• Tips for Visitors
• Nature
• History
• Crissy Field Center Temporary Relocation

The restored Crissy Field is a favorite with locals and visitors alike, a place to walk or bike on a flat, hard-packed promenade by the bay and to bring the family for a class, exhibit, or performance at the Crissy Field Center. A wide, fully accessible trail slices through Crissy Field between Marina Green and Fort Point and is perfect for an easy walk, jog, or bike, or for strollers and wheelchairs.

Crissy Field began as a marsh and seasonal home of Ohlone Indians, and later hosted Spanish and Mexican ships, a Grand Prix raceway, an historic army airfield, and a Coast Guard station. Today, the shoreline provides both indoor and outdoor amenities, including a well-groomed promenade trail, beaches, picnic tables, tidal marsh overlooks, and a nationally renowned windsurfing site, as well as cafés, bookstores, and an environmental education center.

Crissy Field's beach brings you right to the water's edge. The waves deposit crab shells, jellyfish, and pebbles to examine, and there are driftwood "seats" for picnics and shoreline contemplation. Crissy Field's East Beach, which offers easy access to the water, is one of the most popular and challenging windsurfing and parasailing sites in the world (and not for novices). The most active period for these activities is between March and October, when strong winds blow through the Golden Gate.

Community-driven Restoration
Once covered with asphalt and debris, Crissy Field was restored as a park, natural area, and historic site with the help of donors and thousands of volunteers. Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy championed this effort, and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and the Colleen and Robert Haas Fund provided leadership gifts for the project.

Long ago, the natural features of this bay-front coastline included a lush salt marsh that meandered as far as today's Chestnut Street and well into the modern Marina District. Its extensive sand dunes were prominent in many of the early photos of the Presidio of San Francisco. Planners of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, who were in search of land, filled in the marsh. Following the Exposition, the bay-front land became a military airfield. Restoration of the area began in 1999, resulting in today's public open space that features the tidal marsh and 22 acres of dunes. As part of the restoration, over 100,000 native plants representing 110 species were planted or seeded around the site. Since restoration, biologists have identified over 17 fish species and 135 bird species in the tidal marsh. Herons, egrets, ducks, gulls, and other marsh-loving wildlife abound.

The coastal sand dunes that now sweep between the beach and promenade echo the much larger 130-acre coastal marsh system that existed here before development in the early twentieth century. These small hills of sand are among the few places on the parks' bay-front locations where native dune grass still grows. In an effort to restore Crissy's historic vegetation, the National Park Service is planting more of the native Elymus molli—a thick, green grass hardy enough to withstand strong west winds, cool fog, and airborne sand—as well as beach strawberries, seaside daisies, and pink sand verbena.

Crissy Field Center
From its setting in a national park, Crissy Field Center offers a wide variety of programs and amenities that connect the diverse population of the Bay Area to urban environmental issues. Working in partnership with the Golden Gate National parks Conservancy, the National Park Service, and the Presidio Trust, the Center actively engages people with their environments by focusing on the convergence of the urban and natural environment through multicultural perspectives. Since its opening in May 2001, the Center has served over 800,000 people through school field trips, public workshops, after school programs, summer camps, and more. Overlooking the majestic Golden Gate Bridge, the Center is a wonderful place to sit, relax, and enjoy stunning views of San Francisco Bay or to take part in a dynamic and fun educational experience. The center is open to program participants Tuesday through Saturday. Visit the Center's website for a current list of programs. The Crissy Field Center is a certified Green Business.

Warming Hut
This old army shed at the west end of Crissy Field, reborn as a café and bookstore, provides a place to warm up away from the wind and fog that blow through the Golden Gate. The building was renovated around the theme of sustainability; all materials ­from the shredded blue jeans insulating the walls to the menu board salvaged from an Oakland school­ are renewable or recycled. Even the items offered for sale­, including soy candles, placemats made of old tires, and pesticide-free coffee ­embrace a planet-friendly philosophy. The Warming Hut is also a certified Green Business.

Crissy Field Overlook
The recently opened Crissy Field Overlook, with dramatic views of the City and the Bay, is the first of several major landmarks to be completed through a $15 million gift from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. The overlook is accessible via Lincoln Avenue, just west of Crissy Field.

National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center
Experience some of the riches of the 948-square-nautical-mile sanctuary onshore at this waterfront visitor center, located at the west end of Crissy Field. The center, which occupies a former Coast Guard station, has a touch tank full of sea stars and anemones, microscopes aimed at ocean organisms, pressed seaweed samples, and exhibits describing the Farallon Islands, which protect the largest seabird breeding colony in the contiguous United States.

Tips for Visitors

• Bring sweatshirts, sunglasses for the kids (the sand sometimes blows), and a friendly attitude toward dogs. The water is usually clean and safe (warnings are posted as appropriate).
• Get a snack at the Warming Hut café, and stop by the Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center to touch a sea otter pelt or a live sea star.
• Return barefoot along the beach, then pop into the Crissy Field Center to learn more about this shoreline's history­and perhaps have another snack at the Center's café.
• Park in beachfront lots just west of the Marina gate.
• The wind usually picks up by mid-day. If you want a quiet walk, go during the early morning hours.
• The beach can be seen at its widest during low tide.
• You can legally fish or crab without a license at Torpedo Wharf at the west end of Crissy Field. Look for posted regulations.

Dungeness Crabs (Cancer magister)
Dungeness crabs use the bay as a nursery. Born in the open ocean, many millions of crab larvae drift into the bay. The larvae grow into young crabs in food-rich shoreline areas such as the waters off Crissy Field. Because these orange crabs with white claws don't reach maturity until long after returning to the ocean, it's illegal to trap them in the bay.

California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) and Steller's Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus)
Watch for the heads of California and Steller's sea lions as they swim past Crissy Field. These are just two of the many marine mammal species that live off the parks' coast. The Steller's is lighter in color (particularly when wet) and more massive in the head, flippers, and body. (Characteristics listed are for adult males only; females of both species are thinner in the shoulders and wider in the rear quarters.) California sea lions can sometimes be seen here, but the Steller's sea lion is an infrequent visitor.

History

Crissy Historic Airfield
A row of hangars and a slippery seaplane ramp evoke an era when a squadron of airplanes stood ready for action at Crissy Field. This military airfield is actually older than the air force, dating back to the 1920s when flying had barely gotten off the ground. In those days, so little was known about nationwide flying conditions that the US Army sent a team of fliers from Crissy Field and from an eastern counterpart at the same time to see who could reach the opposite coast first. In the absence of any real enemy, Crissy's squadron (the 91st Aero) flew forest fire patrols, spotted for seacoast fortifications, and took aerial photos. Crissy was also used during the first coast-to-coast transcontinental flight to be completed between dawn and dusk.

A Visit from the HMS Raccoon
During the War of 1812, Great Britain sent the HMS Raccoon to the West Coast to take possession of the American fur trading post at Astoria, Oregon. Drawings and entries in the ship's journal describe hauling the Raccoon out on to the beach (at what is today Crissy Field) to repair holes in the bow so big the seamen were shocked they'd made it into port, let alone halfway around the world. The author of one journal entry describes the San Francisco of almost two centuries ago: "The Country abounds in all kinds of Wild Beasts, Bears, Wolves, Mountain Cats ... which are at times of Young exceeding ferocious and destroys a number of the Indians ... [They] never attacked any of us, except one Man, in the woods, cutting plank to repair the Ship's Bottom; and he was devoured. They also have [a] great abundance of seals on their coast, but they make no manner of use of them ... ."