"Left coast" hike

I am out in San Rafael, CA (just north of San Francisco) this week for a series of Board meetings. I was trying to figure out a way to incorporate a hike into this trip. As it turns out, there's a whole lot more hiking options in this area than I imagined. *sigh* So many trails, so little time!
I arrived Sunday afternoon about noon, so I had a little free time before going to the Super Bowl party that the Board had been invited to. I grabbed few of the other Board members and we went back to the Golden Gate.

We took the short hike up to Battery Spencer. I didn't realize it was a historic site; it just looked like a nice place to take pictures of the Golden Gate bridge. Once up there, though, it was quite apparent why it was chosen as a strategic military site. It has been called "one of the most strategically important sites guarding the Golden Gate".

I threw together this quick composite panorama to give you an idea of the view (click for a larger version).





More pix here...