Facing down McCullough Road, you can easily see where the Coastal Trail takes off ahead and to the right. This is an easy trail -- actually, a fire road -- contouring around the north side of Hawk Hill as it gradually descends to Bunker Road, the main route out to Rodeo Lagoon.
A more interesting route takes you west along the continuation of Conzelman Road. This continues to hug the bluffs along the south side of Hawk Hill, with great fiews down into Kirby Cove on your left. Walk along the outer side of the road -- this is the legal position (facing traffic) and the views are much better.
Half a mile ahead, you'll see a military bore leading into the bluff, with a made trail contouring back eastward and up. If you follow this little made trail upwards, you'll end up on the spine of the ridge -- the precise place where a trail should have been laid in the first place, since climbing west up the ridge is easy, and there are tremendous views in all directions. After that short climb -- there is a photogenic rock outcropping to your right about halfway to the summit of Hawk Hill, where a wannabe mountain climber can pose -- you come out in the old military base on the summit, with its ruined bunkers and helipads. If you turn around and look back, you'll see a sign saying that you weren't supposed to have been where you were because the hillside is being rehabilitated. The amount of brush, grass and other growth on the ridgecrest may suggest to you that the sign is very, very old.
Hawk Hill, at 920 feet above sea level, is the highest point on this ridge. When you are done wandering around the military area, follow the trail west-northwest down the hill toward the vista point looking out to the northwest. You presumably could go straight on down the spine of the ridge -- from below, a made trail is obvious -- but the slope is extremely steep, and the open ridge here is not very inviting. Instead, turn left along the trail from the vista point and make your way to the old emplacement whose approach tunnel lies directly under the old summit emplacement. Stop for a moment to look at the gun mount, and imagine the size of the weapon that must have been mounted here back before the fifties swept all the old weapons away. If you are here on a weekend, you may hear a delightful soprano voice reverberating from inside the tunnel; you'll find the singing lady in the first storeroom on the left (you won't see her face; there are no lights inside).
Continuing through the tunnel will bring you back out onto Conzelman Road a couple of hundred yards from where you originally climbed onto the ridge. Watch out for traffic here; the two-way section of the road ends only a few yards to your right, and there will be many cars turning around here.
Continue on west, with the drop into the Golden Gate to your left. You descend steeply along the westbound one-way highway to Raptor Gap, where, on a good day, you may see a raptor or two floating on the thermals -- a common sight anywhere in this part of California except, perhaps, downtown. At Raptor Gap a trail leads off to the left, climbing on up the next summit of the ridge; you can climb up here and then drop back to the road again, but the drop is quite steep, with lots of stones on the trail, and the results may not be worth the exertion of descent. Following the road is a reasonable alternative here.
Where you meet the trail coming down from the ridge again, you will also come to the parking lot at the top of Upper Fisherman's Trail, which leads down to the water a few hundred feet below. Another attraction of the trail may be the portable restrooms at the top; stop here for a few moments to take a rest, or whatever it is one does in restrooms.
From the parking lot, you can continue along the road. There is also a made trail that climbs up to the narrow ridge between the sea and the cut through which the road runs. You can follow this for a way; but when you see the ridge narrowing out ahead of you, descend to the road again along another small path through the brush. Don't go to where this ridge tapers down at a break in the soil; there's no good way down here. Pass this section on the road.
Just beyond the break there's another military emplacement, this one stretching for a couple of hundred yards along the left side of the road. You can climb up here and follow along above the gun mounts and bunkers; there is an occasional bench, and lots of nice grassy areas in which you can take a break and lie soaking in the sun.
When you are done soaking, and your younger companions are done poking around in the local evidence of California history, descend back to the road, on your left, and continue along the pavement. The road turns a bit inland, with views north over Rodeo Lagoon. On your right you'll see what appears to have been an old oven of some sort, with the chimney broken off and lying on the ground in front of it. Rounding a curve slightly beyond this enigmatic historical object, you come out over a group of ramshackle-looking sheds with (currently) a Nike missile lying on a trailer in a parking lot. Photogenic -- and hopefully no one will come along and confiscate your camera.
Walking downhill with the missile parking lot on your right, you come to a junction. Here you can backtrack downhill to the GGNRA Visitor Center and Fort Barry; or you can follow the middle route, which will take you where you want to go, but in a less interesting way; or, you can go on ahead, past the picnic ground on your left, and up to the entrance to Battery Wallace.
This makes a nice tunnel under the hill -- though you can also climb up on top, if you want. Notice the interesting bit of grafitti on your left as you enter: BNKTOP + HATAWA. This love note, dated 1996, is evidence of the cosmopolitanism of the Bay area; students of Russian will easily transliterate this to a more easily readable VIKTOR + NATASHA.
Once through the hill, descend through the brushy open area toward the Point Bonita YMCA, ahead. About halfway down through the brush, deviate right on whatever path you can find, and come out onto the road opposite a wide dirt parking lot, usually fairly empty of vehicles. Cross the parking lot to the trail that leads past the left side of the hill beyond the lot.
Circle partway around the hill, keeping an eye out for a trail (unsigned, like all the paths in this area) that will descend on your left to the beach by Rodeo Lagoon. Where you get good views of the ocean, notice the huge, rounded whitish rock standing just offshore. This is known as Bird Rock, and you can guess where the white color comes from.
The path down to the beach is fairly steep, but quick, and you emerge onto the sand and immediately find yourself in a scattering of other people. Walk along the shore and note what people have done with the driftwood, including a couple of extemporaneous teeter-totters. Keep to the lagoon side of the beach, and watch for birds in the water.
About a quarter of a mile along the beach, you come to a wooden bridge that leads across the lagoon's inlet to Bunker Road. There's plenty of parking along this side of the road -- the other is occupied by Headlands Institute and other organizations, in old World War II vintage barracks -- and, to your right, even a picnic table or two alongside the lagoon. Hopefully, you will have a ride waiting for you here.
Don Harlow
| Map will be added later. | Map will be added later. |
Don Harlow <donh@netcom.com>