By John Calderwood & Steve Bakaley
The San Francisco Bay Chapter lost one of its most prolific, dedicated, thorough, and earnest day hike leaders when Guy Mayes passed away in the early morning of September 17th, 2021, at the age of 76.
Guy began leading hikes for the Bay Chapter’s Sierra Singles outing section, and upon meeting the love of his life, Nancy, led for the Hiking section. His hikes traversed throughout the Bay Area, including the Calistoga Palisades, Point Reyes’ Tomales Bluff, Redwood and Las Trampas Regional Parks, the SF Presidio, and Mount Diablo. He was also known for his historical and architectural walks in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda, and San Jose. Hiking Section Chair, Bob Solotar, said of Guy, “He was a role model, and I always recommended Guy’s hikes when people asked about good hikes and hike leaders.” Guy Mayes was awarded the Michener Award by the Bay Chapter in 2003 for excellence in conducting outings.
It has been said that, on Guy’s hikes, if there was a climbable rock on the route he would climb it, and if there was an accessible cave, he would crawl in. But there was one place you didn’t mention to Guy: Sunol’s Cave Rocks, where, in his earlier days, Guy experienced a rock and a cave too far, a dislocated shoulder, and an exciting ride in a medivac helicopter.
His Art Deco walks and lectures in Oakland will be missed, as well as his hidden paths of Golden Gate Park complete with tales of the city, his walks through the City of the Dead in Colma, and a special hike through Land’s End and the Presidio where we got to participate in a cannon loading exercise with park volunteers. Guy supplemented his talks with copies of newspaper and magazine clippings apropos to the venue, sometimes decking out his wife Nancy in illustrative attire.
The experience of a day with Guy did not end with his hikes. His post-hike barbecues and semi-annual seasonal ale tastings will be remembered with great fondness, as will his annual Berkeley architecture walks which were always followed by a homestyle spaghetti feed and winter ale tasting at the home of former Singles leader Phil (a contemporary of Guy) and Phyllis Gale.
Happy trails, Guy.
John Calderwood and Steve Bakaley are outings leaders for the Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter Sierra Singles and Hiking sections respectively. This piece was also edited by Bob Solotar, vice chair of the Chapter's Activities Committee.
Photo Credits
Top: Photo by Lydia Gans, from the Yodeler archives.
Bottom: Guy Mayes leading a Mount Saint Helena outing in 2004, photo by Richard Lew.