Sausalito Stairway Hike
View from North Ave
Sausalito Stairway Hike
Dave Weinstein
El Cerrito Trail Trekkers
Aug. 3, 2013, 4 p.m.
Dave Weinstein
El Cerrito Trail Trekkers
Aug. 3, 2013, 4 p.m.
Copyright 2013, Dave Weinstein and El Cerrito Trail Trekkers, to be used by walkers but not to be reproduced or copied digitally or published in any form whatsoever. This description is one year old; changes may have occurred along the route! Proceed with caution and at your own risk and please do not trespass.
1. Hike starts behind Sausalito City Hall and Library, at Bee Street and Bonita Street. Free unlimited street parking. Bathrooms in City Hall.
2. We encounter our first stairway here, the first of three legs of the (non-signed) Bee to Cazeneau Path, heading uphill from Bee to Girard on a concrete stair-walkway alongside a concrete drainage ditch. Already we get good views.
3. Leg two continues straight ahead, concrete stairs from Girard to Filbert Avenue.
4. Leg three, Filbert to Cazeneau, uses rickety, old wooden treads for a rural feeling, leading to a hidden trailhead on a residential court on Cazeneau Avenue. It emerges onto Cazeneau between 198 and 204 Cazenaeu.
5. Now we’ve got a lot of walking without paths or stairways, alas, but we do see some interesting houses, many of them modern. Hang a right on Cazeneau a few hundred yards to Platt Avenue, taking a left onto Platt and following it, winding a bit, to Monte Mar.
1. Hike starts behind Sausalito City Hall and Library, at Bee Street and Bonita Street. Free unlimited street parking. Bathrooms in City Hall.
2. We encounter our first stairway here, the first of three legs of the (non-signed) Bee to Cazeneau Path, heading uphill from Bee to Girard on a concrete stair-walkway alongside a concrete drainage ditch. Already we get good views.
3. Leg two continues straight ahead, concrete stairs from Girard to Filbert Avenue.
4. Leg three, Filbert to Cazeneau, uses rickety, old wooden treads for a rural feeling, leading to a hidden trailhead on a residential court on Cazeneau Avenue. It emerges onto Cazeneau between 198 and 204 Cazenaeu.
5. Now we’ve got a lot of walking without paths or stairways, alas, but we do see some interesting houses, many of them modern. Hang a right on Cazeneau a few hundred yards to Platt Avenue, taking a left onto Platt and following it, winding a bit, to Monte Mar.
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6. Hang a right onto Monte Mar, an interesting road for a while, less so at it hits Highway 101 and runs alongside it for two or three blocks, where casual carpoolers park and beer drinkers toss cans down the side of the hill.
7. But then, across from the Fire Station, the Spencer to Wolfback Ridge Road concrete steps take us to another place entirely. Discuss the nearby Wolfback Ridge, a cluster of modern homes by famous architects from the 1950s that overlooks Marin Headlands. 8. These steps take us to another stairway to our left, the Wolfback to Prospect steps, which head steeply downhill, ending on a cul-de-sac at the end of Prospect Avenue. Hang a left on Prospect, make a right onto the street-signed Cable Roadway, which starts as a concrete court a few yards away, and continue downhill on a path that starts as concrete steps then turns into a dirt path. Notice the cool neo-modern house. Cable Roadway emerges onto Sausalito Boulevard near the curve of Crescent Avenue.
Note: Cable Roadway is named for a tram that used to bring manganese downhill from a mine that was active in 1880s and ended I don’t know when. |
Obscure trailhead at 198-204 Cazeneau Avenue for Filbert to Cazeneau Path
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Second Street Stairs
Cable Roadway from Sausalito Boulevard to Central Avenue
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9. Head left, downhill on Sausalito Boulevard, past a few houses till you see on your left the way-marked Cable Roadway, a series of wooden steps heading downhill. As the steps near the bottom they become stone and emerge on Central Avenue near North Street.
10. Head left and go downhill half a block till you come to West Court, a stone stairway that at the bottom of the stairs turns into a street. Take West Court downhill. 11. Complete the first block of West Court on the sidewalk and take the next left onto Richardson Street. We’re not far from Bridgeway now, so perhaps our stairway walking is over. But no.
12. On Second Street, one block from the smiling blue waters of the bay, look left to spot one of Sausalito’s grandest yet shortest paths, the boulevard-like Second Street Stairs. Neighbors have turned these stairs into a beautiful garden. We head up, fortunately not very far, reaching North Street. 13. Hang a right on North Street, go just a few feet to the intersection with Josephine Street, see the house number “201” alongside a stairway leading downhill and take the Tiffany Park Stairs downhill to Bridgeway and lovely, petite Tiffany Park. A pathway that heads right halfway down the Tiffany Park Stairs leads to a concrete public bench and to the entries to two homes. 14. Enjoy Tiffany Park, with flowers and benches and objets d’art. 15. Head back to the starting point by walking along the Bayside trail and through downtown, pointing out Mason Garage on Bridgeway, where commuters to San Francisco once parked before boarding the ferry, and where Heath and Luther Conover produced their wares; turning into the Caledonia Street shopping district (plenty of places to eat; Arawan Thai, Ran Sushi…) and uphill via Bee. There are public bathrooms mid-way, by the Bank of America. |