GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, Calif. - The busiest unit in our national park system isn't a park at all. In fact, plenty of visitors never notice that they're in it; not when they're half-lost in the redwoods of Marin County's Muir Woods, not when they're deep into a conversation about robots at San Francisco's Fort Mason, not when they're roaming the beach flats of Fort Funston, near the San Mateo County line.
So be advised: The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is an 80,000-acre noncontiguous realm that flanks the Golden Gate Bridge and includes Alcatraz Island and chunks of three counties. The GGNRA was born in 1972, and since then it's grown bit by bit into an urban-rural, old-new hybrid that, like many of the national parks, has something for just about everyone.
In many ways, the GGNRA reflects how much the national parks have changed since 1916. In other respects, such as the congressional mandate that the GGNRA's Presidio area earn enough to pay for its own upkeep, this park unit is like no other. It has public-transit-accessible urban acreage, rural acreage that will require a car (and perhaps a bike or horse) and a legion of old military sites repurposed as lodgings, museums, arts venues, businesses and private residences. It's got 59 miles of rugged coastline and hundreds of historic buildings. It has traffic problems, which is not surprising, with 15 million visitors a year. It has forests, beaches, trampolines, high-end hotels, $31-a-night hostels and $5 draft beers with a Golden Gate Bridge view.
To cover all its territory would take months. But if you treat the GGNRA as a travel decathlon, as I did in a pair of recent visits, you can complete many feats of tourism, here in no particular order.
North of the Golden Gate Bridge
1. Road tripping, Marin Headlands
After you cross the Golden Gate Bridge, exit at Alexander Avenue, cross under the 101 and turn on Conzelman Road to begin the drive into the Marin Headlands. If you're on the road at sunset, park at Battery Spencer and take the short path to a Golden Gate viewpoint.
When you're ready, drive a mile and a half up the road and park at the Hawk Hill viewing platform, which is buffeted by wind and beloved by birders. If it's early afternoon on a Saturday, Sunday or Monday (12:30-3:30 p.m.), the lighthouse will be open, and you should head for it. It stands just beyond the end of Conzelman Road at the southernmost tip of the headlands. From the small parking area, you walk past a Nike missile site dating to Cold War days, then head through a tunnel hand-carved in the 1870s by Chinese immigrants, then tiptoe across an elevated walkway. Info: www.nps.gov/goga/marin-headlands.htm; www.nps.gov/goga/pobo.htm.
2. Mountain biking, Muir Beach and Dias Ridge
Mountain biking was born in the 1970s a few miles from here in Mount Tamalpais State Park, so why not ramble the Marin hills yourself? I rented a bike ($75 for the day from Bicycle Odyssey in Sausalito) to try the relatively new Dias Ridge Trail. I started at Muir Beach, climbed into the hills on the Middle Green Gulch Trail, followed a 7-mile loop, gained about 1,000 feet in altitude, then zoomed down by way of the Miwok Trail and Dias Ridge, which is open to bikers, hikers and horses. Part of my route was inside the GGNRA, part outside. Most trail guides call Dias Ridge a moderate ride, but the route kicked my butt. At trail's end (Muir Beach again), you can rest and recuperate at the Pelican Inn, a neo-Elizabethan pub. Info: www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/muirbeach.htm.
3. Horseback riding, Tennessee Valley
Saddle up at Miwok Livery Stables (415-383-8048, www.miwokstables.com) in the Tennessee Valley, about 4 miles northwest of Sausalito, and soon you'll be clopping along in the middle of rolling hills and dairy farms. The Marincello Trail, named for a thwarted real estate development that would have added 30,000 residents to the area, is one of three riding options from the stables, which has 42 horses. Led by instructor Kendall Robinson-Clarke, photographer Brian van der Brug and I spent an hour riding out and back on Old Springs Road ($100 per person).
4. Tree gazing, Muir Woods
The redwoods here are ancient and enormous. But be warned: Muir Woods National Monument isn't all that big, and there isn't much parking, which means that cars park up to 2 miles away alongside the narrow county highway. Yet once you're inside, look up into that soaring canopy and cast your mind back 110 years. That's when Marin County philanthropist William Kent bought a grove 12 miles north of the Golden Gate and donated 295 acres of old-growth trees to the federal government. Since then, the grove was named for John Muir, designated a national monument, expanded to 558 acres and incorporated into the GGNRA. In coming weeks, the National Park Service and county officials will ban some roadside parking. Arrive as close to the 8 a.m. opening time as you can or catch a Marin Transit shuttle bus from a nearby pickup point. Info: www.marintransit.org/routes/66.html.
5. Discovering, Fort Baker
This 335-acre chunk of land just north of the Golden Gate Bridge was an Army base from 1866 to 1994 and was added to the GGNRA in 2002. Without noticing, you've probably passed it on the way to Sausalito. You can take your young kids to the neighboring Bay Area Discovery Museum (www.baykidsmuseum.org).
South or east of the Golden Gate Bridge
6. Escaping to Alcatraz
This place has been a tourist attraction for longer than it was a federal prison; 42 years versus 29. Ferry tickets sell out weeks in advance and they aren't cheap; the round trip from San Francisco's Pier 33 costs $31-$38 for adults. The history includes the island's first use as a military installation in the 1850s; the imprisonment of Native Americans there in the 1890s; the involuntary residence of Al Capone, the Birdman and others; and finally its addition to the national park system in 1973.
7. Engaging activities, the Presidio
At this big, mostly green, 1,491-acre space surrounding the southern base of the Golden Gate Bridge, Spanish soldiers set up shop in the 18th century, followed by the U.S. Army in the 19th and 20th centuries. The land passed from the Army to the NPS in the 1990s. Nowadays it's one of the busiest parts of the GGNRA, a place where you can ride a bike, hike, golf, practice rock-climbing, bowl, browse the Walt Disney Family Museum, check out works by environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy take batting practice or bounce on trampolines for $14 an hour at House of Air by Crissy Field, a former U.S. Army airfield. The Presidio sets aside its Main Post lawn for Off the Grid food truck picnics on Sunday afternoons and Thursday nights from spring through early fall (www.offthegridsf.com).
Resource: http://www.readingeagle.com
So be advised: The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is an 80,000-acre noncontiguous realm that flanks the Golden Gate Bridge and includes Alcatraz Island and chunks of three counties. The GGNRA was born in 1972, and since then it's grown bit by bit into an urban-rural, old-new hybrid that, like many of the national parks, has something for just about everyone.
In many ways, the GGNRA reflects how much the national parks have changed since 1916. In other respects, such as the congressional mandate that the GGNRA's Presidio area earn enough to pay for its own upkeep, this park unit is like no other. It has public-transit-accessible urban acreage, rural acreage that will require a car (and perhaps a bike or horse) and a legion of old military sites repurposed as lodgings, museums, arts venues, businesses and private residences. It's got 59 miles of rugged coastline and hundreds of historic buildings. It has traffic problems, which is not surprising, with 15 million visitors a year. It has forests, beaches, trampolines, high-end hotels, $31-a-night hostels and $5 draft beers with a Golden Gate Bridge view.
To cover all its territory would take months. But if you treat the GGNRA as a travel decathlon, as I did in a pair of recent visits, you can complete many feats of tourism, here in no particular order.
North of the Golden Gate Bridge
1. Road tripping, Marin Headlands
After you cross the Golden Gate Bridge, exit at Alexander Avenue, cross under the 101 and turn on Conzelman Road to begin the drive into the Marin Headlands. If you're on the road at sunset, park at Battery Spencer and take the short path to a Golden Gate viewpoint.
When you're ready, drive a mile and a half up the road and park at the Hawk Hill viewing platform, which is buffeted by wind and beloved by birders. If it's early afternoon on a Saturday, Sunday or Monday (12:30-3:30 p.m.), the lighthouse will be open, and you should head for it. It stands just beyond the end of Conzelman Road at the southernmost tip of the headlands. From the small parking area, you walk past a Nike missile site dating to Cold War days, then head through a tunnel hand-carved in the 1870s by Chinese immigrants, then tiptoe across an elevated walkway. Info: www.nps.gov/goga/marin-headlands.htm; www.nps.gov/goga/pobo.htm.
2. Mountain biking, Muir Beach and Dias Ridge
Mountain biking was born in the 1970s a few miles from here in Mount Tamalpais State Park, so why not ramble the Marin hills yourself? I rented a bike ($75 for the day from Bicycle Odyssey in Sausalito) to try the relatively new Dias Ridge Trail. I started at Muir Beach, climbed into the hills on the Middle Green Gulch Trail, followed a 7-mile loop, gained about 1,000 feet in altitude, then zoomed down by way of the Miwok Trail and Dias Ridge, which is open to bikers, hikers and horses. Part of my route was inside the GGNRA, part outside. Most trail guides call Dias Ridge a moderate ride, but the route kicked my butt. At trail's end (Muir Beach again), you can rest and recuperate at the Pelican Inn, a neo-Elizabethan pub. Info: www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/muirbeach.htm.
3. Horseback riding, Tennessee Valley
Saddle up at Miwok Livery Stables (415-383-8048, www.miwokstables.com) in the Tennessee Valley, about 4 miles northwest of Sausalito, and soon you'll be clopping along in the middle of rolling hills and dairy farms. The Marincello Trail, named for a thwarted real estate development that would have added 30,000 residents to the area, is one of three riding options from the stables, which has 42 horses. Led by instructor Kendall Robinson-Clarke, photographer Brian van der Brug and I spent an hour riding out and back on Old Springs Road ($100 per person).
4. Tree gazing, Muir Woods
The redwoods here are ancient and enormous. But be warned: Muir Woods National Monument isn't all that big, and there isn't much parking, which means that cars park up to 2 miles away alongside the narrow county highway. Yet once you're inside, look up into that soaring canopy and cast your mind back 110 years. That's when Marin County philanthropist William Kent bought a grove 12 miles north of the Golden Gate and donated 295 acres of old-growth trees to the federal government. Since then, the grove was named for John Muir, designated a national monument, expanded to 558 acres and incorporated into the GGNRA. In coming weeks, the National Park Service and county officials will ban some roadside parking. Arrive as close to the 8 a.m. opening time as you can or catch a Marin Transit shuttle bus from a nearby pickup point. Info: www.marintransit.org/routes/66.html.
5. Discovering, Fort Baker
This 335-acre chunk of land just north of the Golden Gate Bridge was an Army base from 1866 to 1994 and was added to the GGNRA in 2002. Without noticing, you've probably passed it on the way to Sausalito. You can take your young kids to the neighboring Bay Area Discovery Museum (www.baykidsmuseum.org).
South or east of the Golden Gate Bridge
6. Escaping to Alcatraz
This place has been a tourist attraction for longer than it was a federal prison; 42 years versus 29. Ferry tickets sell out weeks in advance and they aren't cheap; the round trip from San Francisco's Pier 33 costs $31-$38 for adults. The history includes the island's first use as a military installation in the 1850s; the imprisonment of Native Americans there in the 1890s; the involuntary residence of Al Capone, the Birdman and others; and finally its addition to the national park system in 1973.
7. Engaging activities, the Presidio
At this big, mostly green, 1,491-acre space surrounding the southern base of the Golden Gate Bridge, Spanish soldiers set up shop in the 18th century, followed by the U.S. Army in the 19th and 20th centuries. The land passed from the Army to the NPS in the 1990s. Nowadays it's one of the busiest parts of the GGNRA, a place where you can ride a bike, hike, golf, practice rock-climbing, bowl, browse the Walt Disney Family Museum, check out works by environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy take batting practice or bounce on trampolines for $14 an hour at House of Air by Crissy Field, a former U.S. Army airfield. The Presidio sets aside its Main Post lawn for Off the Grid food truck picnics on Sunday afternoons and Thursday nights from spring through early fall (www.offthegridsf.com).
Resource: http://www.readingeagle.com
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