Lands End in Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Lands End is one of the many lovely parks that is incorporated into Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This national park is broken into smaller campuses that are all over the San Francisco Peninsula and Marin County. This out-and-back hike is about 3 miles (~1.5 miles each direction). You can start from the Lands End Parking lot (680 Point Lobos Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121). Jane Huber, the author of the blog Bay Area Hiker, has a really nice write-up of the hike here, and the department of tourism has a gorgeous photo spread here, along with some information about the nearby historic site of the Sutro Baths ruins. See a map and some more photos after the jump.

I went on this hike as a meet-up with some of the families and students at the school where I work as a teacher. Because I was socializing instead of hiking alone I did not get as many pictures as I would have normally. Although it was foggy, it was very beautiful. It's cool to get so many great views of the Golden Gate Bridge on a hike, especially while walking through a forest of coastal cypress. This is a heavily used park, so it doesn't feel as "wild" as some of the other hikes that I have been on; however, that does not take away from the spectacular beauty of the park. It's definitely worth a trip into the city!