trip (0.4 miles) to the old IXL Lime Company kilns. During a fifty-year stretch that began in the early 1870s, limestone was quarried in these parts and then burned in the kilns to produce lime. A big-leaf maple grove puts on a spectacular show at the lime kilns, and South Fall Creek winds right through the rich, earthy setting. Go on, fall for it.

BONUS: Hallcrest Vineyards & Organic Wine Works is virtually across the street from the entrance to Fall Creek Unit, so treat yourself to an après-hike reward and indulge in the organic "Surfin' Syrah." Tastings are free.

From Interstate 280 going south, take Highway 85 south; then take Highway 17 south. Continue on Highway 17 about thirty miles toward Santa Cruz; exit Mt. Herman Rd. and turn right onto Graham Hill Rd. Cross Highway 9 and continue one mile; look for the parking lot on the right.

Trail Notes: The 2,390-acre park features over twenty miles of trails (no pets or bikes), so we strongly recommend purchasing a "Fall Creek Unit" map ($1) from the park's main entrance on Highway 9. It's about a one-mile hike to the kilns from the parking lot. A short, easy loop can be made using the Cape Horn and South Forks Trail. Longer, more strenuous hikes can be taken by climbing out of the canyon to either ridge on the Lost Empire Trail and Big Ben Trail. For more information, click here.

Baltimore Canyon's autumn display is as close to New England's fall foliage as one can find in Marin, according to Don Grafe, a Marin County Open Space District ranger. Roll along Mt. Tam's north-side residential roads, through the ritzy Kentfield zip code, until you hit Crown Road. Soaking up the light-greens and yellows of the impressive bigleaf maples, cross the gate and set out on a relatively flat portion of the Crown Fire Road. A look beyond your immediate surroundings reveals a patchwork quilt of colors unfolding across the horizon. For a short, heart-pumping hike, make a loop by way of the Dawn Falls Trail, which drops into a dry creek canyon and traverses pockets of beautiful redwood, oak, and other deciduous trees. The climb out of the canyon on Barbara Springs Trail is a bit burly, but upon reaching the top, you'll be rewarded with the section of the fire road that offers the area's number one display of maple madness. Eat your heart out, Vermont!

From Highway 101 going north, exit Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Continue to the town of Kentfield and turn left onto College Ave. Take a right on Woodland Rd., then a left on Evergreen Rd. Take this up the mountain; turn left on Crown Rd., drive to the end and park.

Trail Notes: To take the three-mile loop, cross the gate found at the end of Crown Rd. to follow the Crown Fire Rd. Take the Dawn Falls Trail left; continue for a little over a mile. Turn right and go up Barbara Springs Trail (keep your eyes peeled for this sign—it's not facing the hiker as you approach from our recommended route). Turn right onto Crown Fire Rd., which takes you back to your car. For more information, click here.

Get Off the Road: If your Saturday morning running route along the streets of San Francisco is as stale as last Sunday's pancakes, change up the terrain with the Bay Area's beautiful trail systems. Rolling headlands, rugged coastline, and looming trees are a playground for trail runners. Just be sure to wear the right shoes. The North Face The Arnuva^TM 100 TR GTX has its heritage in the hills of Marin: local Ultramarathon Man Dean Karnazes rigorously tested them on the Dipsea and other trails in the headlands. "The shoe was designed for this type of terrain, so it's a natural fit," says Karnazes. Its added stability and traction help you navigate nature's trails in pro-form, and your feet will stay dry in wet weather. Stop into The North Face store and try on a pair of The Arnuva^TM 100 TR GTX. Plus, bring this email to pick up your free water bottle and enter to win $200 in gear from The North Face, so you can build your own custom trail-running package. Now that's good foot work.

Explore Your Limits: Enter The North Face Endurance Challenge finale, hosted by Dean Karnazes, in Marin on Dec. 1. With a choice of four distances (10K, Half Marathon, 50K, or 50 miles), you'll be running on some of the most scenic trails in the world!

Get your free water bottle and a chance to win $200 only at these participating The North Face stores by October 14, 2007:

The North Face San Francisco, 180 Post St., San Francisco; 415-433-3223.
The North Face Palo Alto, 217 Alma St., Palo Alto; 650-327-1563.
The North Face at Valley Fair Shopping Center, 2855 Stevens Creek Blvd., Santa Clara; 408-553-0190.