Location: Angel Island State Park, San Francisco Bay, CA
Distance: 5.9 miles
Type: Day-hike
Rating: Easy
Permits & Fees: No permit required, only a $15 fee to take the Tiburon Ferry to and from Angel Island and a $12-$20 parking fee depending on how long your visit is.
Preparation
Research was key when planning for the Mt. Livermore hike. I had never been to Angel Island before, let alone knew that there was a hiking trail. First, we had to figure out how to get there. From Tiburon, we took the Angel Island Ferry; a 10-minute ride to the island. There is also a ferry, the Blue and Gold Fleet ferry, from San Francisco’s Pier 41, which is about $1 more. You can find information here.
We planned for a cold, fall day, but instead we were surprised with warm and sunny weather. We brought a day-pack, water, sunscreen and jackets (although they weren’t needed).
The Hike
We arrived in Tiburon, CA around 12:30 p.m. and found the ferry Angel Island Ferry not too far from where we parked (at the end of Main Street). We boarded the ferry at 1:00 p.m. and arrived at Angel Island around 1:20 p.m. On the ferry ride over, we noticed army jets flying overhead. We didn’t think anything of it until we heard someone mention “Blue Angels”. We planned this hike the day of the Fleet Week SF Air Show without even realizing it and were lucky enough to watch them perform while hiking!
Once we departed the ferry, we took a left and saw this sign which marks the beginning of the North Ridge Trail (the first of two trails used to complete the hike):
From here, there’s a steep climb to a set of old, wooden stairs that look like this:
After we reached the top of the stairs, we came across a road. Once we got to this road, we saw a sign on the other side, and from there, the hike began.
The hike was fairly easier than I anticipated and had, by far, some of the best views I’ve seen on a day-hike. The trail was shaded for the majority of the first segment of the hike and we stopped several times to take pictures. We arrived at a fork in the trail less than an hour in and came across this sign:
From this sign, it’s only a short distance to the summit, and before we knew it, we were at the top. The views were absolutely stunning. We could see the Bay Bridge, the city of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. We also caught an great view of the Blue Angels performing overhead.
After hanging out at the top for a little while, we began our descent down the mountain until we reached the fork again. This time, we continued on to the Sunset Trail. This trail took us around the other side of the island, and we were able to see the bridges and city again. Once we reached the end of the trail, we came across a paved road and followed it down to the dock where the ferry boards. Luckily, the ferry was running a little late, so we were able to catch it right at 3:30 p.m. In total, the hike took us 2 hours to complete (we were booking it!). We took the ferry back to Tiburon and drove home.
