Mount Tam Hike above San Francisco

My cousin Tyler and I went up to Mount Tam the other weekend, one of the highest points in the Bay Area. From the top, you can see San Francisco in its entirety, Oakland and Berkley. In addition to seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Ocean and the Bay. The views are unbelievably gorgeous, especially on a clear day, so we set out to go to the top. 

               We made our way up to Mount Tam by driving across the Golden Gate Bridge, which never gets old. Every single time I look at it or drive across it feels like the first time. Just seeing the immense gates being tethered by the thick crimson strings makes me truly love being in San Francisco and California.

Mount Tam overlooking San Francisco.

If you look outside, you’ll see they crisp blue bay being sprinkled with stark white sail boats. Once you pass over the bridge you must go through Robin Williams Tunnel, which is a tunnel through a mountain marked by a rainbow on the front, then your eyes are opened to the wonders of Sausalito and Marin marked by all the marina’s and million dollar homes on cliff sides.

               We take the exit for Muir Woods and make our ascension up through the groves of eucalyptus and redwood trees to Mount Tam. It is a very windy road were the tall, gangly trees tower over the roadway. Once you get out of the groves, you see the scenery open like book showing you all the grand ocean, hills and forests. We round the curve to start our windy road to the base of Mount Tam and continue up the unbelievably windy roads, if you look at the roads from the sky they must look like a river delta on the side of a mountain. We wind our way to the very top and finally park our car, take our all our camera gear and start hiking. It was an unnaturally clear day, we were standing on the cliffs edge breathing in all the fresh ocean and mountain air. 

Karl The Fog rolling in as the sun sets over Mount Tam.

Friday 5/20: Day Three (Part One)

This was a full day, starting with a sunrise view of the Golden Gate bridge and the city, except there was one problem- the weather report had the wrong sunrise time. Instead of the promised 6:25 am sunrise, the sun rose around 5:45 am that morning, which was way too early to galvanize everyone to get up. Nonetheless, we all got up and made it the Marin Headlands at 6:25 am which was a miracle in and of itself, with the day off to a good start.

Even thought there was no sunrise, the Golden Gate Bridge and the city were shrouded in bright, breathtaking sunlight. One perk of waking up that early was that we ended up having the place all to ourselves. Anyone else who has ever been here knows how crazy this is. The Headlands usually have tons of traffic with all sorts of tourists, locals, and photographers clamoring for a position. This morning it was our own personal playground. 

Once we finished exploring the lower portion of the headlands and admiring the view of the city, which never gets old no matter how many times I go there, we made our way to the top of the Marin Headlands. The top of the Marin Headlands is even more majestic and grand than before. We all got out of the car and set loose on the top part. We hiked up the to the top of the hill with Mom blazing a path out in front, taking in the views and admiring our surroundings.

Once we got our fill of the views and we set our sites on breakfast, so we made our way to Sausalito. We didn't have any particular place in mind, but descended through the hills of the Headlands and through the hills of Sausalito. We admired and looked at all the wonderful houses on the hills over looking the bay and Sausalito and SF. 

We ended up finding parking and made our way to the Sausalito Bakery and Cafe, a small quant little cafe operated by one man in a full chef outfit with everything including the classic goofy hat. We all clamored to look at the pastries and what to order, ending up ordering an assortment of coffee, tea, pastries, and breakfast sandwiches. We all sat, chatted, took in Sausalito, and talked to one other over our breakfast. We then made our way around the downtown of Sausalito talking to one another and exploring. After we had our fill, we made our way back to the cars to make our way over to Muir Woods next.