Ready for a nice hike?

Try the Shorttail and Pinnacle Gulch trails.

Not everybody agrees on how it got its name, but most everyone who's walked it agrees Shorttail Gulch Trail in Bodega Bay is a welcome addition to the North Bay web of coastal access paths. The little trail on the southern edge of the Bodega Harbour subdivision opened in 2004 and provides access to the previously hard-to-reach Shorttail Gulch Beach. The beach is most accessible during low tide or when the tide is receding.

Shorttail Gulch Trail is a good place to start if you're looking for new experiences. Not only is the trail itself appealing, but it takes you to a part of the coastline that offers new beach-walking and rock-hopping opportunities.

Shorttail takes off from Osprey Drive at the southern edge of Bodega Harbour, winds down into Shorttail Gulch and, 1/2 mile and 200 steps later, deposits you in soft sand at the bottom of a picturesque “V” formed by sharply rising hills.

Shorttail connects with Pinnacle Gulch Trail to form a 2-mile loop through the Bodega Harbour subdivision.

Regional Park officials ask Shorttail hikers to park in the Pinnacle Gulch parking lot ($4 fee) on Mockingbird Road then walk to Osprey Drive to reach Shorttail trailhead.

Depending on which story you adopt, the trail and gulch get their name because ranchers used to cut lambs' tails in the area, or ranchers raised short-tailed sheep in the area, or because of the preponderance of short-tailed wildlife in the area — badgers, jackrabbits, deer. Rabbit and deer are certainly plentiful. No fewer than a dozen jackrabbits and three deer shared the trail with hikers on a weekday walk earlier this month. No badgers, though; they're nocturnal.

Shorttail Gulch & Pinnacle Gulch Trails (like all Regional Park trails) are open sunrise to sunset.

Directions:

Turn onto South Harbour Way, Left on Heron Drive, Left on Mockingbird Road to Pinnacle Gulch, then Walk to Osprey Drive to the Shorttail Gulch Trail entrance.