Ocean hikes are always great, and the rugged California coastline is one of the best places to do them! Big Sur may be more famous, but there are actually a ton of awesome coastal hikes right in the Bay Area. The Spine Trail just north of Half Moon Bay is one of these.
Beginning just off Highway 1, this hike will take you up a steep and rugged ridgeline as you climb away from the ocean towards the peaks of the San Francisco Peninsula. The weather here is notoriously foggy, but when you can get here on a nice day, the ocean views combined with the rugged hills make for a stunning place to explore!
Miles/Elevation:
7.1 miles
1,358 feet vertical gain
About Golden Gate National Recreation Area:
Named for the stretch of water which enters into the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a National Parks Service run area protecting natural environments and historic locations. At just over 82,000 acres, this “park” has tons of open space and places to enjoy the outdoors. Even with all that space, it can feel busy at times. This is because Golden Gate hosts over 17 million visitors a year!
While all the land in Golden Gate is all technically a part of the same park, the area is functionally split into many different parks and locales. Examples include the Marin Headlands just north of the Golden Gate, Muir Woods National Monument, Alcatraz Island, the Presidio of San Francisco, Rancho Corral de Tierra, and many more. Together, these unique and wildly different places create one of the greatest urban parks in the world!
Getting To The Trailhead:
Help keep nature pristine. Follow Leave No Trace!
The trailhead for the Spine Trail is just off Highway 1 north of Half Moon Bay. To reach Half Moon Bay and the coast, most will likely take Highway 92. Once on Highway 1, head north from Half Moon Bay or south from Pacifica. Near the southern end of Moss Beach, turn off 1 onto Etheldore Street. The trail begins by following Ranch Road, just a few hundred feet off Highway 1. There is parking along Etheldore. Make sure to park fully off the road.
Tips:
- Avoid hiking here on warm days. There is no shade at all on the climbs, and even in 60 degree weather we were warm.
- Wear shoes with good traction. The trail is steep and loose in spots.
- Check the weather in Half Moon Bay first.
The Spine Trail:
Up The Spine:
From your parking spot on the side of Etheldore, follow Ranch Road as it heads away from the ocean. You’ll have a decent walk along Ranch Road. Be careful of traffic and stay alert for cars. This is an in use road, and we had 3-5 cars pass us each way.
As you pass horse stables and riding areas, you will eventually reach the end of the road. At the terminus, a gate blocks the way forward. Look for the small pedestrian bypass and continue into the ranch itself.
Always follow basic trail etiquette when you’re hiking!
Beyond the gate, take a hard right. There are some signs here, but it does feel weird walking through an active ranch, especially when there are lots of people around riding horses! Continue past the buildings, and then begin on the actual trail!
Ascend above the ranch, and you will quickly enter into the coastal chaparral that this entire area is covered in. After a left hand turn though, you will find yourself in a dense stand of trees. You’ll find both pines and eucalyptus here, and the incline remains steep.
After a few minutes in the trees, you’ll once again find yourself surrounded by dense chaparral. We had another pleasant change: the sun was shining! By this point we had ascended above the coastal fog layer, and had bluebird clear skies above! Looking back towards the coast the fog was still visible, basically at eye level, but we were in the sun!
Being out of the fog was great, and I’m not really a fan of hiking in gray, dreary, conditions, but that meant we were in the hot sun. And when I say hot, I mean the sun was hot. Air temperatures were probably only in the low 60’s, but we would have almost no shade to speak of until we made it back down to the trees and the fog.
Now that we were out of the fog and trees, we had a clear view of the route ahead. The Spine Trail follows a ridgeline (basically a spine) up and away from the coast and towards the ridges above. While you’re hiking, much of that trail is visible!
On the ridgeline, you’ll be climbing steeply pretty consistently. However, the climbing isn’t on a nice consistent grade. Rather, the trail climbs steeply, levels off, maybe descends a bit, climbs steeply again, and so on and so forth.
The actual elevation gain on this hike isn’t really that much, only about 1,300 feet, but it largely comes in short and steep bouts. That combined with the intense sunshine made for a surprisingly tough climb!
Adding to the difficulty is the trail quality. While the trail isn’t overgrown and is not totally washed out, this is far from a well manicured trail. On the steep spots, the dry, loose, dirt can be extremely slippery. This isn’t so much of a problem on the hike up, but it really made some stretches on the descent tedious and stressful!
Being able to see the trail ahead is both a blessing and a curse because while you know what’s coming, you also know what you still have to do! Before long though, we were approaching the ridgeline ahead, and then, just as we were seemingly about to ascend the final couple hundred of feet, the trail just stopped.
I thought we were going to make it to the top of the ridge, but the trail simply ended maybe 5-10 minutes away. Honestly you could probably climb up to the ridge in less than 10 minutes if a trail existed, but it seemed to end. There looked to be a light use trail, but we didn’t really feel like continuing on and bushwhacking through the brush!
For the best Bay Area hike, check out this route form Muir Woods to the summit of Mt Tamalpais!
The view from the top is nice, but really is more of the same as the entire hike. Since there’s no tree cover and you spend most of the hike on a ridge, there are expansive views nearly the entire time. The views are good, but with the fog we couldn’t see the ocean, and the hills and ridges above are cool but not special.
Hiking Down:
From the top, the return hike is an easy trip straight back down. No route finding is necessary here, just follow the path!
The biggest challenge with the hike back is the loose trail, especially near the top. The steepest sections are covered in loose gravel and bits of dried dirt that aren’t exactly the most stable of foothing. Take it slow and you should be fine, and even if you slip you aren’t going anywhere, it’ll just be an annoying fall!
One of the reasons we did this hike was to find the swing that overlooks the ocean, and we still hadn’t found it. We figured it would be at the top, but we didn’t see a swing, and we didn’t really even see any trees that could support a swing! So, after doing some impromptu research on the trail, we set off back down the trail with an idea of where to find it.
The swing is just above the large stand of trees near the base of the ridge. If you want to just visit the swing, hike up through the trees, and then look to the right as you begin leaving the stand and entering the chaparral. On our way down, the swing was just a few feet off the trail on our left!
The swing was really cool! Set near the edge of a hilltop maybe a couple hundred feet above the coastline below, the view is pretty awesome! With the fog, we couldn’t quite see the Pacific, but the fog added a cool ambiance, and we could at least see the hills beyond!
From the swing you’re nearly back. Follow the trail through the trees, down to the ranch, and then along the road back to your car. Then, you’re done!
Topdown Lifestyle Rating: 8/10
This is a very nice hike with excellent views nearly throughout. However, it isn’t anything special. The trail quality generally is bad. You spend about a mile walking along an in use gravel road. When it gets steep, the trail simply goes straight up on washed out, loose, gravel. There isn’t really a good final destination. The trail kind of just, stops.
Overall, this is a nice hike with very good views, but everything else about it drags it down. Definitely worth doing, but far from a bucket list level hike.
Pros:
- Great views
- Ocean views
- Cool swing
Cons:
- Weird trailhead access
- Steep and washed out trails
- Very little shade
Alternative Hikes:
The Whittemore Gulch and Harkins Ridge Loop
When To Hike The Spine Trail:
This is a place you can visit all year long, and you could get great weather any day of the year, or you could get rough weather any day of the year! That’s kind of the great thing about the northern California Coast, and the terrible thing! You’ll get amazing days in winter, and you’ll get nasty days in summer!
I would mostly say the best time to visit is a day calling for clear weather in Half Moon Bay or Pacifica, but to be more general, spring or fall are probably the best times of year to visit. Summer generally brings lots of fog, and winter brings rain and storms. Fall especially is a beautiful time to visit, but anytime of year, check the weather, and look for sunshine!
Links For Further Reading:
Spine Trail (Sully’s Trail) | Map, Guide – California | AllTrails
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