Hawk Hill — short on hawks, long on bobcat

The history of the area is a reminder that vistas can mean vulnerability.

It’s in the name. Hawk Hill is supposed to be a place where one finds the eponymous raptors circling in veritable hordes, and it was the promise of the name that drew us there one fine November day.

When we arrived at the peak, having started from a trailhead in Sausalito, we didn’t see a single hawk. But on the way to the highest hill in the Marin Headlands, we had the good fortune to see a bobcat. Not only did we see it, but we also got to watch it for some time as it perched on a pile of boulders and casually surveyed it surroundings. It was a gorgeous animal.

To get to the bobcat, we began our hike at the Morning Sun Trail trailhead, which zigzags up through a eucalyptus stand from Spencer Avenue Park and Ride. From there, we took the Alta Trail left to the Rodeo Valley Trail, which we followed to a fork, taking it went left onto the SCA Trail.

The SCA Trail tracks through chaparral and scrub along Wolfback Ridge Road, and a neighborhood lies just uphill from this part of the trail. The route we took (one among many options) split off onto the Coastal Trail, which crosses McCullough Road, and it was just before this crossing that we saw the bobcat.

At first, we saw only its head poking up from a pile of boulders, which may have been where it denned, and we briefly mistook it for a mountain lion. But when it emerged completely from the rocks and settled on top of its stony domain, its bobcat-ness became clear. The daylight was on the wane, so perhaps it was gearing up for a late-afternoon hunt.

After we finally tore ourselves away from the still irresistibly visible bobcat, we continued toward Hawk Hill. At this point, we became like any other tourists to the Headlands and made our way up Conzelman Road, where many footpaths offer routes around and up to Hawk Hill. On the way, you can test the echo factor of the tunnels that predate World War II and take in some of the history of the area.

In 1942, it was the intended site of Battery Construction 129, which was going to be home to two 16-inch guns, a tunnel network and a commander’s station. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers never completed the project. The tunnels and casements now are among the Headlands’ many remnants of World War II and the Cold War, reminders of the vulnerability of living at the continent’s edge.

The flip side of the astonishing vistas that draw us to these places is the exposure of the Pacific Coast to potential attacks.

After decades, a plan to develop Hawk Hill as a historic and natural site for National Park Service visitors reached its final stages a couple of years ago. The development included paths that lead to the hill and observation platforms, where we finally pulled up to watch for hawks. The raptors ride thermals over the hill, giving it its name and our reason for making the trek on this day, as one of us was especially interested in getting some photos.

Instead of hawks, we saw lots of people enjoying the platforms and the as-always stunning views from the Headlands — of San Francisco, the hills and the Pacific. The likely reason for the lack of raptors was that November is a bit out of their season. The hawks make themselves available most often during September and October. That’s just a good reason to do this hike again next fall, but a bit earlier.

Yet we agreed that the day had been a huge success thanks to the beautiful views, changing scenery between the hills and valleys, and, of course, the bobcat.

Getting there: Hawk Hill is approachable using one of many combinations of the trail network crisscrossing the Marin Headlands. For the route described here, the trailhead for the Morning Sun Trail lies just off the Spencer Avenue exit park-and-ride on the west side of 101. The round-trip route described here, which is out and back, is about 10 miles. There are vault toilets at the McCullough Road crossing. The route is moderate, but you can add on a challenge with a side trip up Slacker Hill. No dogs allowed.

Emily Willingham is a Marin science journalist, book author and biologist. You can find her on Twitter @ejwillinghamphd or on Mastodon at ejwillingham@mastodon.social.