Marin Headlands
Encyclopedia
The Marin Headlands is a hilly area at the southernmost end of Marin County, California
, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge
. The Headlands are located just north of San Francisco
, immediately across the Golden Gate Bridge
. The entire area is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
. The Headlands are famous for their stunning views of the Bay Area, especially the Golden Gate Bridge
.
breezes are pushed into higher, colder air, causing condensation
, fog
, fog drip
and perhaps rain
. The hills also get more precipitation than at sea level, due to the same reason. However, despite being relatively wet, strong gusty Pacific winds prevent dense forests from forming. The many gaps, ridges, and valleys in the hills increase the wind speed and periodically, during powerful winter storms, these winds can reach hurricane force. In summer, breezes can still be very gusty, when the oceanic air and fog cross the hills.
November through February in the Headlands are dominated by periodic rainstorms that blow in from the Pacific, often originating in the Gulf of Alaska
, and give the area the majority of its rainfall for the year. These cloudy, gray, and rainy days often are interspersed with cool but extremely clear ones. As winter turns to spring, the April-to-June weather tends to be dominated by powerful winds, less rain, and clearer skies. Summer days alternate between clear and warm intervals, giving way to foggy and cool periods. September and October bring the highest average temperatures of the year and the longest stretches of clear skies.
s in the Pacific states.
Each autumn, from August into December, tens of thousands of hawk
s, kites
, falcon
s, eagle
s, vultures
, osprey
, and harriers are funneled by the peninsular shape of Marin County into the headlands. Hawks avoid flight over water since warm thermals that provide lift are rare. Abundant populations of small mammals protected by the park are one resource that helps maintain the large number of visiting raptors in the Headlands during the fall, but the strong onshore winds hitting the hills of the Headlands provide cold updrafts and hot late summer days provide warm thermals that allow these birds to fly more efficiently.
Volunteers with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory
count and track this fall migration using bird-banding
and radio-tracking techniques, all in cooperation with the National Park Service
.
, bobcats, coyotes, rabbits, raccoon
s, and skunk
s. River Otter
s inhabit the freshwater lagoons and streams. Large numbers of water birds also migrate through the Headlands, including Brown Pelican
s from May through October, grebes, egrets, and Great Blue Heron
s in the spring, summer, and fall. The Headlands' status as a park protects the habitat and populations of these animals within just a few miles of San Francisco and its suburbs.
In the waters surrounding the Headlands, Harbor Seal
s can be found year-round, Grey Whales can be seen in the spring and fall, and seabirds such as Common Murres and Surf Scoter
s swim within sight of shore.
from the Pacific Plate
. The primary components of Headlands geology include graywacke sandstone
, radiolarian chert, serpentinite
, pillow basalt
s, and shale
. These rocks began their migration over one hundred million years ago from as far south as what today we call "Los Angeles". The erosion of the hillsides and construction activities during the military era have exposed some dramatic examples of these rock types for easy viewing, and the folding caused by tectonic action is visually evident in many places throughout the Headlands.
tribe, who moved between the bay side of the peninsula and the ocean side seasonally, for thousands of years.
) during the American period following the U.S. acquisition of California in the Mexican-American War.
, and the SF-88
Nike Missile silo. From the 1890s, the first military installations were built to prevent hostile ships from entering San Francisco Bay
. The batteries at Kirby Cove
, above Black Sands Beach, south of Rodeo Beach, and at Battery Mendell are examples of fortifications from the pre-World War I
period. During World War II
Batteries Wallace, Townsley, and 129 on Hawk Hill were built into the hills to protect them from aerial bombardment and the high caliber shells that would be fired by Axis battleships. The emplacements at the top of Hawk Hill were used for a radio station. During the Cold War
, the gun batteries were decommissioned, but antiaircraft missile sites were built on the northern and southern sides of Rodeo Lagoon. Radar sites were placed atop Hawk Hill and Hill 88. At several locations, shelters were built into the hillsides to protect the military personnel from the use of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.
Observation posts known as base end station
s can also be found in the Headlands. A well-preserved example can be seen near the northern end of Rodeo Beach, and others are located near the Point Bonita Lighthouse and on Wolf Ridge as it slopes down to the sea.
All military sites in the Headlands are now decommissioned and returned to civilian use. Some military facilities, such as SF-88, have been preserved as historical sites. Many historical buildings are now used by non-profit organizations, but maintained in their historical condition.
Other historic landmarks in the Headlands include Point Bonita Lighthouse.
. The development would house 30,000 people amongst 50 apartment towers, vast tracts of single-family homes, and a hotel along the headlands pristine shoreline and hills. In 1970, the developer lost a lawsuit claiming the land was illegally zoned. The thousands of acres that would have been developed was sold to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
allowing the open space to stay intact as a park.
, Angel Island, Alcatraz, the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge
and the East Bay.
Where Conzelman Road winds along the southern shore of the Headlands and becomes one-way, a pedestrian path leads upwards to Hawk Hill. Just up a short distance on the right, nestled in a grove of Monterey Pines, is a bench situated just right to watch the Golden Gate, ship traffic beneath the bridge, and the city just beyond.
(a pebble-covered, dark sand beach,) Kirby Cove, Pirates' Cove, Tennessee Beach, Muir Beach
, and Muir Beach Overlook. Further north, just outside Marin Headlands, is Stinson Beach
.
Facilities include Presidio Fire Department
Fire Station No.2, located at building 1045 Fort Cronkhite. This Fire Station is operated by the National Park Service
and houses one fire engine with cliff rescue capabilities. Emergency services are available 24 hours per day.
Public restrooms are available in the Headlands at the Visitor Center parking lot, the parking lot near Rodeo Beach, and portable toilet facilities are available at the trailhead leading to the Point Bonita Lighthouse, along Conzelman Road near Black Sands Beach, at Battery Alexander dug into the hillside between Rodeo Beach and the Lighthouse, and at Battery 129 on Hawk Hill.
Conference center facilities are located in former military buildings maintained by the Point Bonita YMCA, the Headlands Institute, and the Headlands Center for the Arts. Cavallo Point conference center is in East Fort Baker on the eastern side of the peninsula.
Other notable areas within Marin Headlands include Kirby Cove, Rodeo Lagoon
, and Tennessee Valley.
Various nonprofit organizations have facilities in Marin Headlands. These include the Marine Mammal Center, the Foundation for Deep Ecology, and the Headlands Institute, all in Fort Cronkhite, the Headlands Center for the Arts
and the Marin Headlands Hostel at Fort Barry, and the Marin Headlands and Tennessee Valley Native Plant Nurseries.
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
. The Headlands are located just north of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, immediately across the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
. The entire area is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service that surrounds the San Francisco Bay area. It is one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States, with over 13 million visitors a year...
. The Headlands are famous for their stunning views of the Bay Area, especially the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
.
Climate
The Headlands sometimes create their own clouds when moist, warm Pacific OceanPacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
breezes are pushed into higher, colder air, causing condensation
Condensation
Condensation is the change of the physical state of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. When the transition happens from the gaseous phase into the solid phase directly, the change is called deposition....
, fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
, fog drip
Fog drip
Fog drip is a type of precipitation that forms when fog droplets condense on the needles or leaves of trees or other objects, and drips to the ground....
and perhaps rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
. The hills also get more precipitation than at sea level, due to the same reason. However, despite being relatively wet, strong gusty Pacific winds prevent dense forests from forming. The many gaps, ridges, and valleys in the hills increase the wind speed and periodically, during powerful winter storms, these winds can reach hurricane force. In summer, breezes can still be very gusty, when the oceanic air and fog cross the hills.
November through February in the Headlands are dominated by periodic rainstorms that blow in from the Pacific, often originating in the Gulf of Alaska
Gulf of Alaska
The Gulf of Alaska is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, where Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage are found.The entire shoreline of the Gulf is...
, and give the area the majority of its rainfall for the year. These cloudy, gray, and rainy days often are interspersed with cool but extremely clear ones. As winter turns to spring, the April-to-June weather tends to be dominated by powerful winds, less rain, and clearer skies. Summer days alternate between clear and warm intervals, giving way to foggy and cool periods. September and October bring the highest average temperatures of the year and the longest stretches of clear skies.
Hawk Hill
The centerpoint of the Marin Headlands skyline is the 920 feet (280 m) Hawk Hill, the lookout point for the largest known flight of diurnal raptorBird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
s in the Pacific states.
Each autumn, from August into December, tens of thousands of hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
s, kites
White-tailed Kite
The White-tailed Kite is an elanid kite of genus Elanus found in western North America and parts of South America.Their coloration is gull-like, but their shape and flight falcon-like, with a rounded tail...
, falcon
Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....
s, eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
s, vultures
Turkey Vulture
The Turkey Vulture is a bird found throughout most of the Americas. It is also known in some North American regions as the Turkey Buzzard , and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John Crow or Carrion Crow...
, osprey
Osprey
The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...
, and harriers are funneled by the peninsular shape of Marin County into the headlands. Hawks avoid flight over water since warm thermals that provide lift are rare. Abundant populations of small mammals protected by the park are one resource that helps maintain the large number of visiting raptors in the Headlands during the fall, but the strong onshore winds hitting the hills of the Headlands provide cold updrafts and hot late summer days provide warm thermals that allow these birds to fly more efficiently.
Volunteers with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory
Golden Gate Raptor Observatory
The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory is a non-profit organization whose mission is to study migrating birds of prey along the Pacific coast and to inspire the preservation of raptor populations in California...
count and track this fall migration using bird-banding
Bird ringing
Bird ringing or bird banding is a technique used in the study of wild birds, by attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to their legs or wings, so that various aspects of the bird's life can be studied by the ability to re-find the same individual later...
and radio-tracking techniques, all in cooperation with the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
.
Other Wildlife
The Marin Headlands are also home to large populations of deerDeer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, bobcats, coyotes, rabbits, raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s, and skunk
Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
s. River Otter
River Otter
Not to be confused with the animal Otter or the River Ottery in CornwallThe River Otter rises in the Blackdown Hills just inside the county of Somerset, near Otterford, then flows south for some 32 km through East Devon to the English Channel at the western end of Lyme Bay, part of...
s inhabit the freshwater lagoons and streams. Large numbers of water birds also migrate through the Headlands, including Brown Pelican
Brown Pelican
The Brown Pelican is the smallest of the eight species of pelican, although it is a large bird in nearly every other regard. It is in length, weighs from and has a wingspan from .-Range and habits:...
s from May through October, grebes, egrets, and Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron
The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...
s in the spring, summer, and fall. The Headlands' status as a park protects the habitat and populations of these animals within just a few miles of San Francisco and its suburbs.
In the waters surrounding the Headlands, Harbor Seal
Harbor Seal
The harbor seal , also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere...
s can be found year-round, Grey Whales can be seen in the spring and fall, and seabirds such as Common Murres and Surf Scoter
Surf Scoter
The Surf Scoter is a large sea duck, which breeds in Canada and Alaska. It is placed in the subgenus Melanitta, along with the Velvet and White-winged Scoters, distinct from the subgenus Oidemia, Black and Common Scoters.It winters further south in temperate zones, on the coasts of the northern USA...
s swim within sight of shore.
Geology
The Marin Headlands are a fascinating geological formation created by the accretion of oceanic sediments onto the North American PlateNorth American Plate
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland, Cuba, Bahamas, and parts of Siberia, Japan and Iceland. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The plate includes both continental and oceanic crust...
from the Pacific Plate
Pacific Plate
The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At 103 million square kilometres, it is the largest tectonic plate....
. The primary components of Headlands geology include graywacke sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, radiolarian chert, serpentinite
Serpentinite
Serpentinite is a rock composed of one or more serpentine group minerals. Minerals in this group are formed by serpentinization, a hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle...
, pillow basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
s, and shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
. These rocks began their migration over one hundred million years ago from as far south as what today we call "Los Angeles". The erosion of the hillsides and construction activities during the military era have exposed some dramatic examples of these rock types for easy viewing, and the folding caused by tectonic action is visually evident in many places throughout the Headlands.
Native Americans
The Marin Headlands were home to the Native American Coastal MiwokMiwok
Miwok can refer to any one of four linguistically related groups of Native Americans, native to Northern California, who spoke one of the Miwokan languages in the Utian family...
tribe, who moved between the bay side of the peninsula and the ocean side seasonally, for thousands of years.
Ranchos
In the 18th century, Spanish and Mexican ranchers occupied the Headlands, eventually giving way to Portuguese immigrant dairy farmers (often from the AzoresAzores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
) during the American period following the U.S. acquisition of California in the Mexican-American War.
Military sites
The Marin Headlands is the site of a number of historic military settlements fortifications, including Fort Cronkhite, Fort Barry, a large number of bunkers and batteriesArtillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
, and the SF-88
SF-88
SF-88 is a former Nike Missile launch site at Fort Barry, in the Marin Headlands to the north of San Francisco, California, U.S. Opened in 1954, the site was intended to protect the population and military installations of the San Francisco Bay Area during the Cold War, specifically from attack by...
Nike Missile silo. From the 1890s, the first military installations were built to prevent hostile ships from entering San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
. The batteries at Kirby Cove
Kirby Cove Camp
Kirby Cove Camp is a campground and scenic area managed by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in the Marin Headlands, California. It is located at sea level below Conzelman Road, which leads from the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge up and along the Marin Headlands overlooking the Golden...
, above Black Sands Beach, south of Rodeo Beach, and at Battery Mendell are examples of fortifications from the pre-World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
period. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Batteries Wallace, Townsley, and 129 on Hawk Hill were built into the hills to protect them from aerial bombardment and the high caliber shells that would be fired by Axis battleships. The emplacements at the top of Hawk Hill were used for a radio station. During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the gun batteries were decommissioned, but antiaircraft missile sites were built on the northern and southern sides of Rodeo Lagoon. Radar sites were placed atop Hawk Hill and Hill 88. At several locations, shelters were built into the hillsides to protect the military personnel from the use of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.
Observation posts known as base end station
Base end station
Base end stations were used by the U.S Coast Artillery as part of fire control systems for locating the positions of attacking ships and controlling the firing of seacoast guns, mortars, or mines to defend against them....
s can also be found in the Headlands. A well-preserved example can be seen near the northern end of Rodeo Beach, and others are located near the Point Bonita Lighthouse and on Wolf Ridge as it slopes down to the sea.
All military sites in the Headlands are now decommissioned and returned to civilian use. Some military facilities, such as SF-88, have been preserved as historical sites. Many historical buildings are now used by non-profit organizations, but maintained in their historical condition.
Other historic landmarks in the Headlands include Point Bonita Lighthouse.
Development
In the 1960s, the government sold over 2000 acres (8 km²) of land in the Marin Headlands to a private developer who planned to build a city named MarincelloMarincello
Marincello was a failed development project in Marin County, California that would have put a planned community atop the Marin Headlands, overlooking the Golden Gate...
. The development would house 30,000 people amongst 50 apartment towers, vast tracts of single-family homes, and a hotel along the headlands pristine shoreline and hills. In 1970, the developer lost a lawsuit claiming the land was illegally zoned. The thousands of acres that would have been developed was sold to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service that surrounds the San Francisco Bay area. It is one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States, with over 13 million visitors a year...
allowing the open space to stay intact as a park.
Views
The Headlands afford spectacular views of San Francisco and, as such, is a very popular tourist attraction. One of the most common photographs of San Francisco is the view of the city from the Headlands with the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge just reaching out of the fog. On clear days, the site affords a panoramic view of this entire region of the bay including the Farallon IslandsFarallon Islands
The Farallon Islands, or Farallones , are a group of islands and sea stacks in the Gulf of the Farallones, off the coast of San Francisco, California, USA. They lie outside the Golden Gate and south of Point Reyes, and are visible from the mainland on clear days...
, Angel Island, Alcatraz, the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
and the East Bay.
Where Conzelman Road winds along the southern shore of the Headlands and becomes one-way, a pedestrian path leads upwards to Hawk Hill. Just up a short distance on the right, nestled in a grove of Monterey Pines, is a bench situated just right to watch the Golden Gate, ship traffic beneath the bridge, and the city just beyond.
Beaches
The Headlands offers a number of beaches including Rodeo BeachRodeo Beach
Rodeo Beach is a beach in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area located in Marin County, California, two miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is characterized by a spit of around 50 meters width at the mouth of a long embayment, known as Rodeo Lagoon; for much of the year the lagoon is cut...
(a pebble-covered, dark sand beach,) Kirby Cove, Pirates' Cove, Tennessee Beach, Muir Beach
Muir Beach, California
Muir Beach is a census-designated place , unincorporated community, and beach that is located northwest of San Francisco in western Marin County, California, United States...
, and Muir Beach Overlook. Further north, just outside Marin Headlands, is Stinson Beach
Stinson Beach, California
Stinson Beach is a census-designated place in Marin County, California, on the west coast of the United States. Stinson Beach is located east-southeast of Bolinas, at an elevation of 26 feet . The population of the Stinson Beach CDP was 632 at the 2010 census.Stinson Beach is about a 35-minute...
.
Hiking/Biking
There are many miles of excellent hiking and biking trails in the Headlands, encompassing passage through coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and riparian areas.Birding
The raptor migration attracts many birdwatchers to Hawk Hill, and waterfowl and seabirds can often be seen on Rodeo Lagoon.Facilities and notable places
The National Park Service maintains a Visitor Center near the intersection of Field Road and Bunker Road about a mile from Rodeo Beach. The Visitor Center is open daily from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and contains historical and natural history displays as well as a small bookstore/gift shop. Hiking maps and Park Service program information are available as well.Facilities include Presidio Fire Department
Presidio Fire Department
Established in 1917, the Presidio Fire Department provided primary emergency response to the Presidio of San Francisco.During the 1940s, '50s and '60s the Presidio's Firehouse served as the headquarters station to a much larger department consisting of many Stations located at the various forts...
Fire Station No.2, located at building 1045 Fort Cronkhite. This Fire Station is operated by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
and houses one fire engine with cliff rescue capabilities. Emergency services are available 24 hours per day.
Public restrooms are available in the Headlands at the Visitor Center parking lot, the parking lot near Rodeo Beach, and portable toilet facilities are available at the trailhead leading to the Point Bonita Lighthouse, along Conzelman Road near Black Sands Beach, at Battery Alexander dug into the hillside between Rodeo Beach and the Lighthouse, and at Battery 129 on Hawk Hill.
Conference center facilities are located in former military buildings maintained by the Point Bonita YMCA, the Headlands Institute, and the Headlands Center for the Arts. Cavallo Point conference center is in East Fort Baker on the eastern side of the peninsula.
Other notable areas within Marin Headlands include Kirby Cove, Rodeo Lagoon
Rodeo Lagoon
Rodeo Lagoon is a coastal lagoon located in the Marin Headlands division of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which is in southern Marin County, California. This brackish water body is separated from the Pacific Ocean by a sand bar that forms Rodeo Beach...
, and Tennessee Valley.
Various nonprofit organizations have facilities in Marin Headlands. These include the Marine Mammal Center, the Foundation for Deep Ecology, and the Headlands Institute, all in Fort Cronkhite, the Headlands Center for the Arts
Headlands Center for the Arts
Situated in a campus of artist-renovated military buildings in the Marin Headlands, Headlands Center for the Arts hosts an internationally recognized Artist in Residence Program, interdisciplinary public programs, and subsidized studio rentals for Bay Area artists of all disciplines.- Mission and...
and the Marin Headlands Hostel at Fort Barry, and the Marin Headlands and Tennessee Valley Native Plant Nurseries.
External links
- Official NPS website
- SFGate: Marin Headlands
- Bay Area Hiker: Marin Headlands
- Headlands Center for the Arts
- Marin Headlands/Fort Baker Map
- Headlands Institute
- The Marine Mammal Center
- "Head for the hills: Marin Headlands offer an inviting getaway just a bridge away from the city" by Peter Stack, San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, July 26, 2001. - Marin Headlands from Lands End, comparing with old photography
- Geology of the Golden Gate Headlands