Angel Island
For my wife’s birthday, we decided to take the ferry to Angel Island, a place we’d never been; just another of those places we’d heard of but never gone to because… well, it’s always there and there’s just always something else to do. You know, like San Franciscans and Alcatraz.
Not sure what this structure is, probably some form of watchtower thing, but we liked the looks of it
Any rate, the island ended up being pretty interesting and having some historical sites, as well as being a decent hiking area. To highlight the history found on the [Angel Island Conservancy website][1], the island was originally a fishing and hunting site for Miwok Indians, because a haven for the Spanish, a US Army post starting during the Civil War, an immigrant processing site from 1910-1940, a Nike Missile site in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and then eventually turned into a State Park.
Camp Reynolds Hospital, a hospital in the Civil War era West Garrison
Nowadays, the island is mostly open to the public as well as for groups to do various types of learning. For instance, while we were there, there was a group of Boy Scouts who were being taught how to work in one of the Civil War-era kitchens, using techniques that would have been used during that time. Gotta say, it was pretty amusing hearing the tweens and teens complaining about the work!
The West Garrison with which the Camp Reynolds Hospital was associated
We weren’t really prepared for the size of the island; we didn’t have the time to go all the way around, but it worked out because it was such a nice day that it was getting a bit too warm to do that much walking. Quite a lot of the walking was done on paved roads, which made walking a bit easier, but definitely didn’t help with the temperature
Look… it’s water
After a nice picnic snack and a couple hours of walking, we took the ferry back to San Francisco then headed back home. Altogether, we enjoyed the day, though getting an overcast day might be nicer next time, at least for temperature purposes! Also, next time, we’ll be sure to go there during prime wildflower season and perhaps take our bikes!
Thanks for reading!