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15-746: After discovering San Francisco Bay from Sweeney Ridge on November 4, 1769, the Portolá expedition descended what Portolá called the Cañada de San Francisco , now San Andreas Creek , to camp in the vicinity of today's San Andreas Lake. The next day they reached a "Laguna Grande" which today is covered by the Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir. The campsite is marked by California Historical Marker No. 94 "Portola Expedition Camp", located at Crystal Springs Dam, on Skyline Boulevard, 0.1 mi south of Crystal Springs Road. They camped here

30-584: A second time on November 12, on their return trip. Padre Palóu , on an expedition from Monterey to explore the western side of San Francisco Bay led by Captain Fernando Rivera y Moncada , renamed Portolá's Cañada de San Francisco to Cañada de San Andrés on November 30, 1774, it being the feast day of St. Andrew . Captain Juan Bautista de Anza , after forging the first overland route from Monterey, California to San Francisco Bay, explored

45-563: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . San Francisco Bay Discovery Site The San Francisco Bay Discovery Site is a marker commemorating the first recorded European sighting of San Francisco Bay . In 1769, the Portola expedition traveled north by land from San Diego , seeking to establish a base at the Port of Monterey described by Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602. When they reached Monterey, however, they were not sure it

60-596: 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 habitat,

75-541: Is now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area . The site is both a California Historical Landmark and a National Historic Landmark . The spot chosen for the marker is somewhat arbitrary, as the precise location where Portola's party reached the summit of the ridge is not known. The landmarked area encompasses two of the highest knolls on the ridge. As of October 2020, the marker has been vandalized, with Portolà’s name and

90-600: The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory . The ridge trail leads to a series of abandoned buildings that were formerly the site of the SF-51C Nike missile control facility. Wildlife at Sweeney Ridge includes hawks, deer, and a plethora of both native and introduced spring wildflowers . 37°36′29″N 122°27′25″W  /  37.608°N 122.457°W  / 37.608; -122.457 This San Mateo County, California -related article

105-626: The San Mateo Creek watershed. San Mateo Creek once hosted coho salmon as evidenced by specimens collected by Professor Alexander Agassiz of Harvard University in the 1850s and 1860s. The historical presence of coho salmon is also suggested in an 1877 description by Charles Hallock: " Pilarcitos , one of the Spring Valley Water Company's reservoirs, is now well filled with fair-sized trout, and San Andreas, chiefly with silver salmon of generally moderate size". Since

120-550: The east and to the Pacific Ocean on the west. The ridge is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area . Historically, the ridge is the location of the San Francisco Bay Discovery Site , commemorating the Portolá expedition 's first sighting of San Francisco Bay on November 4, 1769 (expedition scouts actually made the discovery a few days earlier). Hiking trail access to Sweeney Ridge

135-559: The eastern shores of the Lower Crystal Springs reservoir and the Crystal Springs Dam . Sweeney Ridge Sweeney Ridge , is a 1,200-acre (5 km ) hilly hiking area of ridges and ravines between San Bruno and Pacifica, California , about a 25-minute drive south from San Francisco . The ridge's 1,200-foot-high summit, covered with coastal scrub and grassland, slopes down to San Francisco Bay on

150-515: The estuary..." Originally a small natural sag pond , the lake was expanded by the construction of a 100 foot (30 m) high earth dam in 1868. The dam survived the 1906 earthquake despite the fact that the fault runs directly under the dam. Construction of the 1868 dam would have trapped salmonids such as coho salmon ( Oncorhynchus kisutch ) and coastal rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus ) as both stream resident and steelhead life forms, both known to have been historically present in

165-666: The lake is a public water source, it is closed to the public. However, hikers and bicyclists may travel along the eastern shores of the lake on a paved trail that runs just west of Skyline Boulevard from San Bruno Ave in San Bruno to Hillcrest Blvd in Millbrae . A connecting trail, called the Sawyer Camp Trail , crosses the rift valley on the San Andreas Dam . This 6 mile (10 km) trail eventually reaches

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180-483: The landscape dominated by coyote bush , yellow bush lupine , 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 , mostly native grasses with patches of Douglas iris . The ridgetop is also considered one of the best Bay Area lookouts for spring northbound raptor migration, based on studies by

195-560: The peninsula and selected the sites for Mission San Francisco de Asís ( Mission Dolores ) and the Presidio of San Francisco . De Anza returned to Monterey via the Cañada de San Andrés and camped on the banks of San Mateo Creek on March 29, 1776. In de Anza's diary on March 29, 1776, he wrote: "Night having fallen, at a quarter past six I went down to the arroyo of San Andreas and to another, that of San Matheo, where it descends to empty into

210-487: The ridge on November 4. Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi noted in his diary, "from the summit of a peak we beheld the great estuary or arm of the sea." After seeing the immense bay to the east, and having learned from the scouts that further progress to the north would be blocked by the Golden Gate , the party turned southeast and descended toward the bay. Sweeney Ridge is located in northern San Mateo County and

225-400: Was the right place and decided to continue north. The party reached San Pedro Creek on October 31 and camped there for four nights, while scouts led by José Francisco Ortega climbed Sweeney Ridge , where they could see over the ridge toward the east, and so became the first Europeans to see San Francisco Bay on November 1. The scouts returned on November 3, and led the entire party up to

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