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FACILITIES/TRAILHEAD There are no facilities at the trailhead, which is on the east side of the parking area.

Walk southeast down a set of wooden steps and after several hundred feet join the Ecology Trail, a wide, dirt path, by turning left. An outcrop of serpentine rock in the midst of a grassy, wildflower-filled meadow is right, behind a fence, in an area that is being restored.

The trail skirts Inspiration Point and descends on a gentle grade. At a junction with a trail heading right, you continue straight, now in forest. Several unofficial trails branch right and left; ignore them. Soon the red brick buildings of the Presidio’s Main Post are visible ahead. Now on a paved path, you descend to a gate, and pass it on the left. With Pershing Hall on your left, you follow a sidewalk to Moraga Ave., which you cross. A sidewalk along Funston Ave. takes you past part of Officers Row, built in 1862 to house commissioned officers and their families.

Presidio Flora

Grasslands are a threatened ecosystem, and this serpentine grassland is unique in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Serpentine soil, high in magnesium and low in calcium, is toxic to many plants, but some have adapted to it, including ones that are rare, threatened, or endangered.