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Batteries to Bluffs - North Baker Beach
This trail, completed and renovated in 2007, offers views of the Golden Gate Bridge, panoramas south and west, and a groomed descent to the shoreline at North Baker Beach.
The beach area below the bluffs -- around North Baker Beach -- has been a popular nude beach and gay beach. Getting to the beach has always been kind of an unofficial challenge, including navigating obstacles like poison oak. The new trail obviously changes the access to the area.
The entire hillside has undergone excavation, removing some of the landfill left from the Presidio's years as a military post.
Batteries to Bluffs Trail Details:
- Presidio Trail Map (pdf)
- Difficulty: Easy-to-navigate trail and stairs, but downhill all the way which means an uphill climb on the way back
- Terrain: Scrub, bird habitat, willow forest
- Distance: 3/4 of a mile
- Restrictions: No dogs due to sensitive bird habitat (dog walkers can use the Coastal Trail along Lincoln Boulevard)
Batteries to Bluffs Trail Location
Access from Battery Godfrey off Lincoln Boulevard and Langdon Court on the west side of the Presidio.
See the downloadable Presidio Park & Street Map for precise location.
North Baker Beach - Nude Beach Etiquette
Betsy Malloy (About.com Guide to California Travel) writes about Baker Beach area, as well as general nude beach etiquette and legality -- for nude-beach newbies.
The photos here were taken in the winter and on a weekday.
