Hike With A View: A Walk Along The Coast of San Francisco
In the mood for a moderate hike with stunning views and diverse terrain? Well this hike is calling you. The starting point is the parking lot of Baker Beach, about a 15 minute drive from Acqua Hotel and 20-ish from Mill Valley Inn and Waters Edge Hotel.
The hike is actually 3 separate trails (and three separate worlds) joined together: Batteries to Bluffs, Coastal Trail, and the Crissy Field Promendade Trail. You may have noticed we popped The Warming Hut and Sessions in the map.
(Who knows, you might need a hot chocolate along the way.) (And we all know lunch as a final destination is what makes a perfect hike.)
During the first part of the hike you will walk the wild coast of San Francisco along the Pacific and arrive eye-to-eye with the Golden Gate Bridge at the Overlook. You can turn around at this point and walk back to your car either the way you came, or down path alongside Lincoln Boulevard.
If you want to go on, you’ll walk towards Battery Boutelle and turn right to pass under the bridge through a small tunnel. At this point you leave the coast behind, and greet the San Francisco Bay.
You’ll pop out near the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center and wind down the path towards the Warming Hut and after that it’s a flat walk along the bayside trail at Crissy Field.
If you want to have lunch at Sessions, it’s a 10-ish minute walk past the Palace of Fine Arts and through Presidio main gate on Lyon street to Sessions. Please note, the google map has you walking around the back of the Palace, but take a slight jog to the left to walk around the front of this spectacular building.
Getting There. Park in the parking lot at Baker Beach, near Battery Chamberlin.
There are some up and down stairs along the wild coastal part of the trail. Total elevation is 440 feet. Worth the effort for the views and the remoteness. But also worth knowing, in case you are vertigo prone, or like to hike with a pole. Also, if it’s been raining, we’d recommend that you wait a day or two to let those stairs dry.
Getting back to your car. You may want to do out and back, but if you want to take an uber or lyft back to your car, we suggest doing so from the Warming Hut, East Beach Parking Lot of Crissy Field, or of course, the final point on the map, Sessions.
See you out there!
