Where humans take to the sky
Ask longtime residents what makes San Francisco great, and often they’ll tell you about the wild places along the coastal edges. Locals know the city is only a veneer; behind it, a tenuous outpost of civilization on a craggy peninsula, forever battered by wind and water. Nowhere is this wild aspect more tangible than at Fort Funston, atop 200-foot-high bluffs overlooking the Pacific across from the Olympic Club golf course. The fort was an army defense installation during World Wars I and II; during the Cold War, it was a Nike missile launch site. Now, trails scatter in every direction, winding down through dense trees, ice plants, coastal scrub, and tunneled fortifications once filled with artillery.
The bluffs have become one of California’s premier departure points for hang gliders, popular year-round but especially in March and October, when the offshore breezes pick up. The hang-gliding launch spot is at the western edge of the parking lot. An observation deck with benches provides a great vantage point to observe giant-winged humans as they run off the cliff and take flight. Some afternoons a dozen or more gliders fill the sky, set out in a row above the bluffs as though in formation, or else carving slow-motion arcs between the blue of sea and sky.
Info
Address 206 Fort Funston Road, San Francisco, 94132, www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/fortfunston.htm | Public Transport Bus: 18 (John Muir Dr & Skyline Blvd stop) | Tip It’s almost always gusty at Fort Funston, so a windbreaker is a must. For a stunning vista, stop at the wooden viewing platform just next to the parking lot.
A long stairway with cable railings leads down to the beach, where at low tide, visitors can walk in either direction for quite a distance. Bird enthusiasts will note the hundreds of nests built into the cliffside by Bank Swallows, once a common coastal species, now endangered. This is also a hugely popular place for horseback riders; and it is a dog walker’s paradise, because it’s one of the few places in the city where dogs can be off leash.
Be warned: the surf is treacherous, with powerful undertows. And keep in mind that the stairway is a long, strenuous climb—and if you go down, you must come up!
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