Sweeney Ridge

Unlike most California coastal locales, San Francisco Bay was discovered by hikers, not sailors. The bay’s infamous fog, and its narrow opening had concealed it from passing ships for two centuries when Captain Gaspar de Portolá sighted it on November 4, 1769.

The actual discovery site is atop Sweeney Ridge above the town of Pacifica. At first Portolá was miffed by his discovery because he realized that his expedition had overshot its intended destination of Monterey Bay. He soon realized, however, that he had stumbled upon one of the world’s great natural harbors-though he may have grumbled about it to the end of his days.

But the old textbook version of this tale leaves out the real heroes: the Ramaytush Ohlone. Portolá and his bedraggled company were sick, hungry, and frankly lost when they arrived in Ohlone territory. It was the local villagers who fed them, nursed them back to health, and guided them up this ridge. Without that generosity, Spain’s “discovery” would have been nothing more than a brief footnote in survival mishaps. As the National Park Service now interprets it: the land was never “empty,” waiting to be discovered. It was home to thriving cultures with long histories, whose lives were soon upended by colonization.

Fast-forward a couple of centuries and Sweeney Ridge nearly faced a different kind of conquest-bulldozers and subdivisions. In the 1960s, developers eyed this ridgetop for houses and freeways. Fortunately, Bay Area conservationists, aided by the formidable Congressman Phillip Burton, rallied to save the land. Thanks to their persistence, the thousand-acre ridge became part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, preserved as open space rather than paved-over suburbia.

Sweeney Ridge today is a study in contrasts. In spring, the slopes glow with lupine, poppies, cream cups, and goldfields, painting a cheerful scene. On foggy mornings, coastal scrub and grasslands are bathed in eerie light, while in the afternoon the wind kicks up so fiercely you’ll wonder if Portolá’s hat (and perhaps yours) is still flying somewhere over the bay.

And then there are the views-big, bold, and unforgettable. From one ridge you can sweep your gaze from Mount Tamalpais to Mount Diablo, with the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, and the Farallon Islands anchoring the horizon. It’s little wonder hikers return here again and again; every day on Sweeney Ridge offers a new version of the same magnificent panorama.