On an early Sunday morning at around 7:30 AM, three total scouts and two adults arrived at the Scout House to leave for our hike. We began by walking down the pier where we saw a ton of locals on morning runs. We were excited and ready to go as we started down the pier.
There were many tourist attractions such as museums and even the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory near the pier. At the start of our hike, we thought the weather would be pretty chilly based on the weather forecast. But we were soon to be proved wrong- while it was foggy, it was definitely much warmer than we’d expected. After around two hours of walking down flat streets, we soon had to go uphill as we entered the Presidio National Park Site. Still energized, we decided to race each other up hills, enjoying ourselves in the surprisingly nice weather. At that point, we were all pretty tired under the hot sun and we took a quick break from all of the walking. Time passed by fast and we all had enough water and tons of snacks to share!
In Presidio, we took the Wood Line trail that shielded us from the sun, and we all had fun trying to balance on tree trunks as we continued our hike. At this point, we could see the top of the Golden Gate Bridge under a cloud of fog. After a few hills, we reached the streets. In this area, we say homes, schools, stores, and more museums. We were all hot, but we weren’t that tired and were still having a great time with each other and fooling around.
At around noon, we stopped at a bench in Golden Gate Park to eat lunch. We were all thinking about finishing our hike on the ferry ride. The ferry would leave at 5:15 PM, and we were unsure if we were going to be able to make it. However, putting that aside, we continued to hike, where to passed the California Academy of Science, the de Young Museum, and many statues.
After yet another hour, we passed by the Outside Lands Concert and we played Taylor Swift music to motivate us to walk faster. Soon after, the sunny sky turned into fog as we got higher in elevation. We stopped by a small store to buy some snacks and candy before continuing onward to Baker Beach. Once we got there, we took a break in the hot sand and rested our feet.
A couple of hours later, we finally crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and it was really windy and foggy. After passing the bridge, the fog cleared up and we were able to see other ferries speeding by. With only an hour to go, we were all motivated to get to the pier in time. Our legs hurt more with every step, but we knew that we were almost there!
After all of our complaining, we were finally able to reach the pier with fifteen minutes to spare! Our legs were aching, but we were all relieved when we sat down on the ship, with around thirty minutes of rest. We were all exhausted, and we enjoyed the remainder of our snacks with one another.
While the hike was definitely painful at times, I think it was a really good experience to have in scouting. I definitely recommend other scouts (and parents!) to do this hike at least once.
