Lands End Where Raw Beauty and Culture Hug Coastal Cliffs |
Try your hand at balancing rocks on windswept Mile Rock Beach.
BOUNDARIES: 48th Ave., Geary St., and the edge of the continent
DISTANCE: 4.75 miles
DIFFICULTY: Moderate (some stairs; a bit hazardous in spots)
PARKING: Street parking on 48th Ave. near the end of Geary or Anza has no time limit.
PUBLIC TRANSIT: 38 Muni bus
On a sunny day, locals know that there’s no better way to wow visitors than taking them along the windswept trails of Lands End. Ocean vistas appear at every turn, Golden Gate Bridge views are framed by wildflowers and dramatic cypress trees, and secluded beaches and labyrinths invite exploration.
San Francisco is oriented toward its bay, but to overlook the coastal trails that run along the cliffs at the city’s western edge is to miss out on some of the city’s most striking natural scenery. Trails, some of them slim and rocky footpaths, follow the coastline and then bend back to landmark buildings such as the Cliff House and the Palace of the Legion of Honor. The area’s intriguing history manifests itself in captivating ways. The washed-out remnants of Sutro Baths are a modern ruin looking much like the leavings of a long-gone civilization. And the vast and forgotten grounds of Adolph Sutro’s former estate hint at a one-time Shangri-la. Plus, always, there is the ever-changing surf. If you’re lucky, you may even spot some sea lions, whales, or dolphins cavorting in the distance.
Begin at the 
Lands End Lookout and Visitor Center, where maps, a small café, bathrooms, a bookstore, and amazing views greet you. From the adjacent parking lot, a trail leads down to the 
Sutro Baths, one of San Francisco’s more fascinating historical sites. Walk all the way down into the cove, where long-abandoned swimming pools have become desolate duck ponds. You’ll have to use your imagination (and refer to more old photos) to get an idea how incredible the Sutro Baths were when they opened in 1896. While walking—carefully—among the ruins, see if you can picture a massive steel framework supporting a glass dome overhead, with several large pools, slides, three restaurants, and a grandstand that seated 3,700. The water in each pool was a different temperature, and some pools contained salt water while others had fresh water. The baths were exceedingly popular initially, but by the late 1930s attendance had declined and the facility was converted into an ice rink. It closed in 1952 and burned down in 1966.
From the baths, follow the trail that wends uphill to your left to reach 
Point Lobos, aka Seal Rock. Early Spanish explorers noted the abundant sea lions—lobos marinos, or “sea wolves” in Spanish, hence the name. Seafaring was no easy business in this neck of the woods due to the strong surf, dense fog, and shallow rocky coastline. In 1936 the SS Ohioan met a watery fate running aground near Seal Rock. No crew members were lost, but rescue attempts became quite a spectator sport, and it’s rumored that one gawker had a heart attack from watching the proceedings. The boat was deemed unsalvageable, subsequently caught fire, and was eventually broken into pieces by relentless surf over the years.
Continue uphill along the Sutro Baths Upper Trail to reach the Coastal Trail and turn left. The flat grade here is partly thanks to Adolph Sutro (see Backstory, next page) who built the Ferries & Cliff House Railroad to carry passengers from downtown to Cliff House and environs. The narrow-gauge steam train hugged the same seaside cliffs that we are, which made for quite a thrill.
Backstory: Silver-Lined Pockets, Starry-Eyed Ideas
Adolph Sutro (1830–1898), a native of Prussia, moved to San Francisco in his 20s during the gold rush. He made his fortune on the Comstock Lode and became one of the era’s most successful entrepreneurs. He was an engineer, and his ticket to glory was in developing a tunnel that drained and ventilated the deep silver mines around Virginia City, Nevada. When Sutro sold his tunnel in 1879, he turned his attention to real estate in the rapidly growing city of San Francisco. He bought nearly 10% of the land within the city limits, most of it undeveloped at the time. Using his wealth to create an urban playground, Sutro’s estate was a vision of lavish landscaping and European statuary. He also built the world’s largest indoor swimming complex, transformed the Cliff House into a seven-story French château with a restaurant and museum, created an amusement park (Sutro’s Pleasure Grounds) along Merrie Way, and managed a steam train to ferry visitors from downtown. Sutro served one term as the city’s mayor, from 1894 to 1898. He termed himself the “anti-octopus” candidate, referring to the power of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which at the time was a many-tentacled political force.
Keep your eyes peeled for the small sign pointing left toward 
Mile Rock Beach. Follow the wooden stairs down to a secluded beach strewn with balancing rock formations. New ones are added daily, and the protected cove strewn with logs—perfect for a picnic seat—has a hidden-pirate-lair feel to it. During low tide you can see the remains of shipwrecks. The most tragic occurred in 1901 when the passenger steamer SS City of Rio De Janeiro hit a nearby rock on a foggy night and sank completely within minutes. The sinking was so fast that more than 100 people drowned, but nearby Italian fishermen were able to save a few passengers clinging to floating refuse. Small, white Mile Rock Lighthouse, visible in the distance, was added in 1906 to try and curb the number of shipwrecks along this stretch. The lighthouse tower was removed in the 1960s, and the remaining base is now used as a helicopter platform.
When ascending from the beach, eschew the stairs and take the sandy trail to your left to wind up toward the 
Lands End Labyrinth, a magical meditation circle with a commanding view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Constructed in 2004 by artist Eduardo Aguilera, the labyrinth was initially a renegade and anonymous labor of love. But the delightful secret soon got out, and now it’s even featured on area maps. The maze has been vandalized a handful of times but is always rebuilt quickly by the artist and a team of devoted volunteers. It’s particularly popular on solstice evenings.
Return to the Coastal Trail and continue east. You may notice that some parts of the trail pass through cleared land—this is because of a Golden Gate National Recreation Area program that is removing nonnative plants in order to encourage a return of native species. Just past 
Eagle’s Point Overlook, you’ll reach a junction with El Camino del Mar. Our walk loops back to our start, past museums, memorials, and some historical structures, but you could also hit a couple of beaches rather than visit the museum.
To get to China Beach, take the Coastal Trail to McLaren Avenue and into the Richmond District. Follow it as it curves to the left and then hits Sea Cliff Avenue. You’ll see some steps leading down to the beach. China Beach, so named for the camp of Chinese fishermen based here prior to the 1906 quake, has swimmable surf—that is, swimmable if you don’t mind the cold temperatures. Farther down Sea Cliff, where the street ends, a footpath, actually a continuation of the Coastal Trail, leads into the Presidio and to Baker Beach. This is the city’s prime sunbathing spot, with a spectacular view of the sea and the Golden Gate Bridge. Swimming is discouraged due to dangerous riptides, but the far end of the beach does tend to be clothing-optional. From here you can walk the sands almost all the way to the bridge.
Our route, however, turns right to follow the paved road through the Lincoln Park Golf Course. On your right, you’ll pass the 
Memorial for Peace, a carved stone with neighboring benches placed in 1984 to honor the continuing quest for world peace. Further up the road as you cross toward the museum, artist George Segal’s haunting 
Holocaust Memorial, also called The Survivor, is a vivid and moving depiction of Nazi concentration-camp life. The artist asserted that sometimes “it’s more painful to be standing and surviving.” The bodies include a number of religious and allegorical references, including a Christlike figure.
The Palace of the Legion of Honor houses an impressive collection of fine art.
Through the parking lot, it’s impossible to miss the 
Palace of the Legion of Honor, one of the city’s biggest art museums. Intriguingly, the building is a replica of a replica. The 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition included a French Pavilion, modeled on the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris. The French Pavilion showcased French art during the expo but was torn down afterwards. Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, wife of sugar magnate Adolph Spreckels (you can read more about her in Backstory, Walk 4), missed the pavilion and had this more permanent version built (it opened in 1924). The museum’s holdings include many 20th-century European masterpieces. You don’t need to enter to have a look at Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker in front—it’s a bronze cast, but Rodin oversaw its production. Some memorable scenes from Hitchcock’s Vertigo were shot here too.
Rodin’s The Thinker contemplates life outside the Palace of the Legion of Honor.
From the museum, continue west on Camino del Mar through a narrow parking lot and eventually past a yellow barricade to a pedestrian-only path. Stay left to follow the trail, and make your way to the 
USS San Francisco Memorial, which pays homage to the World War II heavy cruiser that played a dramatic role in the decisive naval battle at Guadalcanal in 1942. More than 100 lives were lost, and the memorial is partly constructed from the bridge of the ship that shows signs of the furious battle.
Continue along the road and cross Point Lobos Avenue. To your left, 
Seal Rock Inn is a budget-friendly (for San Francisco) seaside motel that Hunter S. Thompson famously holed up in while writing the feature “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail” for Rolling Stone. He likened the barking of the sea lions through his open window as “like living next to a dog pound.” Head right and pass between the sentry lions that were once part of the elaborate gateway entrance to 
Sutro Heights Park and the estate of Adolph Sutro (see Backstory). Sutro, an unusually civic-minded millionaire, fashioned his gardens into a grand park open to the public. He had the grounds landscaped in the style of an Italian garden, and although some cracked wise about Sutro’s unrefined tastes, San Franciscans seldom objected to the plaster nymph statues that peered out between the trees and shrubbery. All is gone now, save for some cypress trees, lovely rolling lawns, and what appears to be the broken footprint of Sutro’s old manor house, which fell into disrepair after his death and was demolished in 1939.
Loop around the ruins and look for a small, sandy path next to a bench on the southern end of the loop trail, which eventually leads down a sandy set of stairs to Balboa Street. Between 1920 and 1972, stretched out before you would have been Playland at the Beach, a 10-acre amusement park complete with roller coasters, bumper cars, and funhouses; it was also the birthplace, in 1928, of one of San Francisco’s most delicious and enduring treats: the It’s-It ice cream sandwich, which was available only at the park until it closed (and is now sold nationwide and online at itsiticecream.com).
Cross the Great Highway and make your way up the hill to the 
Cliff House. There have been several Cliff Houses on this site, beginning in 1863. The first was owned by a retired sea captain known as Pop Foster, and for a time, Foster’s Cliff House was a house of ill repute. Adolph Sutro bought the remote resort in the 1890s; it burned down in 1894, but Sutro had it rebuilt two years later. Sutro’s Cliff House was the magnificent, cliff-hanging Victorian beauty so often featured in historical photos—the most familiar of which, sadly, is the 1907 shot of the building going up in flames. The current Cliff House, completed in 1909, is much less comely from the street, but after a recent remodel it has become a fine-looking restaurant and bistro, with exotic Casablanca decor and picture windows making the most of the sea view.
Cypress-lined coastal trails provide a natural escape from city traffic.
If you’re not eating, walk on through, find your way to the veranda overlooking the cliffs, and spend $3 to take a gander at the 
Camera Obscura for a large 360-degree view of the scenery. A holdover from the aforementioned Playland at the Beach, the big camera is remarkable mostly as a relic of archaic technology. It represents a link in the chain of inventions that led to photography; Leonardo da Vinci drew up plans for such a device in the 15th century, and this same technology was used to create Jan Vermeer’s painting Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Back out on the sidewalk, amble north to 
Louis’ Restaurant. It’s a casual and friendly diner with the same exceptional views you’d enjoy at the much more expensive Cliff House. Opened on Valentine’s Day in 1937 by Greek immigrant Louis Hontalas, the restaurant remains in the Hontalas family to this day. In the 1930s, Louis and his wife, Helen, used to lug a popcorn machine out to the sidewalk to sell snacks to passersby. At one point the National Park Service, which now owns the land that the eatery occupies, considered turning it into open space, but a postcard campaign by more than a thousand devoted fans of Louis’ changed their minds.
Sweeping ocean views are never far from sight along Lands End Trail.
Just up the street is the Lands End Lookout and the conclusion of our walk.
Lands End
Points of Interest
Lands End Lookout and Visitor Center 680 Point Lobos Ave.; 415-426-5240, nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/landsend.htm
Sutro Baths 1004 Point Lobos Ave.; 415-426-5240, nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/cliff-house-sutro-baths.htm
Point Lobos Lands End Trail, N37° 47.095' W122° 30.486'; 415-426-5240, nps.gov/goga
Mile Rock Beach Lands End Trail, N37° 47.266' W122° 30.342'; 415-426-5240, nps.gov/goga
Lands End Labyrinth Lands End Trail, N37° 47.294' W122° 30.301'; 415-426-5240, nps.gov/goga
Eagle’s Point Overlook Lands End Trail, N37° 47.206' W122° 29.704'; 415-426-5240, nps.gov/goga
Memorial for Peace 1142 El Camino del Mar; 415-426-5240, nps.gov/goga
Holocaust Memorial (The Survivor) Lincoln Park, Legion of Honor Drive at El Camino del Mar; 415-831-2700, sfrecpark.org/destination/lincoln-park
Palace of the Legion of Honor Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave.; 415-750-3600, legionofhonor.famsf.org
USS San Francisco Memorial 415-334-0263, usssanfrancisco.org
Seal Rock Inn 545 Point Lobos Ave.; 415-752-8000, sealrockinn.com
Sutro Heights Park 846 Point Lobos Ave.; 415-561-4323, nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/sutro-heights-accessibility.htm
Cliff House 1090 Point Lobos Ave.; 415-386-3330, cliffhouse.com
Camera Obscura 1096 Point Lobos Ave.; 415-450-0415, giantcamera.com
Louis’ Restaurant 902 Point Lobos Ave.; 415-387-6330, louissf.com