SUNDAY DRIVE
What you’ll see: Gray Whale Cove is one of the Bay Area’s greatest launching pads for recreation. You can cross Highway 1 and descend to a gorgeous, sheltered beach. Or, in the opposite direction, you’ll find a trail that leads up to a coastal ridge in McNee Ranch State Park for a great ocean view. If you love a challenge, you can continue up Montara Mountain, very steep in two spots, to the summit at 1,898 feet for a great 360 degree view.
Location: Along Highway 1 at Devil’s Slide on the San Mateo County coast.
Beach: From Highway 1, a trail leads down to Gray Whale Cove. This is a half-moon-shaped beach with expansive sand, fronted with breakers, backed by high bluffs. A negative is you have to cross Highway 1 to get there. On weekends, arrive early to get a parking spot.
Short hike, ocean view: At the southern end of the parking area, a trailhead leads into the coastal hills. This route climbs to a coastal ridge in McNee Ranch to a lookout perch. The view spans miles of ocean. On Sundays, you can look down at the heavy traffic on Highway 1, consider your supreme position in these two worlds, and then take a deep breath and smile.
Montara Mountain: The trail out of Gray Whale Cove rises and reaches a junction. Turn left and connect with the service road (then turn right at the power lines) that climbs to the top of Montara Mountain. It is roughly 3.5 miles with a climb of 1,900 feet. This includes two short stretches that, for many, are absolute butt-kickers. Keep an eye out on the left for the short spur to a lookout over Pacifica and beyond to the Twin Towers rising from San Francisco.
Cost: Parking and access is free (one of the few state parking staging areas that is free). Dogs: Leashed dogs OK.
Map/brochure: No map or brochure is available.
Contacts: Half Moon Bay State Beach/McNee State Park, (650) 726-8819, www.parks.ca.gov.
HOW TO GET THERE
From San Francisco: Take Interstate 280 south to Daly City and to the exit on the right for Highway 1/Pacifica. Take that exit to Highway 1 and drive 9.7 miles (through Pacifica and tunnel at Devil’s Slide; 2.6 miles from light at Linda Mar) to the parking area on the left.
From Peninsula and East Bay: Take Highway 92 west to Half Moon Bay and the junction with Highway 1. Turn right and drive 8.8 miles (past Pillar Point Harbor and Montara) to the parking area on the right.
Distances: 2.6 miles from Linda Mar/Pacifica, 19 miles from downtown San Francisco, 21 miles from San Mateo, 24 miles from Sausalito, 31 miles from Berkeley, 50 miles from downtown San Jose. — Tom Stienstra