"Your audience was spellbound as you wove your beautiful narrative about the Sutro Baths and Playland." 

                                 -- The Auxiliary of the Society of California Pioneers

Guided Walks In San Francisco and Marin Headlands

John began leading history and nature walks through San Francisco's Golden Gate National Recreation Area in the 1970s. He is the renown expert in the city's many military posts and the "outside lands" lining the rugged San Francisco coast known as Lands End.

He is also the acknowledged expert on the history of the once-magnificent Sutro Baths, now a ruin near the present day Cliff House.

Walking routes and times can be tailored to each group's special interests and needs.

John's guided walks include:

The Presidio of San Francisco. The birthplace of San Francisco in 1776, the Presdio was an active military post under the Spanish, Mexican and U.S. Army until base closure in 1995. Routes can include the main post and its Spanish adobe Officers Club, the National Cemetery, Crissy Field, and old Fort Point and nearby coastal fortifications

Aquatic Park-Fort Mason. Designed as a 'palace for the people' by the WPA, Aquatic Park and its fabulous Art Deco bathhouse ("the Casino") anchor one end of the Golden Gate Promenade. This walk starts at Aquatic Park and ends at Fort Mason, once a military shipping terminal and 1906 refugee camp, and now a vibrant recreation area and art center.

Point Lobos & Land's End. An exploration of San Francisco's "wilderness next door." This two-mile walk follows hiking trails along precipitous bluffs overlooking the Golden Gate. Hightlights include Lincoln Park and the Legion of Honor, views of the Marin Headlands and Golden Gate Bridge, and (if the tide is right) glimpses of 1930s shipwrecks at the foot of wave-pounded cliffs. The walk can start at the either the historic Cliff House or Sea Cliff residential area.

Sutro Heights & Sutro Baths. During the 1880s and '90s, silver baron Adolph Sutro created a playground for the public at Point Lobos overlooking Seal Rocks. Attractions included his private estate of Sutro Heights, and Sutro Baths, and the French chateau inspired Cliff House. Sadly, only romantic ruins of these sites remain today. This walk is a exploration of this lost world of Adolph Sutro, including a walk through one of the tunnels carved by his workers through the cliffs Point Lobos.

Marin Headlands. North of the Golden Gate Bridge lie the Marin Headlands, frowning coastal bluffs crisscrossed by miles of hiking trails and dotted with military fortifications, a lighthouse, and former dairy ranchs. John served as Supervisory Park Ranger of the Headlands for six years and knows its trails and hidden spots like no one else. Walks through the Headlands can be tailored to any length of time or interest.

John leading a tour through one of Marin's underground bunkers

John also serves an on-board lecturer for bay cruise excursions including Red & White Tours and Hornblower Cruises.