For more than two centuries the Presidio was a military post: first Spanish, then Mexican, then the United States Army, guarding the narrow mouth of San Francisco Bay. When the Army left in 1994 it became part of a national park, and today its old barracks, forests and gun batteries are open to anyone on foot. This walk starts on a quiet woodland path called Lover's Lane, crosses the old Main Post and its brick barracks, passes the national cemetery, and ends beneath the Golden Gate Bridge at a Civil War era fort on the water's edge. It is longer and wilder than most city walks, about four and a half kilometers, nearly three miles, before you count the way back, and it is one of the most varied self-guided walking tours in San Francisco.

Before you set off

Give yourself three hours or more. The route itself takes around an hour and a quarter of steady walking, but you will want to stop at the museum, the cemetery and the bridge, and Fort Point is at the bottom of a bluff, so you finish with a choice: climb back up to the bridge plaza for the buses, about fifteen minutes uphill, or follow the flat shoreline path east along Crissy Field for around forty-five minutes. Paths are a mix of pavement, gravel and packed earth, with some long, gentle climbs and one steep descent with steps down to the fort, so wear sturdy shoes. The weather is the big variable. Summer here is often foggy and cold, especially in the afternoon, and the wind at the bridge can be fierce and loud at any time of year. Autumn usually brings the clearest days. Dress in layers, with something windproof, even if downtown is sunny. The Walt Disney Family Museum and Fort Point keep limited hours and the museum charges for entry, so check before you go. Restrooms and water are found near the Main Post and the bridge plaza.

Lover's Lane and the Wood Line

You are on Lover's Lane, a narrow path running north through the trees on the southern side of the Presidio. It is thought to be the oldest footpath in the park. Tradition says Spanish soldiers walked this way from their fort to the mission in the valley to the south, and later generations of soldiers and their sweethearts used it for evening strolls, which gave it its name. Look around at the forest. It was not always here. When the Army arrived, the Presidio was mostly bare, windswept sand dunes and coastal scrub. In the 1880s the Army began planting tens of thousands of trees, mostly cypress, pine and eucalyptus, to break the wind and make the post look grander, and these tall trees are what grew. Now look along the ground beside the path for a long line of eucalyptus trunks laid end to end, curving through the leaves in a long, smooth snake. That is Wood Line, a work by the British artist Andy Goldsworthy, made in 2011 from trees cut down when parts of the forest were replaced. He made several works in the Presidio, all from natural materials, all designed to slowly change and decay. You can walk along the logs if you want, carefully, and many children do. Notice how the line seems to flow like water between the trunks. When you are ready, follow Lover's Lane north and downhill out of the trees. At its end, keep heading north toward the buildings of the Main Post, then bear left to the great lawn of the Main Parade Ground. The museum is the row of red brick buildings on its western side, about fifteen to twenty minutes in all.

The Walt Disney Family Museum

presidio lovers lane wood line You are standing in front of a long row of red brick barracks, built for the Army in the 1890s, with long covered porches running along their fronts. One of them now holds the Walt Disney Family Museum. It was founded by Walt's daughter, Diane Disney Miller, and opened in 2009. It is not a theme park and there are no rides. Instead it tells the story of Walt Disney's life, from his childhood on a Missouri farm through his first small studio, the early sound cartoons with Mickey Mouse, and the risky gamble of Snow White, the first full-length animated feature from an American studio, to the building of Disneyland. Among its treasures are early drawings, film equipment and a large model of Disneyland as Walt imagined it. Now turn around and look across the Main Parade Ground. For many years it was an asphalt parking lot; it was turned back into a lawn after the park took over. Beyond it, on the far side, is the Presidio Officers' Club, a long white building that hides some of the oldest walls in San Francisco, adobe walls from the Spanish and Mexican years, when this was a small fort of mud brick. Just to the north, a newer park called Presidio Tunnel Tops sits on top of the highway tunnels and looks out over the bay. When you are ready, walk west from the museum and follow Lincoln Boulevard uphill, under the trees. After about eight minutes the white headstones of the cemetery spread out on your left.