The hook
The classic Golden Gate view from the sand, a disappearing cannon in the dunes behind it, and the beach where Burning Man started with twenty people and an eight-foot wooden man.
01Why it's worth it
Baker Beach runs along the channel just inside the Golden Gate, in the Presidio, and it hands you the postcard: the bridge framed by cypress and surf, the Marin Headlands beyond. The north end is clothing-optional and the most isolated stretch of sand in the city. Behind the beach sits Battery Chamberlin, a 1904 coastal-defense emplacement with a "disappearing" six-inch gun that drops back behind its wall after firing, still there to see. And in June 1986, on the solstice, a handful of friends burned a wooden figure on the north end while about twenty people watched. That was the first Burning Man, which grew until it outgrew the beach and moved to the Nevada desert in 1990. Don't swim, the currents here are lethal, but few SF beaches pack this much into one stretch of sand.
02How to experience it
It's in the Presidio off Bowley and Gibson roads, a few minutes from the bridge. Free, though parking fills on warm weekends. Head to the north end for the quiet and the best bridge view, and to Battery Chamberlin for the gun, which volunteers still demonstrate one weekend a month. Bring layers; it's cold and windy, and again, no swimming.