SUNDAY DRIVE
What you’ll see: We decided to play tourist the other day and drive to Battery Spencer. If the experience doesn’t move you, head to the nearest emergency room and have your pulse checked. The big payoff is the eye-popping panorama of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco, the view that TV cameras often capture during national events in the Bay Area. The trip easily can be extended with a hike or scenic drive.
Location: Battery Spencer is perched on a bluff top of the Marin Headlands, about eyelevel with the top of the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge.
When you get there: If parking is full, pull over and a spot will open quickly. Many people park, walk to get the view, take a photo and leave.
Short walk to view: After parking, you’ll walk past, on the right, the old concrete outbuildings and foundations for the 12-inch guns for Battery Spencer. It’s a short distance on a wheelchairaccessible pathway to the overlook of the Golden Gate. Stay a while; you’ll see people from dozens of countries.
The views: From the bluff, you get the classic towering view across the Golden Gate to San Francisco. To your right, you can scan across the mouth of the bay and out to sea, and take in passing boats and ships. on the way back, there’s a picnic bench with a view below to Fort Baker and across the bay to Angel Island and Alcatraz.
Military past: Battery Spencer was a military outpost from 1897 to 1942, best known for its coastal gun battery as part of the defense to the entrance to San Francisco Bay, 1890-1910.
Hike: Go the extra mile, or in this case, 2.4 miles, round trip. Look for the gated service road on the west end of Battery Spencer. It leads down 1.2 miles, with a 475-foot descent, to a pretty valley, and then to Kirby Cove. This is a gorgeous beach with the water-level view of the Golden Gate Bridge. You’ll also find a concrete battery, a few bluff-top tent sites, and in the valley, a campground for groups.
Cost: Parking, access, free.
Map/brochure: PDF at http:// www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/maps.htm.
How to get there: From San Francisco, take Highway 101 north over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin and continue 0.5 of a mile to the exit for Alexander Avenue. Take that exit west, keep left at the fork and drive 0.2 of a mile under the highway (signed for Highway 101 South/ San Francisco) and curve south to Conzelman Road, signed “Marin Headlands Coastal Route.” Turn right (west) on Conzelman and drive 0.3 of a mile to parking for Battery Spencer on left.
Extend the drive: From parking, turn left on Conzelman and take the Coastal Route toward Point Bonita, and then down to Rodeo Lagoon.
Distances: 3 miles from downtown Sausalito, 7 miles from downtown San Francisco, 17 miles from Pacifica, 20 miles from Berkeley, 34 miles from Walnut Creek, 56 miles from San Jose.
Contacts: Marin Headlands Visitor Center, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, (415) 331-1540; www.nps.gov/goga/ marin-headlands.htm; camping reservations, Kirby Cove Campground, www.recreation.gov.