Rain the day before had cleansed the southern basin of the Bay Area, washing away the haze to deliver a lucent view from a high point over Cupertino. On Monday morning, the unPTO hiking club for the unemployed or recently laid off was banded together. When the hikers reached the summit of Maisie’s Peak, to soak in the valley below, a pinch of irony came into plain view.

Companies in Silicon Valley had let many of them go. It’s put them in a wringer. They’re jobless among thousands of other similarly skilled workers, all released into a congested job market in the waves of layoffs that have rocked the Bay Area in recent years. However, on Monday, the hiking club with unlimited part-time off was taking the high road. While others in the valley below were stuck at desks indoors, 26 ramblers were building a community in morning light.

Most of them had never met until the hike. They swapped favorite routes for a bicycle ride out of San Francisco and debated the trustworthiness of people wearing tinted glasses. Twice on the descent, the single-file line came to a gradual halt so each person could admire a turtle in the Stevens Creek Reservoir or an olive green banana slug sliding down the Tony Look trail.

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Hikers pause on the Tony Look trail circling Stevens Creek Reservoir near Cupertino to observe a banana slug on April 13, 2026.

Occasionally, conversations turned to work: past employment and future hopes. The group members leaned on each other’s networks and offered sympathetic ears for horror stories, like a recent job interview where the hiring manager showed up 15 minutes late and didn’t even read the applicant’s resume.

“This is an AA meeting,” said Sujay, a hiker clad in a Columbia PFG shirt who asked not to use his last name. “We didn’t do anything to get laid off. It just happened. The hike is therapeutic.”

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When he had the idea to form a hiking group specifically for unemployed people, Basem Istanbouli envisioned both a support group and an outlet for personal restoration through nature. 

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“When you get laid off, a lot of people feel like you have to spend every waking second applying to jobs. It takes a toll on your own life and ends up being counterproductive for bringing your best self to an interview,” he said. “With UnPTO, you can take a break. It gives people a chance to breathe. And what better way to do that than with people in the same boat as you.”

Istanbouli worked in ad sales for Google, and even though he said he was a top performer, the company eliminated his position more than a year ago. The Alameda resident has a gift for relationship building and partnerships — “anything that lets me interact with humans and make their lives better,” he said — so he started hosting hikes with friends in his Muslim community. 

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Due to the constraints of the 40-hour workweek, his friends weren’t always available on Mondays, an optimal time for a Bay Area hike, since trails are far less crowded.

UnPTO hikers descend the Tony Look trail circling Stevens Creek Reservoir near Cupertino on April 13, 2026.

In December, Istanbouli announced the first unPTO hike through a brand he calls OutsEye. He posted on Facebook and the regional Reddit page for a trip to Las Trampas Wilderness Regional Preserve. Four people showed up. 

Each hike, Istanbouli snaps a group shot to use for promoting the following week’s outing. “One thing I wanted to make sure is that people saw how I’m not some weirdo,” Istanbouli said, laughing. “These are real people who came on this hike with me.”

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The hikes are open to all and start at 10:30 a.m. on Mondays. Istanbouli pulls ideas for the excursions from AllTrails and sets a 5-mile limit to keep them more accessible. The club has explored all corners of the Bay Area; earlier this month, it hiked a loop in the Marin Headlands.

As the interest and members snowballed, Istanbouli started initiating a vote on a WhatsApp group to let everyone decide on the next hike from a pool of choices. There have been between 25 to 30 hikers on each trip over the past few weeks. 

UnPTO’s hike on April 13, 2026, departed from the Madrone Picnic Area near Stevens Creek Reservoir.

Before setting off on the hike, Istanbouli invites everyone to share their name, but he intentionally keeps facilitation at a minimum. Conversations have a natural way of flowing when you’re on the trail, and he wants connections to form organically. But during some of the water breaks, Istanbouli does encourage hikers to mix it up so they can meet someone new.

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Unlike other clubs that might want to boost membership, Istanbouli said it’s “bittersweet” to see fresh faces since it means there are so many folks experiencing layoffs and looking for jobs right now. Istanbouli hopes to ultimately land a full-time role, but he doesn’t want unPTO to fade away. He hopes to pass the walking sticks off to the next guide, who, in turn, can keep it going until they’re employed, creating an endless network of support in the Bay Area.

Monday’s hike from Stevens Creek Reservoir led the group up a series of switchbacks and through a dense oak forest before reaching the rolling hilltops. Hikers took water breaks together and patted Lotus, the only dog in the group. After looping back to the lake, a hiker joked aloud how it was pretty, “but no Akron, Ohio.”

The unPTO hiking group at Maisie’s Peak above Silicon Valley on April 13, 2026.

Talking about work is sometimes taboo in social settings, but here, it’s constructive; unPTO hikers share tips for networking and advice for interviews. Asked about dream jobs, a hiker named Noa Green deadpanned: “Unemployment.” Her internship had recently ended, and she was starting to apply for positions in office management.

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Green, who is originally from the East Coast, shared that some of her family members questioned why she’d even go on a group hike with other people who were out of work: “They said, ‘What’s the point? Everyone there is clearly unemployed, and you can’t get a referral.’” 

The answer was subtly revealed in the parking lot. After a few hours of forest bathing, hikers swapped encouragement, shared contacts and bid fond farewells before disbanding into the Monday afternoon. 

Even though he didn’t see it coming, Istanbouli said that getting laid off was an unexpected blessing for forging a new path. “When one part of your life declines,” he said, “you find that other parts start to rise.”

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— San Francisco’s easiest and prettiest hike ends at a waterfall— This NorCal hike is filled with seals, waterfalls and a magical sea cave— There’s an eerie 50-foot monolith hidden in the Bay Area. I hiked to it.— Only a few thousand hikers a year ever find this coastal California park

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