Marin Headlands (GGNRA)                                    MAP                  

Fort Cronkhite

These trails are adjacent to Rodeo Beach, where you can borrow a beach wheelchair to get really close to the Pacific Ocean. Phone 415-331-1540 to reserve. It is stored at the Marine Mammal Center near the beach, not the Visitor Center at the other end of the lagoon.

I recommend an outing with the chair, early, before the beach gets crowded, followed by a hike and picnic on one of the nearby trails, using your own wheelchair, so you have a little more independent movement.

One very enjoyable hike is to take Old Battery Road from the end of Bunker Road, north of the beach. It is paved, and in a few spots where the pavement is gone the gravel is not difficult. But, especially at the beginning, it's medium steep, gaining over 350 feet in altitude. It is possible to make this a 2 mile loop-- more like 2.5 by the time you come back along Bunker Road to your car. If you do this you can choose whether to go up or down the steep stretch, which is at the end near the ocean.In any case, you won't be able to avoid one nuisance obstruction. At both ends the pedestrian pass-throughs at the gates are difficult due to erosion. I spoke to someone at the Visitor Center who said he'd mention it to the trail crew; please let me know if improvements have been made.

Old Bunker Road loops away from the ocean, climbing the brushy slopes near several military installations, and allowing one to go inside Battery Spencer where guns were mounted during WWII to defend San Francisco against Japanese invasion. Yes, it's wheelchair accessible.

Other attractions are wildflowers, birds, and fascinating patterns of ribbon chert in the roadcuts bespeaking a violent geological history.

Quite inaccessible (steps) is the Coast Trail where it leaves Old Bunker Road to continue north above the battery. But an odd little spur, Mitchell Road (really a hard dirt track) starts nearer the trailhead and goes north along the bluffs for about 0.5 mile to Tennessee Point. Though not shown on some maps, it's actually easier than the main route, having less slope. To find it, start from the Rodeo Beach end, and stay on Old Bunker Road for the first switchback, a few hundred yards. Then look left for the dirt trail. An initial short steep stretch feelsunpromising, but it soon levels out and runs maybe 100 feet above the water, giving exhilerating views of surf on rocks, high cliffs, and pelicans flying below.

Speaking of pelicans, whatever else you do out here, be sure to check out Rodeo Lagoon, which you can see from a car. When we were there, 70 or 80 of these dinosaur-like birds were milling about on the water and in the air, and I understand this is not at all unusual. I wish we'd had time to take Lagoon Trail, which runs from the Visitor Center to the beach, and is said to be accessible for its first 0.5 mile.

The trailhead for Miwok Trail is easy to locate on the Headlands trail map, north of Bunker Road and just east of the Lagoon. It has an accessible vault toilet, but no water.This is a pleasant fire road winding up the valley, through grass and coastal prairie, and eventually climbing over the ridge to continue east and north toward Tennessee Valley. It starts out well graded and quite level, but gets rougher and begins to climb after about half a mile, where Bobcat Trail takes off to the right (this might also be a pleasant hike).We went about another 0.5 mile; it was beginning to get pretty steep. And it does not furnish wonderful ocean views, since by then you are fairly far back from the coast. But there are plentiful wild flowers and birds, and on the day we were there, the valley's protection from a chill ocean wind was very welcome. This is another route that may be relatively free of crowds.

Details: From San Francisco, take the Alexander exit from Highway 101 and follow Bunker Road left through a narrow tunnel under the freeway, and about 3 miles down to the lagoon. From the north, take the last Sausalito exit and go right on Sausalito Lateral Road back to take a left on Bunker. You get to cross 101 twice!

The Visitor Center is on Field Road, to the left as you reach the lagoon. It has parking, accessible restrooms, and, I understand, a shaded picnic area with a 0.5 mile accessible trail along the lagoon that's nice for birdwatching.

The main trailhead is a half mile further at the end of Bunker Road, with plenty of parking and an accessible restroom. There are also unshaded picnic tables--not very inviting, but they're the only place to sit that's provided here.

Finding the east end of Old Bunker Road is trickier. Look for a road to the right as you drive down along the Lagoon on Bunker Road. I don't think you can park at this end, but traffic is light and slow, so wheeling back to this entrance is feasible, if you want to make a loop while avoiding the hairy climb at the other end