Lands End walk, The Edge Of The Continet

Today was another late start. We'd end up passing through a few places we'd already visited, but this route was the quickest and had the added bonus of avoiding much of the usual downtown chaos. Besides, if we're going to spend time on a bus, we might as well choose the most scenic route in the city.

Bounced Through The Presidio

We set off around 10:40 and caught the number 2 bus to Presidio & California Street. From there it was a short walk around the corner to pick up the number 43 to the Presidio Transit Café, leaving just enough time for a coffee before boarding the Presidio Go Hills shuttle down to Baker Beach. 

This is one of three free shuttle routes that loop around the Presidio, operated by what appears to be a retired school bus that someone has lovingly painted green in an attempt to help it blend into the surroundings. Admirable effort, but it still looks very much like a school bus wearing camouflage. 

The Bouncy Bus

Now, these are genuine old American school buses, and if you ever find yourself riding one, here's a useful tip: don't sit at the very back. Back there you're positioned roughly five feet behind the rear axle and spend the entire journey being bounced around like a pair of trainers in a tumble dryer. Every pothole becomes a personal event. Every speed bump, a small adventure. Fortunately, the journey only lasted fifteen minutes, which was about fourteen minutes longer than my spine would have liked. 

The shuttle drops you at the entrance to the Baker Beach car park, but instead of heading towards the sand there's a small trail that branches off to one side. 

Lobos Creek Boardwalk

We followed part of the Lobos Creek Trail, which winds through an area filled with native plants. To protect the fragile habitat, a concrete boardwalk has been built through much of the site. Apart from a few gentle slopes it was ideal for the wheelchair, making for an easy and surprisingly peaceful walk. 

Before housing spread across the western side of the city, this whole area was covered in sand dunes. Over the following 150 years, development destroyed much of the original habitat along with the wildlife that depended on it. A restoration project began in 1994 to bring the ecosystem back. The boardwalk itself was carefully designed to sit just high enough above the ground to avoid damaging the landscape, while gaps between the concrete slats allow air, water and sunlight to reach the plants below. It also provides shelter for some of the smaller animals that live underneath. 

I actually discovered this place through a guidebook I'd bought online from a local hiking company called Urban Hiker. The book contains fifty hikes around San Francisco and, although many weren't practical for us, it led us to several locations we could reach without too much difficulty. Better still, these places rarely appeared in the more mainstream guidebooks. Sometimes local knowledge is worth its weight in gold. 

Apparently coyotes are fairly common around here, although we didn't spot any. We did see a lizard about four or five inches long, along with countless dragonflies darting around the vegetation. Apart from one other walker, we had the entire trail to ourselves, which only added to the feeling that we'd stumbled across one of San Francisco's lesser-known corners.

Baker Beach  "The Bride, The Bridge And The Crows"

Just across the road from the trail entrance is Baker Beach, a beautiful stretch of sand with spectacular views across the bay to Marin County and, of course, the Golden Gate Bridge dominating the skyline to the east. 

The Gun Emplacement

I parked Jane up with a good view and headed off along the beach towards Battery Chamberlin, about half a mile further along the shoreline. Back in 1904 this area was still an active military installation, and one of the first disappearing gun emplacements was built here. The six-inch gun could fire two shells a minute at targets up to seven and a half miles out to sea. After firing, the gun would retract back into its concrete pit, hiding it from enemy ships and making it much harder to hit in return. 

Remarkably, the original gun is still here today and remains operational. Demonstrations are held on the first full weekend of each month, showing visitors exactly how the mechanism worked. There are only around a dozen of these disappearing guns left in working order anywhere in the world, making it quite a rare piece of military history. 

Several information boards around the battery explain both the technology and the history behind it, and we spent a while reading through them while taking plenty of photographs. After about half an hour I wandered a little further along the beach to capture a few more shots of the bridge from different angles before making my way back to where I'd left Jane. 

By the time I returned she appeared to be involved in some sort of tense standoff with a gang of local crows, who had clearly decided that a lone wheelchair user represented either a potential food source or a threat to their territory. Thankfully no actual hostilities broke out. 

Photo Time

We were just about to move on when I spotted something unexpected further down the beach. A woman was having wedding photographs taken with the Golden Gate Bridge rising behind her. As a photographer, there was no way I was going to ignore that. I couldn't resist taking a few shots of my own from a distance. 

It's not every day you stumble across a bridal photoshoot on a beach beneath one of the world's most famous landmarks, and it felt like one of those little unplanned moments that often end up being more memorable than the things you deliberately came to see.

Art At The End Of California Street

Next on the list was the Lincoln Park Steps. To get there we caught the number 29 bus and then changed onto a number 1. 

While we were waiting at the bus stop, a car pulled up alongside us and the driver announced that he was Uber and asked if we wanted a ride. Seeing as neither of us had ordered one, we politely declined. Being abducted wasn't on today's itinerary. 

I Love These Tiled Steps

The Lincoln Park Steps are a beautifully tiled mosaic staircase at the western end of California Street. From the top, you can look almost all the way down the road, a straight ribbon of asphalt stretching for around six miles towards the heart of the city. 

The staircase consists of 57 steps and cost around half a million dollars to complete, finally opening in 2015. Much of the fundraising, planning and organisation was carried out by local residents who had grown tired of seeing the old staircase slowly deteriorate year after year. Their efforts transformed an ordinary piece of city infrastructure into something people now travel across San Francisco to see. 

It's not the only mosaic staircase in the city, but that's part of what makes San Francisco such an interesting place. Even the most everyday features can become works of art if enough people care about them. 

Just around the corner was a CVS, so we stocked up on drinks and snacks to keep us going for the rest of the afternoon. From there we walked a couple of blocks before catching the 38R out towards Lands End. 

As the name suggests, you can't really go much further west on foot. Beyond here lies nothing but the Pacific Ocean. If you were determined enough to keep going, and your aim was reasonably accurate, your next stop would be somewhere in Japan or China a little over 5,000 miles away. The Pacific is a very big place indeed.

Lands End, The Edge of the Continent

The footpath from the car park wound its way out to the Eastern Coastal Overlook and, honestly, it was worth every step. 

Lands End Overlook

Lands End really does live up to its name. Standing there, you genuinely feel as though you've reached the edge of something. The coastline is spectacularly rugged, with jagged cliffs dropping into churning water below. It was one of those views that makes you stop mid-stride and simply stare for a while. Which we did. More than once. 

Below us, waves crashed against the rocks in bursts of white foam, the Pacific Ocean doing its usual impression of something completely indifferent to human plans, schedules or opinions. 

From there I climbed a short flight of steps to the USS San Francisco Memorial, and the mood changed instantly. 

The memorial is built from actual sections of the ship's bridge — twisted, battle-scarred steel that has stood overlooking the Pacific since 1950. During the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942, the cruiser endured 45 direct hits from Japanese warships. One hundred crewmen were killed, another 131 wounded, including the ship's captain. 

What makes the memorial so powerful is the steel itself. You can still see the shell holes punched clean through heavy-gauge metal as though it were little more than cardboard. It's a stark reminder that the events commemorated here were not scenes from a film or words in a history book, but something very real that happened to very real people. 

The Golden Gate Strait & Bridge

Standing there in the sunshine, with the Golden Gate Bridge visible in the distance and the Pacific stretching away beyond the horizon, it felt strangely peaceful. Yet at the same time, the damaged steel serves as a permanent reminder of just how brutal war can be. 

It seemed an appropriate place to pause for a few minutes and reflect before continuing our journey.

Ruins, Rubbish And Roller Coasters

We continued our journey with a stroll along the seafront, stopping for a coffee at the National Park Service café. Inside there's a wealth of information about the history of the area, particularly the ruins of the Sutro Baths. 

The baths were once a grand Victorian swimming complex and one of San Francisco's most popular attractions. In their heyday they boasted five heated pools, two seawater pools and even their own cliffside railway. This was where the city's rich and famous came to relax and be seen. 

 Unfortunately, the baths became increasingly expensive to maintain and eventually closed before being destroyed by fire during demolition work in the 1960s. 

The ruins can still be explored today, although getting down there involves a steep descent that wasn't practical for Jane. I could have gone down on my own, but having visited before I decided against it. While it's always fascinating to see what's left, I find it increasingly frustrating to see the amount of rubbish people leave behind. There are no bins at the bottom due to the steep hundred foot descent, but surely carrying an empty coffee cup or sandwich wrapper back up to the road isn't beyond the abilities of most visitors. 

Walking Down To Ocean Beach

From there we continued along the Great Highway, thankfully heading downhill rather than tackling one of San Francisco's more punishing slopes. Along the way we passed the site where Playland once stood. 

For decades it was San Francisco's answer to Coney Island — or Blackpool if you're from the UK. Roller coasters, arcades, fun houses, food stalls and the famous, slightly terrifying Laffing Sal animatronic drew huge crowds from across the Bay Area. From the 1920s through to the 1950s it was one of the city's most popular attractions and formed a core childhood memory for generations of San Franciscans. 

Playland officially closed on 4th September 1972 and was demolished later that same year to make way for housing near Ocean Beach. 

As we rolled past, I couldn't help wondering how many of the thousands of people who walk this route every week realise what once stood here. The roller coasters and laughter are long gone, replaced by houses and passing traffic, but if you know the history it's impossible not to picture what this stretch of coastline must have looked like on a busy summer afternoon half a century ago.

The Great Coleslaw Tragedy

By now it was starting to get late, so we carried on along the seafront before cutting inland to visit Safeway. This had become our favourite supermarket in the city. It seemed to sell just about everything you could possibly need and, unlike some places in San Francisco, the prices felt reasonably sensible. 

The only downside was that the aisles appeared to have been designed by someone who had never seen a shopping trolley, let alone a wheelchair. When the store was busy, navigating between the shelves could become an event in itself. 

We had been planning to pick up one of their rotisserie chickens for dinner, but disaster struck. They'd run out of coleslaw. 

Now, you can have chicken without coleslaw, technically speaking, but it just isn't right. Some things in life belong together. Fish and chips. Tea and biscuits. Chicken and coleslaw. Besides, part of me was looking forward to stinking out another bus on the journey back to the hotel. Instead, we settled for beer, snacks and a few other essentials before making the short walk to catch the 5R back towards Market Street. 

Bendy Bus

These newer 60-foot articulated trolleybuses seem even longer than the bendy buses back home. Powered by the overhead electric wires, they can accelerate with surprising enthusiasm, even on San Francisco's famously steep hills. They're also far more comfortable than they look and make for a pleasant ride across the city. 

About forty-five minutes later we arrived at Powell and Market. It was now around six o'clock, so we headed into Carl's Jr. for a chicken and bacon burger. 

This area sits right in the heart of one of the city's busiest tourist districts, but it seems to change personality as the evening approaches. The crowds thin out, the atmosphere shifts and the whole place somehow becomes more interesting. It almost feels as though the later you visit, the better it gets. 

One thing we've always tried to do when travelling is live as much like locals as possible. It helps you blend in, understand a place a little better and generally avoid drawing attention to yourself. 

What I hadn't realised, however, was that pushing a wheelchair apparently grants you instant local status. Throughout the trip people regularly stopped us to ask for directions, as though we had lived in San Francisco for years and were simply on our way home from the shops. 

Considering we'd spent most of the holiday trying not to look lost, I'd call that a success.

Reflections On The Day

Today's reflection feels less about the places we visited and more about the layers hidden beneath them. Again and again we found ourselves standing where something else once stood — ecosystems restored after being lost, grand attractions reduced to memories, battle scars preserved long after the fighting ended. It was a reminder that cities are never really static; they're constantly being rebuilt, reshaped and reimagined. 

What stayed with me most wasn't any single landmark, but the feeling that San Francisco rewards curiosity. Step away from the obvious attractions, follow a local recommendation, read the information board, take the side path, and suddenly the city reveals stories that most people walk straight past. By the end of the day, it felt a little less like we were visiting San Francisco and a little more like we were getting to know it.

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