You must see the Spring flowers in bloom on Montara Mountain. Yes, it is the end of July, but Spring came late. The trail starting up to the Saddle from the Adobe trailhead is filled with magenta sweet peas. Don’t know who put them there and how long ago that was, but they are lovely mixed with the wildflowers.
About 100 yards from the top of the Saddle we found a path off to the left. We decided to take it. Another adventure that took us down a newly cut dirt path that went rapidly downhill. Thank goodness we had our trekking poles and didn’t have to slide down the dozen step embankments on our butts. Just when we wondered where we would come out and how far away this would be from the trailhead, we noticed familiar vegetation. We found ourselves walking parallel to the trail and came out just before the one and only bench. We had noticed a little path on our way up and this turned out to be it. Hooray! We were less than 10 minutes from our car. A wonderful adventure and shortcut that we will take again. However, with the very steep downhill switchbacks, we won’t be trying this in the opposite direction on our way up.
Kathy & Michael Rain
Your San Mateo Coastal Real Estate Experts
The other day we hiked from the Pacifica trailhead to Montara. We reached the “saddle” 2 miles up at the top of the hill where the fabulous views of Pacifica, San Francisco and Marin are visible. Just down a short path on the ridge to the West is a bench carved with “Bob’s Overlook”. This junction has a marker post directing you to several other trail adventures. Most are used by bicyclist which makes the paths very narrow.
Just as we reached the top hill, a man came running down from the ridge overlook towards us and headed down the trail towards Montara. Not unusual in itself except that the man was naked. He did have some cloth which we assumed was a pair of shorts that he was holding in his hand and used as a cover for the front of his lower body as he passed us. Yes, he did have running shoes on.
Within a few minutes, we passed several bicylcle riders that thought we were joking when we asked if they had seen a nude black man run past them. We assumed he came up from the Grey Whale Cove parking lot and had been at the nude beach. However, we also remembered the news story from last week that talked about the Germany nude hikers invading Switzerland. The Swiss have now banned nude hiking so we wondered if the Germany hikers had discovered Montara Mountain.
Let us know if you have made any interesting sightings on our local hiking trails. We wouldn’t discourage the shy from hiking or bringing their children. The amazing sites you see of the Tunnel Project, the dead car graves, spring flowers and city views are always a treat on Montara Mountain.
What an incredible day in San Francisco to take a hike. The weather was an unusual 80+degrees and Ocean Beach looked like a crowed beach in the tropics. In less than 30 minutes from the Pacifica-Half Moon Bay coast, we reached our destination for this hike.
We took the Great Hwy (this is Hwy.1) and drove north to the parking lot just past the Cliff House Restaurant. Here is where the old Sutro Baths and it’s ruins are located.
These baths were one of the many highlights of San Francisco. The Land’s End Trail and several other trail offshoots make for a wonderful hike with excellent views. The trail ended at the famous Sea Cliff district of mansions where we took surface streets back to our car. Along the way we passed the famous 17th hole at Lincoln Park Golf Course with spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Legion of Honor Museum at this end of Golden Gate Park.
Below is what Wikipedia has to say about the Sutro Baths:
Opened to the public as the world’s largest indoor swimming pool establishment. The Baths were built on the sleepy western side of San Francisco by wealthy entrepreneur and former mayor of San Francisco (1894-1896), Adolph Sutro. The vast glass, iron, wood, and reinforced concrete structure was mostly hidden, and filled a small beach inlet below the Cliff House which was also owned by Adolph Sutro at the time. Both the Cliff House and the former Baths site are now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and operated by the United States National Park Service.
A visitor to the Baths not only had a choice of 7 different swimming pools—one fresh water and six salt water baths ranging in temperatures—but could visit a museum displaying Sutro’s large and varied personal collection of artifacts from his travels, a concert hall, seating for 8,000, and, at one time, an ice skating rink. During high tides, water would flow directly into the pools from the nearby ocean, recycling the 2 million US gallons (7,600 m³) of water in about an hour. During low tides, a powerful turbine water pump, built inside a cave at sea level, could be switched on from a control room and could fill the tanks at a rate of 6,000 US gallons a minute (380 L/s), recycling all the water in five hours.
The baths were once serviced by a rail line, the Ferries and Cliff House Railroad, which ran along the cliffs of Lands End overlooking the Golden Gate. The route ran from the baths to a terminal at California Street and Central Avenue (now Presidio Avenue). The line was filmed in 1902 by Thomas Edison, Inc., available from the Library of Congress online.[2]
The baths struggled for years, mostly due to the very high operating and maintenance costs, and eventually closed. A fire destroyed the building in 1966 shortly after, while in the process of being demolished. All that remains of the site are concrete walls, blocked off stairs and passageways, and a tunnel with a deep crevice in the middle. The Sutro Bath ruins are open to the public, but a warning sign advises strict caution, as visitors have been swept off by large waves and drowned at the site.
Currently, visitors coming to the Sutro Baths from the above parking lot are presented with a sign that describes the history of Sutro Baths starting from its construction and glamorous opening to the public in 1896. Another sign describes the later years of the site’s history up until its demolition and complete destruction by fire in 1966. As one walks up out of the ruins toward the historic Cliff House, home to two full service restaurants: “Sutro’s at the Cliff House” and “The Bistro”, as well as the “Terrace Room”, a private Dining/reception room, one can find other pictures, paintings, and relics from the golden age of Sutro Baths’ functional operation.
Seal Rock is just offshore from the bath ruins.
BTW, the view is great from the restaurant. A good place to stop for lunch/dinner or a drink. After taking this hike, you can see that one of the treasures of the Bay Area is Golden Gate Park. You could walk many paths for short or long hikes all close to our coastal communities with the bonus of being able to pick a great place to get a bite to eat in the City.
