Frommer's San Francisco 2012 - Matthew Poole [135]
Next comes the 31⁄2-mile paved Golden Gate Promenade ★, San Francisco’s best and most scenic biking, jogging, and walking path. It runs along the shore past Crissy Field (www.crissyfield.org) and ends at Fort Point under the Golden Gate Bridge. (Be sure to stop and watch the gonzo windsurfers and kite surfers, who catch major wind here, and admire the newly restored marshlands.) The Crissy Field Café and Bookstore is open from 9am to 5pm Wednesday through Sunday and offers yummy, organic soups, salads, sandwiches, coffee drinks, and a decent selection of outdoor-themed books and cards.
You’ll find joggers, picnickers, and kite-fliers along the Golden Gate Promenade.
Fort Point ★ ( 415/556-1693; www.nps.gov/fopo) was built between 1853 and 1861 to protect the narrow entrance to the harbor. It was designed to house 500 soldiers manning 126 muzzle-loading cannons. By 1900, the fort’s soldiers and obsolete guns had been removed, but the formidable brick edifice remains. Fort Point is open Friday through Sunday only from 10am to 5pm, and guided tours and cannon demonstrations are given at the site once or twice a day on open days, depending on the time of year.
Fort Point.
Lincoln Boulevard sweeps around the western edge of the bay to Baker Beach, where the waves roll ashore—a fine spot for sunbathing, walking, or fishing. Hikers can follow the Coastal Trail (www.coastwalk.org) from Fort Point along this part of the coastline all the way to Lands End.
A short distance from Baker Beach, China Beach is a small cove where swimming is permitted. Changing rooms, showers, a sun deck, and restrooms are available.
A little farther around the coast is Land’s End ★, looking out to Pyramid Rock. A lower and an upper trail offer hiking amid windswept cypresses and pines on the cliffs above the Pacific.
Still farther along the coast lie Point Lobos, the ruins of Sutro Baths (www.sutrobaths.com), and the Cliff House ★. The Cliff House (www.cliffhouse.com), which recently underwent major renovations, has been serving refreshments to visitors since 1863. It’s famed for its views of Seal Rocks (a colony of sea lions and many marine birds) and the Pacific Ocean. Immediately northeast of Cliff House you’ll find traces of the once-grand Sutro Baths, a swimming facility that was a major summer attraction accommodating up to 24,000 people until it burned down in 1966.
A little farther inland at the western end of California Street is Lincoln Park, which contains a golf course and the spectacular Legion of Honor Museum.
At the southern end of Ocean Beach, 4 miles down the coast, is Fort Funston ( 415/561-4700), where there’s an easy loop trail across the cliffs. Here you can watch hang gliders take advantage of the high cliffs and strong winds. It’s also one of the city’s most popular dog parks.
Farther south along Route 280, Sweeney Ridge affords sweeping views of the coastline from the many trails that crisscross its 1,000 acres. From here the expedition led by Don Gaspar de Portolá first saw San Francisco Bay in 1769. It’s in Pacifica; take Sneath Lane off Route 35 (Skyline Blvd.) in San Bruno.
The GGNRA extends into Marin County, where it encompasses the Marin Headlands, Muir Woods National Monument, and Olema Valley behind the Point Reyes National Seashore. See chapter 10 for information on Muir Woods.
GOLDEN GATE PARK ★★★
Everybody loves Golden Gate Park—people, dogs, birds, frogs, turtles, bison, trees, bushes, and flowers. Literally, everything feels unified here in San Francisco’s enormous arboreal front yard. Conceived in the 1860s and 1870s, this great 1,017-acre landmark, which stretches inland from the Pacific coast, took shape in the 1880s and 1890s thanks to the skill and effort of John McLaren, a Scot who arrived in 1887 and began landscaping the park.
The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.
When he embarked on the project, sand dunes and wind presented enormous challenges. But McLaren had developed a new strain of grass called