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Bay Area
,→Going South (Highway 1, towards Santa Cruz and scenic route towards Los Angeles)
The '''Bay Area''' is an area in [[California]], containing '''San Francisco''', '''Oakland''', '''San Jose''' and other urban centres. It's fairly extended, with millions of inhabitants. There's a plethora of highways, and it's probably better to see the Area as one huge city, with "The City" (San Francisco) as its cultural centre.
== Hitchhiking out ==
From San Francisco, the best place to hitch in this direction is on approach to Golden Gate Bridge from Lombard Street. Just before it reaches the Presidio, it makes an angular turn toward the bridge, and a couple blocks down that angular street (at Richardson and Lyon) is a large rarely-used bus stop area which makes a perfect hitching spot.
Immediately across the bridge is Marin County, which is mostly a rich suburban area where getting a ride is difficult, so if you're going up 101 it's best if you can get a ride from SF at least as far as Novato, and preferably beyond Santa Rosa. Between Novato and Petaluma is a stretch of non-freeway where you could hitch on the road, which is probably better than hitching on a ramp if you want a long ride north towards Humboldt/Oregon. (check the map for this spot) Alternately you can take Highway 1 from Marin County up the coast, but while very scenic this road has little traffic so be prepared for long waits.
=== Going Northeast (I-80) ===
You can take the BART to '''Richmond''' (about $4.50), get off, walk East, where there is the on ramp to the I-80 East. See [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Richmond,+CA&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=37.936312,-122.333064&spn=0.016044,0.05403&om=1&iwloc=A Google maps].
Waiting time at this spot was half an hour for a straight ride to Sacramento, April 2016.
You can also take BART to '''Pleasant Hill''' (about $5.25), there is an onramp next to the BART station, but the best onramp to hitchhike at in this area is about a mile north at Monument Blvd. It has a nice stop light on the on ramp itself. A sign saying "Sacramento" or wherever you are going helps.
There is a tradition of [http://sfcasualcarpool.com/ "casual carpools"] (known elsewhere as "slugging") across the Bay Bridge (check that website for further info). This is a good way to get out of the city along I-80 if you're leaving in the afternoon, but less useful in the morning as it's mainly for commuters. Some but not all drivers ask for a $1 contribution (still cheaper than BART).
You can try to follow I-80 to get to I-5 north, but if you're trying to go north you'll probably have an easier time on US-101, see above.
=== Going South (I-5, fast route towards [[Los Angeles]] or [[Las Vegas]]) ===
'''Option 1'''<br>Take the I-5 if you want to get there fast. You might want to take the BART train to '''Dublin/Pleasanton''' (about $6). The BART station is located next to a highway onramp, but you freeway entrance which has a lot of traffic and a fairly decent spot to stop (after the 'freeway entrance' sign). You might have better luck if you walk further East east to the following onrampentrance which has less traffic, but a big bus stop to pull into a couple hundred meters before the entrance itself. (You're actually hitching onto I-580 here but it merges into I-5 further out; avoid getting a ride to Tracy or Stockton if you want to go south, it won't do you much good.)
== Things To Do Nomadwiki & Trashwiki ==The Bay Area is a diverse place, with a long and proud history of Left-leaning politics and Counter Culture. It is also, as a whole, one of the wealthiest and most expensive places in the United States. The area should have something to offer for everyone.
{{IsIn|California}}