4 Holiday Hikes to Explore the San Francisco Presidio, From Stunning Views to Historic Trails

If there’s one thing about San Francisco that’s unwaveringly impressive, it’s the city’s parks. Every resident has access to some kind of park within a 10-minute walk.

And the west side of the city is particularly blessed — between sprawling Golden Gate Park (it’s bigger than Manhattan’s Central Park) and the Presidio, there are more than 4,000 acres of parkland in the city’s boundaries.

While Golden Gate Park boasts ample museums and is perfect for a long stroll, if you’re really trying to immerse yourself in nature, consider taking your next hike this holiday weekend to the Presidio, where wildness can be found around every corner.

A former U.S. Army site turned national park, the Presidio can feel shockingly wild for how urban it is. Getting lost in its tangles of cypress, redwood and eucalyptus trees is easy to do.

You may even see its infamous coyotes, which inhabit the area and are often responsible for seasonal trail closures.

The Presidio’s sheer size, however, can be initially daunting for many would-be explorers. Perhaps you’ve only visited Andy Goldsworthy’s ever-decaying Wood Line while traveling on Lover’s Lane, allegedly San Francisco’s oldest footpath. Or maybe you’ve taken on the popular Batteries to Bluffs trail, or the stroll from Crissy Field along Golden Gate Promenade to Fort Point and the iconic bridge itself.

But head inland a bit and you’ll discover the park has far more than meets the eye, including a network of trails that take you through its most hidden, and some of its best, spots. Read on for four of the best hikes to discover the Presidio, from incredible views to off-the-beaten-path finds.

A word about safety: The Presidio is home to an active coyote population, so some sections of the park, like sections of the Park Trail and the Bay Area Ridge Trail, are closed to dogs in certain seasons to prevent dog-coyote conflicts. Remember to check for closures before heading out, keep your dog leashed and abide by all posted signs.

For a Presidio hike with a ‘wilderness’ feel: The Ecology Trail

One of the park’s shortest but most immersive trails is the Ecology Trail, which winds around a southeastern segment of the park and takes hikers through redwoods, native grasslands and even coastal wetland habitat.

The upper trail is pedestrian only, while the lower trail allows bikes. Stop at Inspiration Point Overlook for one of the best views in the park, overlooking Angel Island, the Palace of Fine Arts and Alcatraz.

Along the way, don’t forget to detour to El Polín Spring, a natural spring that was foundational to the Indigenous people who lived in the area and the Spanish and U.S. armies who later occupied it.

Part of the Tennessee Hollow Watershed, the site of the spring was also home to Doña Juana Briones de Miranda, among the first settlers of then-Yerba Buena, who lived there with her family in the 1800s.

Presidio Trust spokesperson Lisa Petrie said when the park was first established, cleaning up and restoring native habitat to the spring and the surrounding ecosystem was a high priority.

Now, everything from great horned owls to frogs and even turtles can be found there, and it’s also the site used to first reintroduce species that have been threatened back into the landscape.

“When the habitat was planted there, the area just started to thrive,” she said.

To get to the spring from the south, a zig-zagging trail winds downhill through scrubland to a boardwalk and the entrance of the spring, tucked away inside a sheltered oak-tree wildlife hub. Here, you’ll also find a “field station” housing materials for kids to learn about the spring.

Nearby signage, which details the importance of the water to native species and the people who lived nearby, encourages visitors to slow down and listen to the birds and the wind as it moves through the three main habitats of the area — wetland, coastal scrub and grassland.

“It just makes you feel like you’re in the wilderness,” Petrie said.

By the numbers: The Ecology Trail is 1.4 miles in total and takes about half an hour to complete, but adding on a detour to El Polín Spring will tack on another 15–20 minutes or so.

For a Presidio hike with history: The Park Trail

Bisecting the park north-south is the Park Trail, which winds adjacent to the San Francisco National Cemetery, up to the Presidio Golf Course, around Mountain Lake and terminating at the former U.S. Marine Hospital — which is now housing for Presidio residents.

One major highlight of the trail is a quick detour to the National Cemetery Overlook, also accessible via the Bay Area Ridge Trail. The forest here is dense with green foliage and ivy crawling up eucalyptus trees. Above the cemetery is a place to sit and reflect or meander through a World War I monument adorned with excerpts from Archibald MacLeish’s poem The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak.

Calvin Anderson, a San Francisco resident who was out walking to the overlook, said his son goes to school not too far away — so he often comes out to Inspiration Point and the Cemetery Overlook, both for the history and the views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

“I even have it tattooed on my arm,” he said of the bridge.

It’s not the only homage along this trail to those lost. At its northernmost end, you’ll find a pet cemetery. Then, as the Park Trail winds its way south, it passes near the Marine Cemetery Vista overlooking the park’s dune habitat, which honors merchant mariners who died at the nearby Marine Hospital, whose graves were rediscovered in 1989.

By the numbers: The Park Trail winds north to south for 1.7 miles in total. Add on detours to the National Cemetery Overlook and Marine Cemetery Vista, and it’ll come out closer to 2–2.5 miles for a little under an hour of walking.

For a Presidio hike with art: The Bay Area Ridge Trail

The Bay Area Ridge Trail is a more than 500-mile network of trails that creates a ring around the entire Bay Area — and its Presidio segment is a highlight.

Near its southern start, the trail passes next to another Andy Goldsworthy sculpture called Spire. The artist built this artwork from 37 Monterey cypress trees that had to be removed during the park’s restoration, and it’s now surrounded by new trees planted at the time.

As well as being an arresting sight, Spire is “almost acting like a measuring stick to see the natural progression of the new trees that were planted,” Petrie said. “It’s just a striking moment to be able to consider the various life cycles of trees.”

In addition to the National Cemetery Overlook, along the way you’ll skirt the Presidio Golf Course — as well as the Rob Hill Campground, the highest point in the Presidio, which until recently was the only campground within the city. During World War II, it was a lookout that then became a campground maintained by the Boy Scouts.

Today, it welcomes up to 30 people at each site during the summer months. Rob Hill Group Campground reservations get snapped up quickly on weekends, but tend to be easy to get on weekdays.

Behind the sites themselves is a dune restoration site and a forest with a fire circle. Petrie said if the weather is right, at nighttime while camping, you may even see stars and hear the evocative foghorn in the distance.

“You can also really hear the great horned owls up there,” she said.

By the numbers: The total length of this section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail is just 2.5 miles, and takes just under an hour to complete from one end to the other. If you’re planning to hike it point to point, it’s easily accessible by public transit on both ends via the 1 Muni bus from the south and the 28 from the north near the Golden Gate Bridge. Reservations at Rob Hill Campground cost $92 per night on weekdays and $240 on weekends.

For a Presidio hike with stunning views: Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail

The 1,200-mile Juan Bautista de Anza Historic Trail crosses three states and even an international border, following the colonizer’s route from Sonora, Mexico, to San Francisco in 1776.

Luckily for you, its Presidio segment is just under three miles long, following the expedition’s route from Mountain Lake to the Golden Gate Bridge, with a whole lot of vistas along the way.

In total, the park has eight scenic overlooks, which Petrie said were key to transforming the Presidio from a military base to a national park site.

The least assuming but most unique is the Lobos Valley Overlook, which gives a rare west-facing view of Sea Cliff and the Legion of Honor Museum beyond.

Then, Immigrant Point Overlook perches hikers above the Batteries-to-Bluffs trails, where the expanse of the Pacific Ocean beyond dominates the view, honoring immigrants to the United States who landed on these shores.

You’ll also encounter the dramatic Pacific Overlook and its hidden picnic tables, and the Golden Gate Overlook, which Petrie highlighted as one of the most “unusual, head-on” views of the bridge in the park.

While most of the trails in the park are up to two to three miles maximum, Petrie encouraged hikers to get creative to make a full day out of it.

“It’s amazing how you can do loops and put the trails together,” Petrie said.

By the numbers: At almost three miles, this section of trail takes around an hour to complete. Don’t forget to stop at Mountain Lake on your way out for a chance to spot birds and frogs at one of the city’s last natural lakes.