Sighting of San Francisco Bay from Sweeney Ridge

On November 4, 1769 — a date retained here per the supplied passages, which correct a legacy account placing the arrival on November 1, 1769 — having crossed a low coastal mountain range above a creek, the party caught a glimpse of the enormous San Francisco Bay and was stunned, as the bay was previously unknown to the Spanish. The first recorded European discovery of the bay is placed on this date, when Portolá, unable to find the Port of Monterey, continued north close to present-day Pacifica and reached the summit of the 1,200-foot Sweeney Ridge, now marked as the place where he first sighted the bay. The sighting occurred from the ridge overlooking the bay, not at the bay itself.