Sweeney Ridge, is a hilly hiking area of ridges and ravines between San Bruno and

Pacifica, California Pacifica (, meaning "Peaceful") is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay, California, Half Moon Bay. Overview The City of Pacifica is spread along a stretch of sandy c ...

, about a 25-minute drive south from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. The ridge's 1,200-foot-high summit, covered with coastal scrub and grassland, slopes down to

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

on the east and to the Pacific Ocean on the west. The ridge is part of the

Golden Gate National Recreation Area The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the Unite ...

. Historically, the ridge is the location of the San Francisco Bay Discovery Site, commemorating the

Portolá expedition thumbnail, 250px, Point of San Francisco Bay Discovery The Portolá expedition was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European exploration of the interior of the present-day California. It was led by Gas ...

's first sighting of San Francisco Bay on November 4, 1769 (expedition scouts actually made the discovery a few days earlier).

Description

Hiking trail access to Sweeney Ridge is available, on the Pacifica side, from the Shelldance Nursery site (Mori Ridge trail), and from the east end of Fassler Avenue (Baquiano Trail). On the San Bruno side, access the area from parking lots #2 and #4 at Skyline College (Sweeney Ridge Trail), and via a paved trail from the end of Sneath Lane in San Bruno (bikes OK). Ecologically, Sweeney Ridge is an example of

Northern coastal scrub Northern coastal scrub is a diverse scrubland plant community found along the Pacific Coast from Northern California to Southern Oregon, as well as some offshore islands. It frequently forms a landscape mosaic with California coastal prairie, coast ...

habitat, the landscape dominated by coyote bush,

yellow bush lupine ''Lupinus arboreus'', the yellow bush lupine ( US) or tree lupin ( UK), is a species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. Description ''Lupinus arboreus'' is an evergreen shrub growing to tall (hence the alternative common name, tr ...

, and California Yerba Santa—in some places up to 6 to 8 feet high. Access from Sneath Lane provides a 2-mile walk up a fenced hardtop road through this shrubby habitat. The ridgetop itself has quite a bit of

California coastal prairie California coastal prairie, also known as northern coastal grassland, is a grassland plant community of California and Oregon in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. This ecosystem is found along the Pacific Coast, from as f ...

, mostly native grasses with patches of

Douglas iris ''Iris douglasiana'', the Douglas iris, is a common wildflower of the coastal regions of Northern and Central California and southern Oregon in the United States. It grows mainly at lower elevations, below , though it is occasionally found at hei ...

. The ridgetop is also considered one of the best Bay Area lookouts for spring northbound raptor migration, based on studies by the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. File:Calystegia occidentalis.jpg, '' Calystegia occidentalis'' File:Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 8.jpg, ''

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus ''Ceanothus thyrsiflorus'', known as blueblossom or blue blossom ceanothus, is an evergreen shrub in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae that is endemic to British Columbia in Canada, Oregon and California in the US. The term 'Californian lilac' and ...

'' File:Delphinium californicum ssp. californicum.jpg, '' Delphinium californicum'' ssp. californicum. File:Hedge Nettle 004.jpg, '' Stachys bullata '' File:Monardella villosa ssp. franciscana.jpg, '' Monardella villosa'' ssp. franciscana The ridge trail leads to a series of abandoned buildings that were formerly the site of the SF-51C Nike missile control facility.

Fauna

Wildlife at Sweeney Ridge includes hawks, deer, and a plethora of both native and introduced spring

wildflowers A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, rather than being intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is any different from the native plant, eve ...

Gallery

References

External links

*
National Park Service Sweeney Ridge fact sheet

Pacifica, California Parks in San Mateo County, California Raptor migration sites Golden Gate National Recreation Area Ridges of California Landforms of San Mateo County, California Bay Area Ridge Trail {{SanMateoCountyCA-geo-stub