San Francisco – Candlestick Point SRA
Candlestick Point. Looking east across the bay. Early morning.
After our whirlwind trip to England for Christmas and our few days of recovery over New Year, it was time to leave our warm cocoon, get off the couch and get some fresh air.
We decided to drive to the city and go to the Farmers Market at the Ferry Building, stopping off at Candlestick Point SRA on the way. Last time we drove to the city past Candlestick Point I remarked that I have never visited that area. Of course, Candlestick Park on Candlestick Point is the home of the San Francisco 49nrs. Tom has been here a few times to see the 49ers play and many times to see the Giants before AT&T Park was built. He remembers it as being a very windy place so we went dressed in layers and with scarfs, gloves and hats.
When we set out, it was just getting light. It was a bit hazy and the Coastal Range was completely obliterated. Driving up the peninsula, we could see the hills on the East Bay but still nothing on the right.
We turned off 101 at the Candlestick Point exit and drove towards the stadium. This is no place to come on game days. Then it is wall to wall people and the roads are all one way. But there was not another person or car in sight. All the huge car parks were completely empty.
Candlestick Point SRA is on the right, so we drove until we found an entrance. The car park is huge and there were several other cars parked there. The only other living things there when we arrived were half a dozen huge black crows, Close up they do look rather scary.
We didn’t need the scarfs, hats or gloves because it was not windy at all. In fact, although cold, if was a very pleasant sunny morning. Once out of the car, we made our way towards the water and turned left. We could see a huge crane off to the right in the distance and I thought it was on the point. So we set off to see if we could get close to it.
The park itself is not so impressive. It’s a bit shoddy and run down. There were plenty of picnic tables around and we passed one group BBQ place. There was a frost on the ground and the picnic tables were coated in white.
There are a few sea birds out on the water and the view towards the San Mateo Bridge in the bright sunlight was noteworthy.
We followed a paved path which at one point was fenced off and a new path built higher up. The old path had been partly eroded away in places.
Before long, the path turned and went back the way we had come. There was a
Cement blocks at Candlestick Point
beaten track to the right, so we took it. This was obviously and unofficial trail but looked well used. It crossed scrub land and over a band of stones encased in chicken wire. We walked between stands of fennel and the slightly licorice smell was a welcome relief. Tom said the whole area was landfill and there was a pervasive smell of methane around.
The trail twisted and turned and we had no real idea of where we would land up. At one point we passed a pile of concrete blocks placed carefully on top each other to form a sort of wall and they were covered in graffiti. At the end of the trail we came to a large car park – obviously over flow parking for Candlestick Park. It didn’t look as though it was well used though. We walked around the edge for a while and then found another trail towards what we correctly assumed to be the actual point. We discovered that the crane we had seen earlier was not in fact on the point at all.
Somehow we managed to find our way back to the graffiti covered concrete blocks and thence back to the car.
In all honesty, we cannot recommend Candlestick Point Park for it’s beauty but it is nonetheless interesting.
January 08 2009 06:51 pm | Special Places
