Point Bonita and back the way we came

June 19, 2016

Weather = Sunny & hot

Lodging = San Francisco Hostel

This morning we had to wait for the Point Bonita lighthouse to open at 12:30 p.m., so we spent some time just hanging at the hostel.

The hostel was an old military hospital. We slept in what was the old kitchen. Pity the ladies upstairs who slept in the old operating room.

By 10 a.m., Cameron was eager to do something so we rode over to visit the Marine Mammal Center which of course was at the top of a hill.
The Center rescues seals, sea lions, and other sea mammals and nurses them back to health before releasing them back in the wild.

From there we coasted back down the hill and spent some time at Rodeo Beach. It was a lovely Sunday so we were joined by quite a crowd from San Francisco.

Cameron cresting the hill back to the Point Bonita Lighthouse

By this it was closing in on lunch time, so we biked over to the Point Bonita Lighthouse parking area, locked up the bikes and headed down the track. Near the end of the track there is a tunnel and this is locked by the National Park Service when the lighthouse is closed. A fair size crowd started to assemble so we took our place in line and ate our lunch.

Waiting for the rangers to come and open the tunnel gate

At 12:30 p.m. the rangers arrived, opened the tunnel gate and worked us down to the lighthouse. We got lucky as we were part of the first 40 people that were allowed to cross the bridge and enter the lighthouse.

Seagull bums and a one legged one at that. Point Bonita Lighthouse

I have been here a few times before, but not by bike so after snapping a few photos we were on our way back to the hostel to pick up our gear and load the bikes.

Then it was back through the tunnel, making it 4 trips through this weekend. While going out is downhill, the bike lane on this side is wet and damp from water seepage and can be slippery. Also this time we headed through in the middle of the day and there was quite a bit of traffic. Glad to be out the other side.

We were directed to take the west side of the bridge as it was the weekend and discovered we did not need to carry our bags and bikes up and down stairs below the bridge like yesterday. We just followed another group of cyclists through another short underpass, up a hill then down into the west side parking area.

At Point Diablo there is a small unmanned lighthouse. Back in the day, this was maintained by the keepers at Lime Kiln Lighthouse.

Point Diablo Lighthouse in the foreground. Point Bonita Lighthouse in the distance

Looking back to Point Bonita from the Baker Beach area.

I decided to ride around to Lands End, as I was missing the stamp from Miles Rock Lighthouse.This unfortunately meant losing quite some altitude down some hills, that we knew damn well we needed to climb again to get back to the Fort Mason area where the hostel was.

By this time Cameron was feeling the burn of the hills, it was quite hot by San Francisco standards, so we took a few breaks there and back. Even stopping for a soda and chocolate bar.

Things turned better when we got to Crissy Field and the flat home stretch back to Fort Mason.

We checked into the Fisherman's Wharf Fort Baker hostel about 5 p.m. Cameron decided he wanted McDonalds, not my choice, but he had worked hard today so off we went. Burgers, fries, sodas and shakes were in order. Then we walked through the Fisherman's Wharf area, but soon the Bay Area cooling breeze came up and as we didn't bring any jackets, we headed back to the hostel.

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Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 86 miles (138 km)

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