From Fort Mason to the Bay Area’s Cote d’Azur, marshlands, wildlife refuges and a historic Chinese fishing village, here are 10 incredible hikes to explore.
This fascinating walk is like taking a distilled shot of Bay history — straight, no chaser. Begin just outside the sea lion-crowded waters of Hyde Street Pier at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
Here you might think you tripped into a wormhole to the 1800s, with the square-rigger Balclutha and other historic ships lined up for public touring. A visitors center holds a pirate’s bounty of artifacts, from remnants of local wrecks and a lighthouse Fresnel lens to pictorials showing how sailors slept underneath wood-plank sidewalks . A larger-than-life statue of Congressman Phillip Burton, a proponent of the creation of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, stands in the center of Great Meadow Park at Fort Mason, a stop along the San Francisco Bay Trail, a 350-mile walking/biking trail that circles the bay. Across the street, you might spot a drenched-looking individual exiting the South End Rowing Club, which has popularized recreation in these frigid waters since 1873. Pay a small day-use fee, and you can step inside the hallowed club to ogle its boats, enjoy the sauna and listen to athletes tell of. Terry Hunt has made that journey 21 times. “That’s nothing,” she noted on a recent afternoon. “There are four or five people who’ve done it over a thousand times. Twenty-one is chump change.” Alcatraz is front-and-center in the crescent-shaped scope of Aquatic Park. Look down at low tide for a weirder view: Some of the seaweed-carpeted “rocks” on the waterfront are actually grave markers. San Francisco’s expansion required a lot of fill material, and tombstones from the Gold Rush occasionally fit the bill. A narrow staircase just west leads to a secret-feeling cliff walk by Fort Mason, where ships once mustered for America’s colonial pursuits. The old Black Point artillery fortification with its massive cannon is pointed out to sea, still waiting to rain hell on the British and Confederates. From here, it’s a two-mile walk to Crissy Field with its famous Bay views. But an equally impressive experience can be found at Marina Green, where lush grass unrolls like a landing strip pointed at the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a fine place to take a breather, enjoy a snack and think random things, like, “I can’t believe the U.S. Navy wanted to paint the bridge black with yellow stripes.”This stretch of the Bay Trail is paved and relatively easy, though you’ll need to take stairs to cut through the north end of Fort Mason, the part with the cliff views. Information on the maritime park is available atThe historic ships at Hyde Street Pier are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at 2905 Hyde St. in San Francisco;If refreshments are needed while hiking the San Francisco Bay Trail through Fort Mason, The Interval is conveniently located. Patrons drink around the bar area behind the larger orrery planetary display, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, in San Francisco, Calif. Fort Mason’s Radhaus is a Bavarian beer hall that offers massive pours and hearty bites, including bratwurst, pretzels and Jägerschnitzel. It’s open daily at 2 Marina Blvd., Building A, in San Francisco;. Next door, you’ll find Interval at the Long Now, a coffee and cocktail bar unlike any other with a unique theme — time — as well as salon talks by scientists and powerful tipples such as a Decanted Mother-in-Law served in a New Orleans-style apothecary bottle. It’s open daily until 11 p.m.;Be patient. Seal Point Park may not be much to look at from the parking lot; you’re greeted by towering power lines and ongoing construction at the adjacent San Mateo Wastewater Treatment Plant. But once you get into the park — especially on the Bay side — all that fades away, as you’re soon immersed in a lunch-hour getaway or little weekend escapade. Bring a picnic, bring Fido and bring a sense of adventure. The park, which takes its name from the Pacific harbor seal, is popular with cyclists as well as windsurfers and kayakers — and it boasts an enormous dog park, too. Bird lovers should keep an eye out for Western sandpipers, willets and other shorebirds working the mudflats. And lovers of art, sculpture and whimsy should definitely venture a few steps off the Bay Trail: You’ll find a cool echo chamber at the top of the park and a Wind Walk that takes you past sculptures and art installations that interact with the breeze. Seal Point, which is bordered by the smaller Ryder Park to the north and Seal Slough to the south, offers a variety of terrain — hill trails, steep steps and flat paths — and plenty of benches from which to enjoy a lunch-hour picnic as you take in the gorgeous Bay views, complete with the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge and planes soaring to and from San Francisco Airport. Pedestrians cross over San Mateo Creek via the Ryder Park Bridge which connects to the south with Seal Point Park, in San Mateo, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. The bridge is a critical link on the 350-mile San Francisco Bay Trail. Wondering about the creatures who live here? This stretch of the Bay Trail, a mostly flat path right along the water, is dotted with informational signs about local wildlife, including Pacific harbor seals, the only marine mammal that resides in the Bay year round.The park, located at 1901 J. Hart Clinton Drive, offers free parking, restrooms, kayak/windsurfing access and a three-acre fenced dog park with a separate area for smaller dogs. It’s open from 6 a.m. to half an hour after sunset;Load up on apple fritters, French crullers and other doughy treats — and coffee, of course — at Golden Bell Donuts, which opens at 4:30 a.m. daily at 1500 E. Third Ave. in San Mateo.As you stroll the Bay Trail from Tiburon through Belvedere, Mill Valley and Sausalito, the world-class views don’t just boast spectacular natural beauty. They exude glamor — not unlike another famous shoreline in another part of the globe. San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate, Alcatraz, Angel Island and Mount Tamalpais all offer backdrops to hills stacked with beautiful homes, private yachts and chic downtowns. Admiring the stunning real estate while you walk, run or cycle is part of the fun, even if you’re not an Architectural Digest devotee. There are Mediterranean villas, French chateaus, Victorian painted ladies, elaborate, modernist structures and once-simple Craftsman bungalows updated into multimillion-dollar showplaces. If you pick up the trail along Sausalito’s Bridgeway, just north of the historic downtown, you’ll also pass by the town’s famous floating homes. Strolling the Tiburon and Belvedere stretches of the Bay Trail lets you glimpse some incredible architecture, including The Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon. It’s easy to pick up the trail at different spots around Richardson Bay – in or near main business districts, or in parks and neighborhoods. Street and lot parking is widely available, though it’s at a premium in downtown Sausalito.Start at the Tiburon Peninsula Historical Trail at Shoreline Park near the city’s tiny waterfront downtown, then head northwest along Tiburon Boulevard until you reach Mar West Street near Tiburon’s Town Hall. Here a 3-mile, multi-use trail follows an old railroad alignment, offering views of Mount Tamalpais and Sausalito, and ending at Blackie’s Pasture.can start at Bayfront Park. For just over a mile, the trail passes through Bothin Marsh’s prime birdwatching territory, crosses Coyote Creek and passes under Highway 101. As you enter Sausalito, the trail merges into Bridgeway’s bike lanes and sidewalks for another 3 miles. Just past tiny Vina del Mar Park, the Bridgeway Promenade opens up to one of the trail’s most spectacular vistas – an expanse of San Francisco Bay that takes in the East Bay hills, the Bay Bridge, San Francisco’s skyline and the Golden Gate.Near Coyote Creek, the trail intersects with the Tennessee Valley Path, which leads west to the Pacific Ocean and connects to trails in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Or you can head for the northern base of the Golden Gate Bridge by continuing south of Sausalito along East Road toward historic Fort Baker, the former military base now home to the
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