Sausalito Ferry Terminal, South - Sept. 8. '12

Walking Distance: 2.2 mi.
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 47 min. (includes dinner break) (6:35 - 9:22 p.m.)
Start and End: Street parking along Bridgeway, Sausalito, CA

This evening's walk, was part 3 of a 3-part adventure today, that started earlier in the afternoon with a seaplane ride, followed by a nice walk in Mill Valley and Bothin Marsh. On the drive south heading back home, I stopped in Sausalito, and walked this segment in south Sausalito, from Alexander Ave., (and the road that leads toward Fort Baker) to the Sausalito Ferry Terminal.

Earlier this month, I'd skipped this stretch, shown as double yellow lines on the Bay Trail map. The double yellow lines, in this case, meant a nice stretch of cement sidewalks, but also some narrow, rather dangerous curved road on a hillside with mixed traffic (bicycles, cars and people).

As I usually do, I parked my car in the middle of the walk (near Tiffany Beach and Park) and made a loop, ending back at the car. This evening, I parked on Bridgeway (the main road running through Sausalito), and first walked south (the more challenging direction) while there were still some light left.

I followed Bridgeway, as it curved right and went uphill to Richardson, then turned left on 2nd Street (at Golden Gate Market). I made a left on South Street (or where the road curved left and became South Street) and watched carefully for traffic in both directions in spots where curves made it difficult to see traffic. Then, once I was on the straight-away, I made my way to the intersection of Alexander Ave. and East Road, where I'd stopped previously, enjoying views out on the Bay during this walk.

Views included looking across the mouth of Richardson Bay to the Tiburon peninsula, Belvedere, Angel Island, the San Francisco skyline and Alcatraz island in the distance. Overall, a very scenic walk. And all this scenery and watching for cars and bicycles zipping around corners made me hungry. So, I popped in to enjoy the dining scenery at Aurora Ristorante on the walk back through town. Thank you to the staff there for whipping up a gluten-free version of a great pasta dish. After dinner, and on the way back to the car, I made my way out onto a small spur trail/wooden boardwalk over the water -- where lights from houses on a hill were reflected on beautiful glassy water on the Bay.

I concluded my walk with a trip to downtown Sausalito to the Ferry Terminal. However, by that time, it was dark, most shops were closed, or were closing. Ferry runs had ended for the day, and it was very peaceful and quiet.

Wildlife Sightings:
1 rustle in the bushes; too dark to see anything else

Fort Baker - July 28, '12

Walking Distance: 3.2 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 1 hr., 50 min. (4:40 - 6:30 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Fort Baker, Marin, CA

After a few stops in San Francisco, we headed north and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. Taking the second exit off Highway 101 after crossing the bridge -- down to Fort Baker, we found a street parking space at Fort Baker. From our parking spot we headed up the hill (back toward the Bridge). Note: these roads are marked in white on the Bay Trail map shown at right, indicating they are not "improved" trails.

We walked up the hill on Bunker Road/Danes Drive -- enjoying the sight of a mother deer and two fawns grazing in the shadows. We took Alexander up to the intersection with the Golden Gate Bridge approach road (to a spot where there was a grate in road near a stop sign -- where I'd left off before). Note: there were a few spots on this paved section of curvy road where it's fairly narrow, with shared setbacks with bicycles, so walk with caution. On the plus side, the view looking backwards (through a short tunnel) framed the San Francisco skyline very nicely.

We turned around at this grate/intersection, and on way down, took Alexander Road toward Sausalito (not technically part of the trail), until it joined with East Road. We turned right onto East Road (to walk back toward Fort Baker), shown as a solid red line on map. It was great to see the newly improved packed dirt pedestrian/jogger path, separated from the bicycle path on this stretch. (This area had been under construction during my last walk here in 2010.)

On the way down East Road toward Fort Baker, we turned right to climb the packed dirt Eucalyptus trail (Drown Road trail - not shown on map) to its end -- a fence that separated the trail with Alexander (busy road on other side of fence, where we'd walked earlier as it turned out). We then walked down to the Chapel at Fort Baker and took a peek inside. Taking the Chapel Steps Trail, we walked down a set of stairs and returned to the car.

Nice views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay, Angel Island and SF City Skyline on this walk.

Thank you to Ken for joining me on this walk.

Wildlife Sightings:
5 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 robin; 1 hummingbird; 3 deer (mother and two fawns); 5 dragonflies; 6 crows

Fort Baker - July 15, '12

Walking Distance: 2.9 mi. (estim.)
Walking Time: 1 hr., 48 min. (1:30 - 3:18 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Street parking, Near Cavallo Point, Marin, CA

This segment was the second part of a two-part walk, on the Marin side of the Golden Gate Bridge. I am scheduled to walk across the Bridge in a few days. So, I've skipped ahead to the North side of the bridge for a few posts this week. Thank you to Ken for joining me on this walk.

Following a break to eat lunch at the Cavallo Point restaurant at Fort Baker (great food and drink here), we walked out (south) to Moore Road, past the fishing pier, and under the Golden Gate Bridge, where the road started to turn uphill and became Conzelman Road. (Conzelman continues up to Marin Headlands on the west side of the Bridge.)

On the way back we walked out to end of the fishing pier and back. And then we followed Sommerville road and path/trail around Horseshoe Bay. We passed the Travis Marina and Presidio Yacht Club and to end of marina and out to Point Cavallo, then northish past the old military batteries;  we took the road/path and stairs leading up to East Rd. (that continues north to Sausalito).

We walked back toward Cavallo Point (east) on East Road, toward McReynolds Road, climbed up the stairs to Merrill Street -- then up some more stairs to the Chapel on the hill.

Unfortunately, for us at least, there was a yoga class going on in the chapel, so we couldn't go inside. So we headed down to the Cavallo Point store, bought a drink and a snack, then headed back to the car.

Wildlife Sightings:
5 cormorants; 17 sea gulls; 1 Western/Clarks Grebe; 3 turkey vultures; 3 Canada geese; 2 brown pelicans; 2 balls (1 tennis ball, 1 baseball); 1 (tiny) lizard; 3 pigeons.

Fort Baker to Sausalito - Jan. 8, 2010

Walking Distance: 5 miles
Walking Time(s): 1:30 - 6:25 p.m. (but with many stops)
1.) Fort Baker (Cavallo Lodge, Mercantile, Restaurant)
2.) Fort Baker - Discovery Museum
3.) Fort Baker - East Rd. - Chapel Steps Trail, and visit to Chapel
4.) East Rd. - Down to Battery, and up along East Rd. toward Sausalito
5.) East Rd. - Sausalito (with 2-3 stops)

Today was a day with many stops. I visited the Discovery Museum for a few minutes, after a very nice tasting lunch at Cavallo Lodge restaurant. (See image for toy museum version of the Bridge and where I was in Marin County/Fort Baker.) Eventually I walked up the hill to East Road, and took a detour through the Eucalyptus forest and Fort Baker Chapel (see images), before heading toward Sausalito.

Wildlife Sightings:
6 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 crow; 1 brown pelican

Marin, Fort Baker - Jan. 7, 2010

Walking Distance: 2.65 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 50 min. (in 3 segments, see below)
1.) Golden Gate Bridge, north end, Vista Point, Marin, CA (2:28 - 2:56 p.m.)
2.) Fort Baker, Fishing Pier, Marin, CA (3:22 - 4:30 p.m.)
3.) Fort Baker, East Road, Marin, CA (5:08 - 5:22 p.m.)


Today's walk was broken up into several little fits and starts, some areas not covered by red line (area under bridge, fishing pier, jetty, etc.), all scenic. Due to what I'm sure are security reasons, it appears that you can't actually drive under (or get too close to) the base of the Golden Gate Bridge; although I approached this area on foot, first from top down (from Vista Point), and then from bottom up (from Fort Baker). I also walked all along the shoreline of Horseshoe Cove, and out to Cavallo Point and the old Battery Yates area. Looking back into the Bay (which was shrouded by fog). It was easy to see why early explorers might have missed the true Bay contours for years. Today, I stood out there, and gigantic ships loomed out nearby, steaming in and out of the Golden Gate. Last, I parked up on East Road, and retraced steps to where I'd left off at Battery Yates, and then walked up the road a bit toward Sausalito.

Thank you to the man who brought me a map of the Fort Baker area, from the (closed) Discovery Museum.

Combined Wildlife Sightings (from all three stops/segments this afternoon):
1 hummingbird; 5 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 deer; 10 pigeons; 25 sea gulls; 2 tennis balls; 18 cormorants; 38 Western grebes; 6 ducks; 2 brown pelicans (flying together); and 1 blur in a bush.