Angel Island

Taking the Angel Island Ferry is pretty cool.
You start out in Jack London Square in downtown Oakland near the port.
There was a lot happening the day I was there, some kind of fair or something.
They had all kinds of food booths and other stuff.

On the ferry, as you pass underneath the bay bridge look to the right on Yerba Buena Island and see the Yerba Buena lighthouse. It is now a historic site.

You'll get some decent views of Alcatraz as you pass, (one of these days I've got to visit,) then you'll continue to Angel Island. You'll circle it clockwise to your landing site.

There are trails all around the island, but of course I picked the one that runs to the top.
It has excellent views of the bay, Berkeley, Oakland, SF, San Rafael, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge. I got some good shots of the Golden Gate bridge with the fog coming in. 

The Mt. Livermore loop is only about 5.9 miles and Mt Livermore itself is only about 788' tall so it's pretty easy even for a beginner.

Directions:

Take the Angel Island ferry from Jack London Square in Oakland.

This same ferry stops in SF to pick up more people yet it costs more to take it from SF than from Oakland.

The Hike: