April 7, 2016 - Lands End

Title: April 7, 2016 - Lands End

Trail head: Lands End Visitor Center, San Francisco

Hike Info:

Type:  Hiking

Trail: Lands End

Destination: Loop, but at least do the Lands End Trail

Distance: approx 7 miles ¹

Start Time:  1:15pm

End Time:    5:30pm

 ¹I did not wear a GPS for this trip. so the mileage is a guess based up maps.

 Description:
My brother David is with my Mom for the next 10 days, so Sherri and I are able to do a few things. One of the things which we talked about doing was spending a few days in The City. But the forecast calls for rain, so we decided to make it a single day here. Andrea has her Spring break going this week so she decided to join us.


We picked up Andrea from the Colma BART station and drove over to the Lands End Visitor Center in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Of course if there is a Visitor Center, you need to be sociable and visit it. And that is what we did. We picked up a walking map of San Francisco and a book called Stairway Walks in San Francisco. We saw this book on a previous visit and fell in love with a few stairs we climbed before. So if nothing else, it will be a good reference book. By the way, did you know there is at least 671 stairways in this city?

Gary and Andrea looking out into the ocean

Gary and Andrea on a wall

By the time we start walking, it is 1:15. The first place we go to is the Sutro Baths ruins. If you like looking at old walls and places where people used to swim, this is for you. But it does take a bit of imagination to visualize the grandeur this place had a hundred years ago.  Andrea and I walk the walls, while Sherri is content in taking pictures of us. This keeps us off the Streets of San Francisco for 20 minutes or so. The we start walking back up the path we came down-both ways seem steep.

Sherri climbing out of Sutro Baths

Sutro Baths-Ruins

Just above Sutro Baths we traveled through a tunnel where you could hear the ocean waves pounding against the rocks under you. Then the path leads us out onto an old observation deck. I think if you know what to look for, you might be able to look for where the Ohioan sank in 1937. We look around and then head up these stairs back to the Lands End trail. For such a gentle path, these stairs are pretty steep. Once at the top, the Lands End trail continues along the bluff. We pass underneath the USS San Francisco Memorial-deciding not to go up to it. Evidently I am not the only one who feels a bit fatigued by this walk.

There is a little trail, with lots of steps, to a place called Mile Rock Beach. Not sure why it is called Mile Rock, but on top of the rock used to be a lighthouse. Now there is a helicopter landing pad with a beacon. So we go down these steps to the beach. At this point, I think I need something to eat. Something is not right. So out comes a couple bars to consume. Feeling better afterwards, but still not there yet. We climb back up the stairs-did I mention there is a lot of steps on this stairway?  We do find out that this stairway is mentioned in the book we just bought.

Afterwards, we find out we should have taken a side trail as there is a labyrinth there. But we did not. So onward we go. The Lands End Trail continues to be mostly flat, but there is a detour around the Painted Rock area which has, you guessed it, more stairs. But eventually, we make it out to the Eagle's Point Overlook where we get a good view of the Golden Gate. Along the way, we have been enjoying the flowers growing by us. I do not know enough about botany to identify, but they are nice to look at.

Golden Gate

Now it is getting to be mid-afternoon and we have not eaten, so we decide to head towards a place on Balboa Street. This has us going along a path at the edge of Lincoln Park Municipal Golf Course which drops us out on Clement and 34th Street. From there is is a few blocks of walking before we get to Chino's Taqueria. Sometimes when you go to a hole in the wall place, you think well, I do hope the food is edible. This is really good. We all had burritos, which they have an assortment of tortillas-flour, spinach and red-maybe chipotle? I had a regular and was well fed, I do not think I could have finished off the grande.

Having been revived, off we go down Golden Gate Park, enjoying the walk, seeing bison and windmills. Once we hit the ocean highway, it is time to head back to the car. But not without stopping at the Cliff House-not going inside, but enjoying the view from the patio. The Camera Obscura was closed.

After getting back to the car, we take Andrea back to Colma and the BART station there. Then instead of returning to Mountain View, we take a leisurely ride down the coast. Many places to see. Of course, once we make it to Santa Cruz, still stuffed from the burrito, there is only one place we can go-that is MariAnn's for ice cream. Good stuff. Now we can go back to Mountain View and rest up.