California Coastal Trail (CCT) - Presidio, SFO, CA

Ah, San Francisco. The land of sourdough bread, pea soup fog, alternative lifestyles, Rice-A-Roni and those famous cable cars. This past Friday I headed to SFO on business and decided to stay the weekend and run a section of trail I had heard exists in the Presidio. You're probably asking yourself "where in the heck is he talking about?", given that SFO seems to be primarily made of concrete. I'll get to that in a second. On Friday morning - really early - I flew down from SEA to SFO for business meetings with Salesforce.com and Oracle. Of course I wasn't going to waste a golden opportunity to spend the weekend hanging-out in SFO, so after my business meetings I rented a car and drove over to Presidio Heights which is in the northwest section of the city and is where my friend Maria lives. She graciously allowed me to stay on her couch for the weekend.

Maria is a funny character and always has interesting things lined-up for us to do. This time was no exception. She only moved to San Francisco last Fall but that hasn't stopped her from being active and learning the city like a native. On Friday night we went to a tasty little Tapas restaurant in the Mission district and then afterward we hung-out with her boyfriend John and some of his friends. We also hit a few local bars to close out the evening. On Saturday though, Maria had something special planned. After a late brunch and some long walks through China Town, the Western Addition and Embarcadero Plaza we made our way into the Theatre district. She had somehow scored last-minute tickets to the final showing of the Un-Scripted Theatre Company's Great Puppet Musical, which was like an adult version of an impromptu Muppet movie only a heck of lot funnier. The best way to describe it is as improv theater. Basically, the audience "seeds" the actors with story ideas and then the actors develop a storyline right on the spot that is then improvised over the course of the evening. It was wacky and super funny! I think it was something about a gay play writer who divorces his wife (!) then hikes up Mt Everest with his ex-wife and Tom Cruise in order to find his muse so that he can write a Broadway play about overcoming adversity. Kind of like "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" but with profane hand puppets. Can you imagine that? It's not easy to describe. Check their Web site for more details. Suffice it to say that if you ever get the chance, head over to the SF Playhouse and catch a show. You won't be disappointed.

Back to the Presidio and a quick history lesson: In 1776, Spain established the Presidio as the northernmost outpost of Spain in the New World to block expansion by Russia and Britain. Since that time, the Presidio has been an army outpost for 3 different nations (Spain, Mexico and the US). It has survived a lot of changes over the years and was at one time the center of relief efforts during the famous 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent great fire that leveled entire swaths of the city. During that time the Army General in charge of the Presidio decided to send troops into the city to rescue citizens and restore order. He actually ordered his troops to blow-up entire city blocks with dynamite in an unsuccessful attempt to create fire breaks and prevent the spread of fire. It didn't work and just caused further destruction. Dumb move.

Back to running. On Sunday morning I felt like I needed some exercise and decided to try a section of the famous California Coastal Trail or CCT. Here's a good map of the northern section of the run [link] - look on the left side of the page. The section I wanted to run starts underneath the Golden Gate bridge in the Presidio, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I parked at West Crissy Field and walked/jogged over to Fort Point for a little warm-up. This is close to the starting point for a 10.5 mile long section of CCT that runs south along the Western edge of the Presidio, past Lincoln Park, along the Great Hwy, past Golden Gate Park and down to Fort Funston. As usual, there were a lot of tourists (like me) walking, biking or running along the many paved trails and roads. I realized that it was the annual Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon which explains the masses. The CCT isn't well marked so I struggled to find it but after about 20 minutes of running around I eventually found a poorly signed and dusty sand track that runs along the edge of a cliff that drops down into San Francisco Bay. Bingo. Thankfully, bikes aren't allowed, so I ran away from the masses and found myself alone. Not easy to do in SFO, believe me.

The weather was partially cloudy, dry and a cool 57F when I kicked off at 11:00 am. Nice weather. Before I had even started I was taken aback by the magnificent views of the Bay that stretched out in front of me with undulating whitecaps on the waves and with very large container ships playing a game of chicken with small but nimble fishing boats. Everything seemed to be a on a grand scale. The wind was starting to whip up and the sky was starting to get a little more cloudy as I progressed along a winding path. It felt like the weather might make one of those dramatic shifts that the area is so well known for, but thankfully it didn't change. I'm glad because I didn't want to get lost in that thick fog that often rolls in. Stumbling over the cliff wasn't sounding too appealing to me.

I soon passed what appeared to be some old gun battery's long since out of commission and boarded up. In fact, all along the upper section of the trail I encountered old remnants of a bygone era like abandoned pill boxes, gun batteries, casemates, and other decommissioned military structures. Some were open to the public for viewing, while others weren't. Regardless, all were interesting to look at as I zipped along. The local wildlife was enjoying the freedom to roost and nest in these buildings too. At least they're getting some use.

As I neared Baker Beach, the trail dropped steeply down the hillside into a grove of trees. Only minutes from downtown SFO, and this being SFO, Baker Beach is a nude beach. Go figure. Occasionally I would encounter a homeless person wandering off into the woods for a nap or an itinerant musician practicing their instrument where few would hear them, but then I almost ran into a family of Eastern Europeans who had parked themselves on the side of the trail for a picnic. Odd place for that. I guess they didn't want to try and eat their lunches while having to look at some guy's shrunken wobbly bits (it was brisk). I don't blame them one bit. Yuck!

Right after Baker Beach, comes China Beach and then Phelan Beach. Tucked away behind the million-dollar homes of the Seacliff district, China Beach is one of San Francisco's few beaches safe for swimming. Getting down to China Beach you have to traverse the famous sand ladder, which is a like a steep flat stairway that is anchored into the sandy hillside wall. It's not like stairs that are constructed into the ground but rather, you walk down a wide wooden ladder built on a steel lattice that moves around as you walk on each rung. It can be a little unnerving given the length of it, and especially as others are coming up and making it move with each step. It reminded me of a combination of climbing a ship's ladder and walking along a suspension bridge, with a declination somewhere in between.

Needless to say, you can't really run along this section so I fast hiked it. After hitting the beach I plowed through the soft deep sand for about 500 yards. While I often enjoy running along the beach, the soft sand was toasting my calves and ramping up my heart rate well into Zone 5. Not good. Thankfully, I reached the hard pack trail again and headed back up into the woods. A little further along I encountered Phelan Beach, which is when I lost the trail again. All along the trail you encounter a real diversity of trail conditions, types of flora and a wide variety of people. Right at this point though, the trail just disappears. I was carrying a Google Map I had printed so after some trial-and-error I realized that the trail actually runs along a concrete sidewalk through the Seacliff neighborhood, which is a fairly ritzy area.

After I reacquired the trail, I ran into Lincoln Park and past Lands End. Here's a webcam of the area. I could see the remnants of the Mile Rocks Lighthouse on my right. I soon came upon the ruins of the famous Sutro Baths, which at the time of their completion in 1896 must have been a magnificent sight to behold given the $1 million price tag. The Sutro Baths was, at the time, the world's largest indoor swimming pool complex and was comprised of 7 salt water swimming pools ranging in temperature and enclosed under a giant glass canopy. Apparently they could accommodate 25,000 people at one time. They even had an ice rink and concert hall. Check out the pictures on Wikipedia. It all burned down in 1966. The Sutro Baths are located adjacent to the Cliff House and that is the point at which I decided to turn around for my return journey.

As far as trail runs go, this one had something for everyone. And, it's not easy to find trail runs in a city environment unless you're in Portland, OR (see Forest Park post). I'd recommend running this section of the CCT if you find yourself in SFO. This Web site has a bunch of good pictures from the section of trail that I ran (the pictures are shown in reverse order of how I ran them - last was first).