Crissy Field to the Golden Gate

East Beach

The eastern end of Crissy Field, a sandy beach with views across the bay to Alcatraz and Angel Island. The Golden Gate Promenade starts here.

You're standing on East Beach, the eastern edge of Crissy Field. Ahead of you, the Golden Gate Promenade stretches west for a mile and a half, flat and paved, with the bay on your left and a wide grassy lawn on your right. Straight ahead, still distant, the Golden Gate Bridge rises between the headlands. This spot has been a shoreline for thousands of years.

The Ramaytush Ohlone gathered shellfish here and held ceremonies on the sand; archaeologists found a shellmound nearby that dates back to 740 AD. In 1915, the city filled the tidal marsh behind you to host the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a world's fair that drew 18 million visitors. After the fair closed, the army turned the fill into an airfield named for Major Dana Crissy, who died on a transcontinental flight in 1919. For most of the twentieth century this was a working military base.

By the 1990s it was a derelict concrete lot. The restoration you see around you, completed in 2001, removed 87,000 tons of hazardous material and rebuilt the dunes, the marsh, and the beach. When you're ready, face the bridge and follow the paved path west. The tidal marsh will open on your left in a few minutes.

Crissy Marsh

An 18-acre restored tidal wetland where fresh water from the Presidio meets the salt water of the bay. A boardwalk crosses the marsh; nearly 100 bird species stop here on the Pacific Flyway.

The marsh in front of you did not exist twenty-five years ago. This was asphalt. The army had paved over the original wetlands decades earlier, and when the National Park Service took over in 1994, the site was a contaminated brownfield. Between 1998 and 2000, crews excavated 230,000 cubic yards of fill, removed 87,000 tons of hazardous waste, and dug a channel to reconnect this basin to the bay.

In November 1999, the tide flowed in for the first time in a hundred years. The birds came back almost immediately. Before the channel was even finished, shorebirds that had not been seen here in decades began stopping on their migration. Today, herons stalk the shallows, egrets pick along the mudflats, and ducks dabble in the open water.

More than a hundred species have been recorded. The marsh is a rest stop on the Pacific Flyway, the migratory highway that runs from South America to the Arctic. Walk out onto the boardwalk if you like. Look for the small fish called jack smelt flicking near the surface, or the holes in the mud that mark where bay shrimp and crabs burrow.

When you're ready to move on, continue west on the promenade. The Warming Hut is about ten minutes ahead.

Warming Hut

A 1909 wood-frame storehouse turned café and bookstore at the western edge of Crissy Field. Hot drinks, park gifts, and a clear view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

You're at the Warming Hut, a 1909 structure that began life as a US Army Engineer Storehouse. During both world wars it held mines. When Crissy Field was restored in 2001, the building was lifted by crane so a new foundation could be poured beneath it. The floor inside is fir salvaged from a tree-thinning project in Oregon.

The insulation in the walls is ground-up denim from old jeans. About half the original wood was saved and reused. Step inside for a coffee or a look at the historical photos on the walls. The café menu was developed by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse.

All proceeds support the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. From the deck outside, you can see Alcatraz to the east and the Golden Gate Bridge to the west. The fort you can make out at the base of the bridge is your next stop. When you're ready, follow the promenade as it curves toward the bridge.

Fort Point is about seven minutes ahead.