Special Exhibition at Levi's Vault Through Friday/Tomorrow. Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake - I was underwhelmed by the exhibit.
By Kurtis Alexander, Staff Writer Dec 17, 2025 - San Francisco Chronicle
Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands, known for having one of the most spectacular views of San Francisco Bay, has fully reopened after a 15-year makeover of its popular trails, military relics and lookout points.
The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, alongside the National Park Service, completed the multi-million-dollar renovation to protect the well-worn landmark and create a more structured and educational experience for the throngs of both locals and tourists who visit.
The 923-foot peak, with sweeping vistas of the Pacific coast, Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco skyline, often draped in the region’s hallmark fog, had become marked by makeshift paths, eroded slopes, damaged vegetation and deteriorating military ruins.
One of the Bay Area’s most scenic spots reopens after 15-year renovation
Greg
Quick and Dirty
Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands, known for having one of the most spectacular views of San Francisco Bay, has fully reopened after a 15-year makeover of its popular trails, military relics and lookout points.
The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, alongside the National Park Service, completed the multi-million-dollar renovation to protect the well-worn landmark and create a more structured and educational experience for the throngs of both locals and tourists who visit.
The 923-foot peak, with sweeping vistas of the Pacific coast, Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco skyline, often draped in the region’s hallmark fog, had become marked by makeshift paths, eroded slopes, damaged vegetation and deteriorating military ruins.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
“This really was an opportunity for improving trails and making them safer and, in doing that, having the ability to invest in habitat and cultural resource restoration,” said Claire Mooney, vice president for park projects and conservation for the nonprofit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. “If you haven’t been there before, this makes Hawk Hill all the more special of a place to visit.”
A visitor at Hawk Hill takes a photograph from the rehabilitated Battery Commander Station in the Marin Headlands on Tuesday.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
The parks conservancy and Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which manages the Marin Headlands, were planning to celebrate the project at a gathering at the site on Wednesday.
See more S.F. Chronicle on Google
Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.
Add Preferred Source
The most recent renovations are at the top of the hill, a short walk from the parking lot, where pathways and lookouts have been upgraded and new signs offer explanations of the surrounding landscape. While perhaps most sought after for the view, the area is rich with military history and its namesake raptors.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
“What’s unique about Hawk Hill is all the different stories that can be told,” Mooney said.
The recently rehabilitated and preserved Battery Commander Station, at the top of the hill, is one of the many military installations dug into the Marin Headlands between the early 1900s and World War II, to create a line of defense against a seaborn attack on the Bay Area.
The Battery Commander Station on Hawk Hill was rehabilitated as part of a renovation project in the Marin Headlands.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Gun pits, tunnels and magazines also flanked the slopes of the hill, the remnants of which still stand. The facilities were never engaged. In fact, by the time most were completed, the risk of aerial attack had become the dominant concern, rendering the defense structures largely useless.
A second chapter in the area’s military history, during the Cold War, brought two Nike nuclear missile defensive installations to the Marin Headlands, and a radar and launch control center to Hawk Hill. The buildings on the hill are gone, but a newly constructed bridge provides access to the old radar platform.
The renovation of Hawk Hill began in 2011. Preliminary work involved clearing non-native trees and restoring the coastal scrub vegetation that hawks and other birds use as hunting grounds.
The area is among the Pacific Flyway’s raptor migration hotspots. Red-tailed hawks, Cooper’s hawks and sharp-shinned hawks as well as bald eagles and osprey can be seen riding the updrafts from the steep, coastal hills when they head south in winter.
The improvement project at Hawk Hill included upgrades to the Tunnel Loop Trail in the Marin Headlands.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Volunteers with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory count as many as 18,000 raptors from Hawk Hill during the fall migration.
The first phase of the hill’s renovation brought a new, more accessible 0.1 mile-trail up Hawk Hill in 2017, with rest points and overlooks. The second phase, completed in 2021, focused on upgrades to the Tunnel Loop Trail, which circles through the hill’s old military relics. It also added vault toilets, seating and bike racks. The third phase, which finished last month, involved the improvements at the top of the hill.
“Seeing the quality of the trails, seeing the viewpoints, this is the way a national park should be,” said David Smith, superintendent of Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Financing for the work came mostly from Centennial Act funding for the National Park Service and matching funds from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, some of which came from the state and private donations.