Urban Hike: Point Bonita Lighthouse

Wow, what a day it was yesterday. Gorgeous and clear! It was pretty cold at my house, but once I got to the north end of town on my journey it really wasn’t all that bad. In fact, I was peeling off layers before too long.

I wanted to try something a little farther from home for one of my Urban Hikes this time. Highlight a spot a bit farther away than the parks in walking distance from my house. I’d recently read another blog post about the Muni 76x bus and its journey to the Marin Headlands and thought that would make an excellent excursion. A couple of weeks ago there was a TV show (California’s Gold) featuring the Point Bonita Lighthouse. I put the two together, and bam, there’s an Urban Hike.

I took the 24 bus north from home out to the end in Pacific Heights, and walked down through Cow Hollow to catch the 76x at Lombard and Fillmore. The bus only runs on weekends, once every hour. At that stop, it arrives right around 12 minutes before the hour. Here’s the schedule for specific stops. The ride out to the end of the line is only about 20 minutes. Shorter than the trip from home to the transfer, actually.

Satellite map of the 76x route within the headlands.

The bus crosses the Golden Gate Bridge and turns up into the Marin Headlands, winding along the scenic road and dropping over the other side by Rodeo Lagoon and the Marine Mammal Center. Note to self to check out the Marine Mammal Center someday. They resuscitate injured and wayward seals and the like for release back into the wild. Cool place. On the map it shows the bus route making a southern extension to the Point Bonita Lighthouse before backtracking and heading to the westernmost terminus at Fort Cronkhite, on the lagoon. The bus did not make that lower loop, instead heading right for Cronkhite. I asked the driver what’s up yo, and he mumbled something about the other road being closed for roadwork. I walked it later, and there was no such roadwork to be seen, and cars were driving it a-plenty. Ended up with the same driver on the way home and called him on it, and he mumbled unintelligibly. I think it’s a typical case of a muni driver pulling an Eric Cartman “I do what I want” maneuver.

Playing with some different types of galleries. Bear with me. Each has the same click-through abilities… The first gallery is home-to-headlands shots. Sorry for the glare on the bus window. 🙂

Getting off the 24 in Pac Heights, I walked down the hill to Lombard and Fillmore rather than wait for the 22 bus.

Bus stop at Lombard and Fillmore.

Bus ride across the Golden Gate Bridge.

There’s Alcatraz on the bay side of the bridge.

Point Bonita is that little promontory in the distance.

Getting off the bridge and winding up into the headlands.

Top of the headlands, looking back towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

You can see the road winding ahead towards the crossover to the lagoon descent.

Coming down towards the lagoon, with the ocean on the horizon.

No biggie, though. I was out to hike, and hike I did. Had I gone right to the lighthouse stop I would have missed a lot. As it was, I got off at Cronkhite and headed off across the beach. The parking lot is full of lots of hot surfers changing in and out of wetsuits. A must-see. The beach is fine gravel, and you sink with every step. Much like walking on snow. It was slow going, even at water’s edge where it’s usually more compact, and my legs felt the delicious burn by the time I reached the cliffs on the far side. Lots of people were out on the beach with picnics and/or dogs. Beautiful spot. Bucolic setting.

The views from the headlands are amazing! You can see all the way out to the Farallones Islands on a clear day. Immediately offshore the water is about 80 feet deep on average, but a couple hundred feet out is a shallower area (about 20 feet deep) called the Potato Patch Shoals. The water’s a little choppier there, and very distinctive. The old potato boats coming down from Point Reyes would sometimes bottom-out here and wreck, thus the name. The shoals run along the lip of the submerged portion of the San Andreas Fault.

Crossing the headlands you see many, many “hidden” WWII bunkers and gun turrets. This was once a heavily militarized zone to protect San Francisco, even going back to the Civil War. It’s pretty cool how many ruins there are to explore. There’s even a Nike Missile silo underground that offers tours sometimes, but I didn’t do that part.

Lotsa surfers out here. What a beautiful place for it!

Looking back at Fort Cronkhite from the beach, across Rodeo Lagoon.

The cliffs at the far side of the beach.

Starting up the steep side of the beach into the cliffs.

Looking back over the beach and lagoon at the fort.

Lots of invasive iceplant on the headlands.

Beautiful shot of the lagoon stretching eastward through the steep hills.

Wind-stripped trees on the summit of the climb.

Farallones Islands on the horizon.

An old WWII bunker above the road that was supposedly closed.

YMCA?!?!?!

Another old bunker, across from the YMCA.

Rewarding views towards SF!

Nifty old gun turrets. They’re brick under concrete, so probably dating to the Civil War.

You cannot find peace by avoiding life. Nice graffito on the turret!

Passing a YMCA (!) you finally come to the lighthouse parking lot. There’s only room for half a dozen cars, so it’s better to park farther down the road and walk up. The hike from the parking lot is about half a mile, and very very steep in parts. Coming back up the hill, it’s nice to get behind someone with a good butt for an enjoyable view, cuz it’ll be at eye level when they’re about five feet in front of you. That’s how steep it is.

You cross little wooden bridges and go through a hand-hewn tunnel through the mountainside, ultimately crossing a wooden suspension bridge before coming to the lighthouse itself. There are docent-led tours of the lighthouse on weekends, but even without, it’s a beautiful trip. The lighthouse is only open on weekends, so check the schedule here for more info, or print out this pdf brochure about it. From the tip you can see gorgeous views of the SF skyline, and up and down the coast. You can even see my beloved Alcatraz under the bridge! You’ll pass beautiful pillow basalts (fascinating, if you’re a geology buff), and see Harbor Seals sunning on the rocks below.

At the lighthouse parking lot.

Now, wouldn’t THAT be a spectacular home!

Calla lilies on the side of the path to the lighthouse.

Harbor Seals enjoying the sun on the rocks below.

The long, winding path heads down to a hand-hewn tunnel through the hill.

Quite the construction site this would have been!

It’s amazing where plants can grow.

The view back across Bonita Cove.

Down to the tunnel at last!

Beautiful red lichen on the rocks over the tunnel entrance.

The other end of the tunnel, looking back…

Cute tiny little succulent in the rocks.

So many gorgeous lichens on the north side of the rocks along the path.

Macro shot of a beautiful lichen. I like the little saucer structures on it.

It’s not that scary of a journey, despite the steep precipices. Handrails wherever necessary.

Ooh! Almost there!

The last non-suspension section of the path.

The last stretch of the path is a wooden suspension bridge that sways and bounces as you cross. Ack.

Coming off the bridge to the lighthouse at last.

The old brick lightkeeper’s house is closed to tourists. Too bad, I’d love to go in there.

Northward view along the lightkeeper’s house.

Looking up at the glass turret with the still-functioning light inside.

A lighthouse docent giving a spiel about the area.

Tiny little doors inside the lighthouse.

Inside, looking out to the north.

The docent talks about the Potato Patch Shoals. That’s the slightly rougher area a bit offshore.

Rusty chain swing-pattern on the lighthouse wall.

Tourists looking down at the rocks below.

Alcatraz visible under the bridge!

Across the lightkeeper’s roof to the Farallones.

Snagged a tourist to take my pic. 🙂

Me again.

Looking back at the wooden suspension bridge.

Pillow basalts on the north side of the promontory, for all you geology buffs.

Native Dudleya on the cliffs.

Wooden bridge tower.

The platform area at the opposite side of the bridge.

Interesting detail in the rock wall along the path.

Sticky Monkey Flower growing along the path. A California native (because this is where sticky monkeys come from.)

Monterey Cypress below the path.

A fallen Monterey Cypress had turned black. Quite pretty, really.

Blooming beauty.

After the lighthouse I explored an old bunker right next to the parking lot. What looked just like a little bump of a hill had some vents on top of it, so I knew there was more to it. A little exploration turned up a sort of hidden staircase through the shrubbery. There was a tunnel into the berm, and a decrepit concrete building with lots of phenomenal graffiti. What fun! Then, it was off down the “closed” road to get back to the bus home…

At the lighthouse parking lot is this berm that looks like nothing more than a hill, if it weren’t for the vents in it.

Top of the ventilated berm, looking back across the YMCA.

Battery Mendell, a little to the side of the lighthouse parking area.

Inside that window.

Heavy iron ring in the wall at Battery Mendell.

The ring makes a heavy hat. 🙂

SF skyline through the ruins of Battery Mendell.

Top of the battery, looking down at the old gun mountings.

Looks like an old drinking fountain in the cracked wall.

Graffiti under the battery.

The ventilated berm has a hidden staircase down next to it. I went down.

Beautiful graffiti in an old structure below the berm.

Inside the berm, looking back out.

Love this graffiti!

Nature trying to reclaim the buildings.

Narwhal graffito.

Here I am graffito.

Damn hippies. 🙂

Inside the graffiti structure, looking back out.

Another amusing graffito.

Faces abound.

Inside the structure.

On the outside wall of the structure.

The red graffito marks the entrance into the “berm”.

Walking the “closed” road out, I passed an old Nike Missile silo.

Nifty old buildings along the road.

Above the Headlands Visitors’ Center is the Marin Headlands Center for the Arts and a hostel.

Interesting that there is a yellow fire hydrant between these trees.

Such a remote bus stop!

Shouldn’t there be a frog on that sign? 🙂

The yellow bar marks the bus stop homeward on Bunker Rd at Field Rd.

It’s an excellent day trip out there, and so easy by bus! It’s phenomenal scenery, and it would have been amazing to live in one of the historic Army houses along the cliffs. Really worth the effort to go for an Urban Hike.