Golden Gate National Recreation Area – Lands End Coastal Trail 2/10/24

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Hike: Golden Gate National Recreation Area – Lands End Coastal Trail

Weather: Clear, sunny, nice, low 60s

Hikers: Ian, Court, Greg, Cat

Length: 1.76 miles

It’s springtime again! Yahoo! The Texas weather is the best it will be all year and I’ve been doing my best to take advantage and get out on some hikes with old friends. I won’t blog the repeats, but if I find some new trails, I’ll be sure to put them up. Plans are still on for a PCT section hike this summer, probably at the end of July.

For now, I wanted to write about another trip out to the Bay Area in February to see our friends Greg and Cat. We got in a beautiful short hike along the San Francisco coast with amazing views.

I had wanted to go to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area for a long time and it was great to finally get the chance. The weather also cooperated, as often times the area is shrouded in fog.

Before the hike, we went to the Lands End Visitor Center where we couldn’t help but buy some more National Parks gear and of course get our stamps!

We then headed down the trail, first descending down to the remains of the Sutro Baths, which was destroyed in the 1960s after falling into disrepair.

The views of the mighty Pacific coupled with the salty, cold breeze and the smell of the ocean is one of my favorite things and why we continue to come out here.

As we continued down the crowded trail on this beautiful day, the views of the Golden Gate Bridge started to peek out from behind the rocks and became more and more pronounced as we moved along. The plant life was beautiful too and I got some good use out of my Seek app by iNaturalist, which makes it easy to identify plants using your phone camera.

Towards the end of the trail we got the best view of the iconic bridge.

Afterwards we strolled through the streets of San Francisco on our way back to the car and then got ready for Cat’s birthday dinner downtown. Thanks friends!