Cavallo Point/Bay Trail at Fort Baker

Fort Baker. Photo by Paul Vineyard.

Key Map

Magazine Issue

Jan-Mar 2010

• View contents >
• Buy issue >

by William Keener

Where can you stand on dry land and feel like you're on a Bay cruise? Try Cavallo Point at Fort Baker. The lodge here is pricey, but the hike is free. When the tide reaches full ebb, the whitewater rip currents will have you convinced you're on the deck of an eastbound boat. Walk out on the low "prow" of rock for a spectacle of skylines, kayaks, and spinnakers. Rich marine life lies just off shore. Sea lions and seals pop their heads out, pelicans plunge-dive from the air, and grebes, scoters, and gulls float by.

Climb the nearby steps to Battery Yates, its gun emplacements built in the 1890s. From here you get a classic look at the Golden Gate Bridge, and if you're patient (or lucky) you may spot harbor porpoises. Watch for their small dark triangular dorsal fins as they surface. Absent from the Bay since World War II, they've made a comeback.

Continue on this short section of the Bay Trail along the cliff edge until it joins a dirt road. Follow the new Bay Trail signs right to wooden stairs leading up to paved East Road, where you'll find picnic tables with great views of Angel Island and the Bay.

Getting there

Fort Baker in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area is just northeast of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin (take the Alexander Ave. exit off Highway 101 north). Park near the Bay Area Discovery Museum and walk south, left of the Horseshoe Cove marina, until you reach Cavallo Point, where the rock jetty meets the land.