Walking tour of West Shore of San Francisco Bay - part 1

We have been to San Francisco quite a few times now. Previously we drove around the city to tourist hot spots. During the recent visit to the bay area, we did not rent a car, and walked a lot, in addition to occasional public transportations. We primarily walked along the west shore of San Francisco bay near downtown, the section from Chase Center to Golden Gate Beach, in three different days.

May 12 walking trail

Our first walk took place on May 12, Monday morning. We walked from our hotel near union square to Ferry building, then along the pier section of the shore to fisherman's Wharf. On return, we walked inland, cut through part of the downtown, and back to the hotel for afternoon activities.

Walking along the market street to Ferry Building in the early morning, we saw few people, wide, clean streets, and sculptures here and there, and high-rises all around. It was a pleasant surprise to see clean street without homeless.

market street, San Francisco

roadside sculptures 

high-rises seen from the market street

The Embarcadero Plaza and the Ferry building are at the end of the market street by the bay shore. The most eye catching landmarks there are 1) the Ferry Building, 2) A sculpture of a nude woman - R-Evolution. 

Ferry Building houses cruise terminals and a shopping plaza

R-Evolution

Passing these landmarks, we walked in the northwest direction, along the San Francisco Bay trail, in cool breeze - we had to zip-up our jacket to keep ourselves warm. Shortly the sky cleared up, and the Sun shone on us.

Palm trees line the street near the ferry building. Going onto a pier, and looking back to the city, the bullet shaped salesforce tower, the tallest building in San Francisco, stands out among the rectangular buildings. Another architecture that caught our eyes was like a pyramid - it is TransAmerica Pyramid, which is the second tallest building in San Francisco. Closer to the shore and further north stands the Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill.

Getting closer to Fisherman's Wharf, the scenery changed, we paid more attention to the shore and the bay. Many sailboats, yachts parked at the piers, Alcaraz island in the bay, and Golden Gate Bridge over Golden Gate Strait. Seal lions were making loud noise near Pier 39. Walking forward, we saw an arch over an abandoned rail road by the shore. 

The famed fisherman's wharf is highly commercialized, crowded with restaurants, souvenir shops, arcades, rides ... fortunately we were there early on a week day - there were few people there when we visited.

they are proud of their IT industry

a sculpture- Skygate with mast of sailboats in the background

Alcaraz island in the Bay 

golden gate bridge seen from water level

seal lions near Pier 39

Pier 43 Arch

We turned around near Fisherman's Wharf, and walked inland for a shortcut back to the hotel, experienced the hilly streets on foot. Saint Peter and Paul Church by the narrow filbert street looked grand, and community green space by the church - Washington Square, was beautiful, and lively some group of people were there dancing. We turned to Columbus Ave, walked on it  - one unique sign along the street is that light posts have Italian flag colors - it must be little Italy; we witnessed Waymo autonomous taxis maneuvering in the traffic - change lanes, accelerating, making turns, ...

We made another turn to Montgomery St, passing China Town, reaching the Market street, we were two blocks away from the hotel, completing the 10km walking tour in 3 hours.

Saints Pierre and Paul Church

Washington Square

Columbus Ave - light posts by road side have Italian flag colors 

Waymo autonomous Taxis

TransAmerica tower

China Town - San Francisco

Hiking in Mt Tamalpais

Mt Tamalpais is the tallest mountain one sees from Bay area, and it is about 18 miles northwest to the golden gate bridge. A popular location for hiking and biking, local people call the mountain Mt TAM.

Mt Tamalpais is northwest to San Francisco

We went there hiking on the morning of Tuesday, May 13, 2025. It was a partially sunny, cool day in the mountain, perfect for hiking. 

Our starting point was Pantoll Campground parking lot (Elevation ~ 1600 ft). We took Matt Davis Trail, going west to the trailhead (elevation ~ 45 ft) by the coast. The first couple of kilometers were pretty flat, along the top of a ravine, cool breeze from pacific ocean, bird chirping from tall trees, wild flowers, very tall pine trees, and  especially the moss covered tree branches. When we walked .away from ravines, the mountain slope was nearly bare, no more trees. 

start of the hiking

moss covered rocks and trees

bare mountain at low elevation

coast at pacific ocean

Suddenly I saw something moving in the tall grass ahead of me, an animal with large erected ears  - jackrabbit, and which disappeared from sight just as quickly, and I saw the ocean, pacific ocean!

the big ears of jackrabbit

More flowers, birds, and jackrabbits, we started to have steep descend among dense tall pine trees, all the way to the coastline at sea level. This hike and trail reminded me south island of New Zealand.

We then retuned on Steep Ravine trail. After a transition on the bare slope, this trail is mostly near the bottom of the ravine, we heard running creek, chirps of birds and saw trees and fallen trees. This trail is more beautiful than Matt Davis trail. More interestingly, we spot a big blue jay on a tree branch, and hang glider in the sky, and we encountered two coyotes! 

We enjoyed the leisure 7 mile loop hike in 4 hours, with 1600 feet downhill, and 1600 feet uphill. 

a hang glider in the sky at about the same location for long time

the ladder on steep ravine trail

mile 1 to 6.5 Matt Davis Trail, 6.5 to 11.4 Steep Ravine