Parks

It’s the big eating season. Here in the Golden Gate National Parks you can have your cake (umm, pie) and eat it too. Manage the holiday feasting and stress with three great park trails that will have you feeling fine and ready to dine (again)!

How many times have I walked under the same trees and failed to look up, staring at my own two feet as I walk? Well today was different, someone told me that the oak trees of California are masting, and I wanted to see if it was true.

Find fantastic gifts for the park lovers on your list while helping to support park programs.

Life is not all river otters and coyote pups. Some organisms in these national parks simply give us the heebie-jeebies—justifiably or not. With Halloween a few days away, here’s our list of the scariest and grossest creatures. For the squeamish, turn away. For the stout-hearted, read on—if you dare.

Have you ever looked up at the twilight sky to see an erratic flutter of wings? Maybe you tried to convince yourself that it was just a sparrow, but chances are what you actually saw was a little brown bat. Although bats carry a loathsome reputation, humans derive a great benefit from these tiny creatures.

On September 27, 2012, on Hawk Hill, we counted 295 Broad-winged Hawk sightings, 10 times our previous one-day count for that species. We even exceeded our season-total record—248 sightings—in just that one day. Aside from these impressive numbers, why is this exciting?

On October 27 of 2012, it will be 40 years since President Richard Nixon signed the legislation to create the 34,000-acre Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Since then, the Golden Gate National Parks—as these parklands are popularly called—have grown to more than 80,000 breathtaking acres.

One sure sign of “summer” in the Golden Gate National Parks is the sight of fluffy white seed blanketing hillsides. But where do these seeds come from? Where are they going? And why do we care? A Presidio seed collector takes a closer look.

If you’ve ever shared your park photos with friends, chances are you’ve caught yourself explaining how the pictures simply don’t do the beauty of the moment justice.

We asked a panel of bike experts for their favorite rides in the Golden Gate National Parks. Read on for the full prescription from these cycle-ologists: directions, descriptions, tips, and more. Then put your mettle to the pedal and get out there!