Every Trail Tells a Story
Mori Ridge
Hike to the Bay Discovery Site where California’s past takes center stage
Spring wildflowers and vast coastal panoramas on a steep, satisfying climb
A ridge walk that blends natural wonder, Native history, and Cold War relics
From Pacifica, a short, sweet, and steep climb leads to Mori Ridge, Sweeney Ridge, and panoramic views from San Francisco Bay to the Marin Headlands to Mount Diablo. On the clearest days, spot the Farallon Islands, floating on the western horizon 25 miles away.
The wide, multiuse trail, sprinkled with wildflowers in spring, climbs quickly to open ridges where lupine, California poppies, yarrow, coastal iris, and paintbrush brighten the slopes. It’s a brisk ascent, but the higher you go, the wider the views become-Pacifica beneath your boots, Montara Mountain jutting straight from the sea, and the full sprawl of San Francisco visible to the north.
The path also leads to one of the most consequential historic lookouts in California-the Bay Discovery Site on Sweeney Ridge. In 1769, Spanish military officer Gaspar de Portolá and his expedition stumbled here, unintentionally. Stricken by hunger and illness, the soldiers and colonists had “missed” Monterey Bay and were deep in unfamiliar Ramaytush Ohlone territory. Local villagers fed them, helped them recover, and guided them up this ridge. From here, Europeans first glimpsed the magnificent San Francisco Bay, a vast natural harbor hidden for centuries behind the fog-shrouded Golden Gate.
For generations, the story was told as if Portolá “discovered” the bay. Today, the National Park Service offers a more honest perspective: Indigenous peoples had been here for thousands of years, thriving in a land rich in food, culture, and meaning. What happened on Sweeney Ridge in 1769 was not a discovery at all-it was a meeting of worlds, soon to be followed by colonization that forever altered the Ramaytush Ohlone way of life.
That dual legacy-expansive views and complicated history-makes the Mori Ridge walk more than just another coastal climb. It’s a chance to experience the natural drama of the Santa Cruz Mountains’ northern tip, and to pause where the past speaks as loudly as the pounding surf below.
Trailhead parking is available behind Shelldance Nursery, east of Highway 1, just south of Westport Drive.
Up you go. During winter and other times of high surf, you can hear the roarrrr of the waves pounding the beach more than a mile away. After some steep climbing, you emerge from the trees and get your first views. To the south, you can’t miss Montara Mountain that from this angle seems to rise straight out of the ocean. Below is the city of Pacifica and to the north, lie the neighborhoods on the western coast of San Francisco.
As you climb Mori Ridge, San Francisco’s East Bay comes into view, backed by the Oakland-Berkeley Hills and farther back, by mighty Mount Diablo. After a mile of rigorous ascent, the trail levels. Along Sweeney Ridge, learn more strange history from the 1950s Cold War in the form of Nike anti-aircraft missile stations, then hike on until you reach the Discovery Site.