Re: Bradford Ridge Trail

Eastbay, The Forestry signs you will be parking near are about 3 and a half feet tall. There is no graded parking lot but there is plenty of good parking spots on the west side of these signs. The steep hill is on the east side. I would recommend parking near route 3 and not on the dead end road that leads to the trail. This dead end road is not part of the open routes. I still doubt that you'd get a ticket parking on it but why take a chance since its only 50 yards or so long. People don't park around the signs because few people know the trail is even there. This trail has been improved a great deal in the last year by a fellow hotspringer and is clear to follow from the end of the dead end road to the barbed wire fence at which point you will be on a ridge just above the Bowen trail which is below you on the east side of this ridge. You will know where you are when you reach the barbed wire since you will be able to see the hotsprings. I started hiking this route again ( I have hiked it for many years ) when the forestry first opened up the area around the springs but the BLM land was still closed. You could not park anywhere on the open routes in BLM land but you could park on forestry land at that time. The spot where the signs are and the Forestry parking lot on the bowen route are the only points where any open routes hit forestry territory on the north side of the springs. As I mentioned before one of the important aspects of this trail for me is that the entire hike from car to springs goes through an area that was not burnt by the Willow Fire. Happy trails :-)