San Francisco to Half Moon Bay State Beach, California

The Streets of San Francisco

Friday, May 16, 2014
San Francisco to Half Moon Bay State Beach, California
36 miles

I woke up early in the morning because of a disgusting smell in our room.  Fearing a dead animal, I tentatively looked around, only to realize that the disgusting smell was our gear!  So, we got moving bright and early and made our way to The Missing Sock laundry mat in the Presidio area of San Francisco.  I am sure others will tell more glamorous stories of their visits to San Fran, but as Rob always says, "the key to happiness is clean, dry socks" and so we found ourselves doing laundry.

Dressed for success in clean clothes we spent the majority of the day exploring San Fran.  We explored the Presidio - even more impressive in daylight and made our way back to the bridge to spend just a few more minutes taking it all in.  The weather was glorious so we had great views of downtown, the bridge, Alcatraz and the Bay Area.

Time flew by all too quickly, and we knew we needed to get back on our bikes if we were to make Half Moon Bay by dark, so we bid farewell to San Francisco and began to negotiate our way back to Highway 1 and the coastal route south.

We left the Bay and hit the breakers where we found a wonderful bike path along the beach.  Our only obstacle was sand....we would be flying along when all of a sudden sand would be covering the path and we grind to a full stop.  What a fantastic problem to have.

On our way out of town we stopped in to Fort Funston which appeared to be the epicentre for hang-gliding.  We were fascinated as we watched the hang gliders soar above the ocean.  We watched a successful launch and a not so successful landing.  Great stuff!

Fort Funston - home of the Fellow Feathers Hang Gliding Club

On our final leg along the coast we were stopped double checking directions, when yet another stranger offered help.  He was in the middle of his work out, yet took the time to chat.  He gave us great directions for an upcoming bike path and some tips on ways to face the Devil's Slide, including a mile long downhill run through a tunnel - complete with a large bike friendly shoulder.

After surviving Devil's Slide it was clear sailing to the campground.....big shoulders, bike paths and FLAT.  We find ourselves camped once again beside the beach with the sound of the waves crashing in.

Hiker.biker site at Half Moon Bay

Giggle of the day:

As we were wondering the streets of San Francisco, we literally bumped into Andy and Taylor, the outdoor educators we had shared a campsite with on the Avenue of Giants.  We exchanged hearty handshakes and laughed....what are the odds of meeting again in downtown San Francisco!