I wasn’t sure what to expect when I decided to go to Stinson Beach for a hike. First I should explain that Stinson Beach is located in the San Francisco Bay Area or somewhere around there. I wasn’t driving to get there so I couldn’t tell you the exact location. I am so bad with directions or trying to explain where things are if I am not the one driving.
I went on this hike with some friends and it took us about an hour and a half to get there. We ended up leaving an hour later then we planned so we arrived in the area where we would be parking our cars around noon. By that time, I was ready for lunch and not a hike. LOL. But I decided to wait until we hit the beach before I ate the food I brought with me.
I wasn’t sure how long the hike would be because at first I was told it would be around 3.8 miles from the trailhead down to the beach. It ended up being closer to 3 miles. What we ended up doing was having two cars down by the beach and one car at the trailhead in case we decided to hike back up to the top. I ended up not hiking back up to the top. I probably would have hiked back up to the top if I felt we had more time to do it but with driving back home I decided not to hike back up to the trailhead.
Like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this hike. I have been on many hikes before and some of them in the heat of the day. Like 105 degree heat. Not today. The weather was overcast. It looked like it could rain at any minute. That is how it is in the Bay Area. It always looks overcast and cloudy almost every time I make a trip there. Almost ….. Not always …… Today was definitely an overcast day but it didn’t rain on us. It was hot out. It was the perfect day to go on a hike because it was cool out. Much better than the last hike I had taken where it was over 100 degrees. I had to put on a pair of sweats over my shorts to help keep me warm on this hike. The sweater I wore over my t-shirt helped as well. So much so that I was starting to get hot by the time we made it to the beach.
Back to the hike. Not what I was expecting. Not sure what I was expecting. Maybe a hike that made it straight down to the beach which this one did. But I felt like I was in the forest literally. I was surrounded by nature, by rocks, by trees, by climbing over rocks and under trees, by climbing down a metal ladder at one point so that I could continue my walk towards the beach. Over more rocks and narrow paths that I had to stop to let over hikers by because the path was too narrow for all of us to walk at the same time. Up hills and down hills until we finally made it this one point where you could see the ocean before you. You felt as if it was within arm’s reach but you knew you still had a ways to go to get there. Seeing the beach laid out before me and the stairs to climb down towards the beach made this the best hike I have ever done. From being in the forest surrounded by rocks, trees, streams, nature to the beach being what we were all here to see made the trip to get here worth it.
I was ready for lunch by the time we made it to the beach around 2:00 pm. Eating my turkey and bacon wrap, I sat down on one of the benches and reflected on the hike. Surrounded by so much beauty and away from the noise and pollution of the city was a perfect way to start the three day weekend.
After lunch, I walked down to the beach and watched the waves roll in. Too cold to put my feet in the water, I watched from where I parked myself on a towel in the sand. That was enough for me to be able to be close enough to the beach and yet far enough away from the coldness of the water. Too bad I didn’t borrow a wetsuit so I could have gone in the water.
