Hiking--Marin Headlands

A few weeks ago there was a clearing of the fog so we took the kids on a short hike in the Marin Headlands...the hills overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.  I've been wanting to take them on shorter hikes for a while.  I feel they are "city kids" and we need to be intentional about getting them out into nature. The first stop was the battery overlooking the Bridge. Timo had a blast looking at where the canons used to be and all the bunkers that remain. We walked up and down hills, in and out of tunnels and watched the fog clear out over the bridge.

We even got to watch this cool Navy ship pull out under the GG Bridge.

Then we drove out to the lighthouse...you park and hike out over these rocks to get to the Bonita Lighthouse at the very tip.

Timo and Cameron were so into the "hiking".  Timo kept saying over and over how much fun he was having.  This was our first extensive hike with the children...I have this fear of getting all the way in and having to carry them all the way out.  So before we started this big hike out to the lighthouse, we all agreed to the terms that they would walk themselves the whole way...THERE AND BACK.  Filled with excitement, we headed off!  Such beautiful sights to see...sea lions, crashing waves, huge boulders, hearing buoys ring in the distance and picked un numerous sticks and rocks along the way.  The first part of the hike was downhill...so it seemed easy.

Unfortunately we missed the gate to the lighthouse by 10min.  They close the door leading out at 3pm.  Bummer.

So we headed back up hill to go see the Nike Missile area.  Timo was a champ hiking back up.  Cameron had a little harder time.  But they both did it, without being carried.

As we were coming back up hill we noticed the fog starting to roll back in over the bay.  We took that as our cue to head home.  We drove around the Headlands a little longer, looking at all the trails we wanted to come back and hike.  I see much more hiking in our future!