Now that the days are getting longer and families are looking for more outdoor activities, it’s a great time to revisit the East Bay Regional Park District’s (EBRPD) 2025 Trails Challenge.
The Trails Challenge is a program that was created 32 years ago as a way for people to connect with the outdoors. “It’s all about getting folks out into nature, to benefit from nature, see the parks, see new parks they may not have visited,” said EBRPD’s public information supervisor, Dave Mason.
The Trails Challenge is a year-long program introduced each January. The goal is to complete either five trails or 26.2 miles of trails—depending on the individual’s personal goal—of walking, biking or horseback riding on the park district’s trails. Participants log each trail and submit their log to the EBRPD anytime before December 31, 2025 for a commemorative pin marking their accomplishment.
With a fresh list of trails curated by naturalists and recreation aids each year, participants are encouraged to discover new sights that they may not have explored otherwise.
The list is carefully chosen to include trails that people of all abilities can enjoy. The 2025 Trails Challenge booklet—which is available online—contains a list of this year’s 20 highlighted trails organized into easy, moderate and challenging categories. Not only are the difficulty levels included, but also details like elevation gain and trail surface, for those with wheelchairs or strollers.
As the challenge is year long, EBRPD likes to give it an extra push during the spring and summer months to remind people to take advantage of the program. “We want to make sure that folks are benefiting from it throughout the year,” said Mason. He explained that summer is a great time to participate in pop-ups where select trails have guidebooks, t-shirts, bandanas and scheduled hikes led by park naturalists. “Those are great opportunities for folks that are first-timers to get out and get into the program,” added Mason.
‘There’s also a free one-month membership that [Alltrails] have donated this year.’
Dave Mason
Those who have participated in the Trails Challenge for years will still be in for a treat with first time additions to the program. This year EBRPD has introduced special categories for kids, teens and seniors to receive their own patches when completing the challenge. Also, with this year’s Challenge being sponsored by AllTrails—an app that helps people discover and share walking, biking and hiking trails—participants can receive an AllTrails backpack and access to the app.
“There’s also a free one-month membership that [AllTrails] have donated this year. Folks can go to the website and get the code,” says Mason about the sponsorship.
The 2025 Trails Challenge has something for all ages and abilities to get excited about and new reasons for veteran participants to return for another year.
For more on the program, visit ebparks.org/trails-challenge.
