The hook
The only fully restored Nike missile base in the country, where docents raise an actual Cold War nuclear missile out of its silo for you.
01Why it's worth it
Hidden among the bunkers of the Marin Headlands sits SF-88, the most completely restored of the roughly 300 Nike missile sites the Army built to shoot down Soviet bombers. Unlike the graffiti'd ruin down in Pacifica, this one has been painstakingly rebuilt by veterans and volunteers, and on open days they walk you through the radar and control room and the underground magazine, then raise a real, deactivated Nike missile up the elevator and tip it to firing position, exactly as they once drilled to do at a moment's notice. The docents are often veterans who served on these very systems. It's free, deeply strange, and one of the most tangible Cold War experiences going, a doomsday weapon demonstrated in the middle of a beautiful national park.
02How to experience it
It's at Fort Barry in the Marin Headlands, run by the Park Service and veteran volunteers on scheduled open days (typically weekends), free. Check the NPS schedule; the missile-raising demo is the thing to catch. Pair it with the Headlands viewpoints and Point Bonita Lighthouse.