Top of the World: Angel Island Ridge 4
I’ve always wanted to stay overnight on Angel Island with a view of my city. This is the campsite I’ve never been able to reserve until a few weeks ago (usually you need to reserve months in advance). We originally had a reservation on the other side of the island, and, when I rescheduled, I discovered that this site was available. I felt like I won the lottery.
This was our first family backpacking trip — we took a cab from our house to the ferry and our tween daughter carried her 15lb backpack up the hill.
This site has its own water source, and there’s a pit toilet down the hill at another site. The food locker looks new. It’s metal and locks easily.
I’ve lived in San Francisco since 1996 and this is my favorite city + fog view.
There’s a large tree stump in the campsite (my daughter declared it, “the best reading spot”). It has a long cut at the base of it where it looks like someone considered chopping it down to improve the view.
Vultures circled regularly. “We’re not dead yet,” commented my wife.
The deer munched around us.
My whimsical delightful wife.
The path to Perles Beach is near Ridge campsite 4. A sign said the trail was closed. We found an irrigation ditch to walk down and meet up with the path and then skip down these stairs.
There’s a San Francisco Studio Apartment-sized structure on the beach, made of driftwood, with this disco ball.
Empty beach joy.
My daughter is 4'8" — is this an airplane tire?
SF is a port city. Tech is such a small part of SF.
My wife and daughter played catch as the sun and fog set over the city.
The view towards Marin.
Our neighbors (so far away we couldn’t see or hear them) said they encountered aggressive raccoons at night but I never saw them. My daughter said she saw one wandering by our tent at night.
We left the fly off our tent and slept with the sound of owls and foghorns.
