Lands End is San Francisco’s wildest and rockiest coast. Trails at Lands End offer a cliff-top walk through shadowy cypress, with scenic overlooks, 30-mile views of the coast, and foot access to several shoreline pocket beaches.

VISIT LANDS END: TIPS AND HIGHLIGHTS

• Walk north along the edge of the city—and the western edge of the continent—on the Coastal Trail.
• From above, survey the shipwrecks of the Lyman Stewart and Frank Buck near Mile Rock.
• Scan San Francisco from the Palace of the Legion of Honor overlook and return via the El Camino Del Mar Trail.
• Check out the memorial to the USS San Francisco—a WWII cruiser that sustained 45 hits and 25 fires during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942—and the newly improved adjacent overlook.
• The West Fort Miley batteries offer a grassy picnic area among three turn-of-the-century gun emplacements and a view of Ocean Beach.
• The drive-in vista point at Point Lobos and 48th avenues above the Cliff House presents grand views of the Pacific coast.

Capital renovations made in 2006 to Lands End and the Sutro Historic District have made trails wheelchair-accessible from the Merrie Way parking lot, visible from the intersection of Point Lobos and 48th avenues above the Cliff House. Additional parking, with stair access to the trails, is located in the Vista Point parking lot at the end of El Camino Del Mar.

The Spanish named Lands End’s westernmost promontory “Point Lobos,” so-called for the many lobos marinos (sea wolves, or sea lions as they are known today) that once hauled up on the rocks offshore. The rocks are now roosts for two dark bird species, cormorants and oystercatchers, among others.

Ferries and Cliff House Railroad
Long ago, San Franciscans had to travel on horseback or by carriage to spend a day at the seaside. By the 1880s, however, the Cliff House Railroad was in place, bringing the seaside within easy reach of the local populace.

Shipwreck Overlooks
Looking down at the rocky shoreline from Lands End, you can see the remains of three shipwrecks. When the freighter Ohioan struck Point Lobos on a foggy night back in 1937, her steel hull hit the rocks so hard that sparks illuminated the night. In 1922 and 1937, the Lyman Stewart and the Frank Buck each ended their days on the exact same rock off Lands End. Ironically, these two tankers also began their days together, side by side in the same shipyard. To see the freighter Ohioan’s stern post and boilers at low tide, take the stairs down from the Merrie Way parking lot and look over the edge of the northwest vista point. To see the Lyman Stewart’s triple expansion steam engine and the Frank Buck's stern post and steam engine, keep an eye out as you walk the Coastal Trail between the Vista Point and the Palace of the Legion of Honor.