An ideal spot to train when visiting the San Fransico Bay area
by Tom Chobot
One of the many benefits of the club (and more specifically, the newsletter and Facebook group), is that we get to share the running experiences we encounter as we visit distant lands and places, with the idea that others might one day enjoy what we discovered as well.
While visiting family in the San Fransico Bay area over the holidays, we discovered what we think is a runner’s paradise with regards to a great place to train and enjoy the outdoors. Angel Island is conveniently located in the Bay–just north of (and in sight of) the city, and it’s just a short ride from the ferry terminal.
There is much history to the island. Aside from a small Coast Guard and ranger station and a few buildings, it is currently almost entirely an uninhabited state park with plenty of hiking and biking trails which range from very easy and flat to fairly technical and challenging. The most popular trail is paved and follows the roughly six miles of coastline. The interior has a high point of 733 ft. of elevation with plenty of trails and options to customize a workout with distance, hill work, difficulty, and challenge.
On the day that we visited, it was cold (around 50 degrees), with light rain. Kinda like Pennsylvania weather on a good day, but miserable by local folks’ standards, as they are used to pristine conditions about 10 months a year. As a result, we had the entire island to ourselves, except for the rangers and one other couple. For us, it was perfect, with breathtaking scenery, a satisfying workout, and just a great day to be in the woods. This is a must-visit for any runner visiting the Bay area.
A word of caution: they tell us it can get crowded on weekends and nice weather days. Oh, and the websites say that lockers are available near the ferry docks. This is incorrect. There aren’t any, so prepare accordingly.
Bottom line, would we go back on our next visit? In a heartbeat.
Take care, be safe, and see you on the trail.
Pagoda Pacers News 
we arrived on the 9:55 Ferry, intending to run 1.5 hours and return on the 11:35 Ferry. Changing plans due to the absence of lockers, purposely taking alternate trails for the views, and stopping to take pictures, we can in a trail map indicating we had 2.6 miles to get to the ferry, and 33 minutes to get there on trail with elevation changes. If you know me and my walk run pace, you could sympathize! The next ferry would be 3 hours later at 2:40! So with Tom’s never ending encouragement, I gave it my all! Coming down the mountain I could see the ferry docked, and let pushing until we got there. We had about 5 minutes to spare! Next time we’ll plan on the 3 hour window, or maybe more, to fully enjoy all of the trails!
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