Catching up on 2017 trips, we took another Southern California trip to Ventura right after Thanksgiving (and before the terrible fires that swept through the region in Dec). The primary purpose of the trip was to visit the Channel Islands, my last full-fledged National Park in CA, but we also did some hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains on a very warm (90 degree) November Day. We stopped in the Visitor’s Center at King Gilette Ranch, then headed to Paramount Ranch to take a short hike starting from a fake Old West village (complete with mustachioed sheriff). It has been used as a set in several movies and TV shows, and did seem oddly familiar.
We also visited the Satwiwa Native American Cultural Center in the Rancho Sierra Vista area. The quarter mile from the parking lot to the center was all the hiking we did since little guy was on foot, but we observed the nice gardens and found a great view of the mountains from the replica of a Chumash home structure. Our toddler enjoyed exploring the kids exhibit inside the center (at his age, perhaps not so much for the historical/cultural significance as for being a table of things he’s allowed to touch…)
We’re back! After a little hiatus to welcome in the next generation of Parks & Lex, I decided I needed to celebrate the National Park Service Centennial in 2016 by visiting at least one NPS site each month this year. Of course, making this resolution the last week in January with a three-month-old at home (and with “Super Bowl City” potentially disrupting traffic in/through San Francisco) didn’t leave me too many options. But, it turns out that the southernmost portion of Golden Gate National Recreation Area is practically in my backyard in San Mateo County at Phleger Estate.
The estate, which was turned into a park in 1995, is a second-growth redwood forest with creeks running through it. There are a limited number of trails: two leading in from either edge connecting to a loop in the far corner. The directions to access the park suggest entering via Huddart Park, which connects to the Miramontes Trail. We opted to enter from Skyline Blvd., parking at the Purisima Creek parking area and walking to the Estate via the Skyline trail, which parallels the road. It’s about a half mile to Phleger Estate and another half mile to Kings Mountain. From there, we turned down the Lonely Trail. Once we turned away from the road, the trail was quite quiet –lonely, if you will — other than the occasional airplane overhead. The Lonely Trail then heads down the hillside, eventually meeting up with the other trails.
Since this was my first time hiking with the baby (on the outside), we went another half mile to the creek and turned around, trying to pace ourselves for the walk back up the hill. I think it was about a 500-ft elevation change, but it felt like more to me! We also learned a lesson in dressing a baby for a fairly cold day in the redwood forest: While he was generally warm snuggled up against me, his legs and feet got pretty cold hanging out of the carrier. We went home and promptly ordered him some merino wool baby tights for the future, so we’ll see how those perform.
Banana slug for scale. I thought it would be too cold for them, but spotted this guy on the side of the path.In the time it took us to walk the 0.5 miles down to the creek then back up, the banana slug (by the log) crossed the trail.
While we just barely qualified for my goal of 12 parks in 12 months, my favorite part of the hike was introducing the park to the little one. When I’ve taken him on walks around the neighborhood in the stroller, I’ve noticed him eying the trees as we passed by, so I couldn’t wait to show him the big (even the “young” ones) redwoods. I might be projecting my own enthusiasm, but I’d say he was impressed – and even spent some time cooing at the trees. Here’s hoping it’s the start of many future adventures!
Since snow squashed my plans for an introductory backpacking trip in the mountains a few weeks back (the one weekend EVER I have backpacking plans, we get early season snow in the middle of a drought!), I resolved to at least hit the local trails and took a lovely hike in the Marin Headlands of Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
GGNRA spans several sites in San Francisco and just across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. I hadn’t spent any time out in the Marin Headlands since high school band camp at the YMCA Point Bonita. One thing I’ll never forget from that time – make sure to use the sunscreen and stay hydrated to help prevent windburn (does hydration actually help or did I make that up? Certainly doesn’t hurt…).
Not a HawkHawk (juvenile red tail?)
Our first stop on the drive in was “Hawk Hill”. From this vantage point, which also offers pretty decent views back toward the Golden Gate Bridge, volunteers from the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory were out in full force monitoring the autumn raptor migration. I was pretty amazed at their ability to spot, track, and identify hawks and falcons from miles away. I have a good pair of binoculars, but half the time I couldn’t even find the birds they were tracking, much less even tell the basic differences between Accipiters and Buteos. When I could spot the birds, however, it was nice to have my own panel of experts behind me to tell me what I was looking at.
The Marin Headlands area, like much of GGNRA, was used for coastal military installations in the 1930s and 40s, and one of the features of the park is the old forts and batteries scattered throughout the hills. We parked at the Visitor’s Center in what I assume is an old Chapel near Fort Cronkhite and started our walk at Rodeo Lagoon, also reportedly a good spot for watching the number of bird species native to or migrating through the area. You can even pick up a bird checklist at the VC. While the distant raptors were a bit of challenge, I had better luck identifying some of the more common (and slower moving!) birds found near the beach and lagoon.
The Lagoon ends at Rodeo Beach, also accessible from the Fort Cronkhite parking lot, and from there, we hiked up the Coastal and Wolf Ridge Trails to Hill 88. The path leads you past Battery Townsley, with an old 16-in gun on display to demonstrate the coastal defense capabilities. The Top of Hill 88 had great views in all directions, even on a partly cloudy day. That is assuming you are not blinded by the shockingly ugly chartreuse-y color of the old abandoned buildings up there.
We returned back via the Miwok Trail for a nice 5-6 mile loop. Some of the trail was shared with mountain bikers, but there was room for all. We also saw several people enjoying the fact that most of the trails are also open to dogs. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite make it back in time to circle back to the Point Bonita Lighthouse, which is only open from 12:30-3:30 Sat-Mon. And of course these opening hours don’t coincide with those of the nearby Nike Missile Site, which is only open Thurs-Sat (so go Saturday between 12:30 and 3:30 if you want to hit up both!). I guess I still have some exploring to do in GGNRA – especially since I collected all the passport cancellations I could in the VC! (I appreciated hearing another family having the same dilemma I always do about whether they should stamp their book before hitting up the actual location on the stamp)
While I’m always scheming my next national park getaway, the truth is I still have NPS sites to visit here in my own backyard in the Bay Area. Earlier this spring, I took advantage of a nice sunny day to check out the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park in the Fisherman’s Wharf area. This part of town caters to the tourist crowd, but crowds and T-shirt shops aside, I do enjoy the occasional cable car ride or visit to Ghirardelli Square for an over-the-top ice cream sundae 🙂
The main visitor center for the historic park is in a brick cannery building on the corner of Hyde and Jefferson. Inside, they have multimedia exhibits highlighting the importance of maritime trade and travel in the city’s history and some fun facts about the city. For example, I learned that the MUNI tunnel under Market St. actually goes right through the middle of a Gold Rush-era ship, one of many buried under the financial district. The visitor’s center also has information on other Bay Area and CA national park sites if San Francisco is just your first stop. Across the street from the visitor’s center is the historic Hyde Street Pier, where you can tour historic ships and other exhibits.
1907 steam tug Hercules with Alcatraz in the backgroundFresnel Lighthouse LensDaniel Boone masthead
Before hopping on that cable car, it’s nice to walk along the beachfront around to the municipal pier side of the park. Across from Ghirardelli Square is the Aquatic Park Boathouse and Maritime Museum. This Depression-era building is used for events and as a senior center in addition to being a small museum associated with the park. It’s worth poking your head in to check out the art deco design, the WPA murals, and the model ships (and there is a bonus stamp of a ship for your Passport book in addition to the park stamp).
If you continue past the municipal pier, you can take the Bay Trail around (or go up and over the hill) to Fort Mason. Fort Mason is technically part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, but it also houses the Maritime Park Library (open weekdays). It seems like there’s almost always something going on whenever I’m there, whether it is a farmers market, a food truck meet-up, or a craft [beer/chocolate/distilling] expo, and the buildings also house shops & restaurants (including the famous vegetarian restaurant Greens).
