Ted's Hiking World Muir Beach Loop
Golden Gate National Recreation Area

September 3, 2024

Well, thanks a lot, guys.  This one could have been scheduled better, but we survived.

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Nowhere to go but up

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First view of the ocean

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That behemoth in the San Francisco skyline is the Salesforce Tower, tallest in town at 1070'

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Smooth Cat's Ear

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That was a non-stop 750-foot climb

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The community of Muir Beach

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The Mount Tamalpais "Golfball"

Actually, it is one of two inflated nylon/rubber domes, kept taut by air pressure, that sheltered military radar antennas.  Built in 1951 during the Korean War at the height of the McCarthy era as part of a Cold War system designed to detect imagined incoming Russian ICBMs or bombers, the radar had a 360-degree range of 200 miles.  Operators watching the radar screen, if they could not immediately identify incoming aircraft, telephoned nearby Hamilton Field, and seconds later, fighter jets scrambled to intercept the arrivals.  This happened about ten times each day on average at a cost of many millions of dollars, but of course no hostile vessels ever were encountered.

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It's a 900-foot descent to the beach

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Bull Thistle *
Poison Hemlock

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Preview of the return route

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Sticky Monkeyflower *
Coyote Brush

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Nice doggie

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Muir Beach appears

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Getting a full tan

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Starting back

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Cow Parsnip *
Wild Teasel

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So long to the beach

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This route is much more scenic

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Everlasting Pea

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California Blackberry *
Pacific Poison Oak

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Where we were

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Cow Parsnip

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Oh, No!  More downs and ups

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Pirates Cove

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Montbretia

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The route becomes rough

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Steps are better than no steps

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Bristly Oxtongue *
Pacific Aster

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Ted's Gang

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Overlooking western San Francisco

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Finally, a downhill run

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Tennessee Cove

This area is named after the S.S. Tennessee, a mail steamship that ran aground at nearby Tagus Beach in Bolinas Bay on March 6, 1853, due to dense fog.  All 550 passengers climbed safely onto the beach, and the mail and other important cargo were salvaged before the ship was abandoned and broke up.  Remnants of the ship still can be seen during low tide during some winter days on the south end of the beach.

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The final stretch

My GPS had a hiccup today; so use this Google Earth rendition created last year, but ignoring the spur route down to Tennessee Beach:

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Go here for a different perspective on this walk, taken exactly a year ago under different weather conditions:  Muir Beach Walk, September 3, 2023

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