Blog Archives

Second Time

7/23/2017

Back to hike the new Clarendon trail a second time, this time with Karl happily swirling about above.

Starting at the Stanyan trailhead for the lower Historic Trail, winding round up to the road: 1 thru 10

Along the road to the south: 11, 12

Steeply uphill to the Quarry Road Trail: 13, 14, 15:

Where the Quarry connects with the new trail, down to Clarendon, then back up: 16 thru 48

Up to the road and descending on Behr for the second residential stairway to my left.

42 steps for this one to a peaceful sitting area with a paved walkway that connects with the second story of the Aldea Community Center on Johnstone. Hadn’t done this in some time: 49 thru 59

Stairs alongside the building down to the road: 60

Curving downhill for the trail behind homes on Edgewood Ave.:61 thru 65

Down Farnsworth (149 steps) to Willard/Parnassus. The swing is still here at the top of the steps: 66, 67, 68

1 Into the forest from the Stanyan trailhead

2 Lower Historic Trail

6 You can get over to the Belgrave trail from here

10 Out at the road. North Ridge Trail ahead

12 South to Johnstone

13 Looking down as I climb up to the Quarry Road Trail

14 Quarry Road trailhead

15 Quarry Road Trail

16 New trail to the left

28 Sutto Nursery above

29 Sutro Nursery above

43 At Clarendon

44 Back up again

49 Up from Behr

50 42 steps

52 Between Behr and Johnstone

55 Top of the steps

57 Walkway to second story of Aldea Community Center

60 Alongside Aldea Center to first floor. Another short stairway out to Johnstone.

61 Back on the road again heading north

64 East tailhead for upper Historic Trail across the road

65 Trail behind homes on Edgewood Ave.

66 Top of Farnsworth Lane stairs

67 Swing at top of Farnsworth Lane

68 Foot of Farnsworth at Willard

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New Steps

7/22/2017

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The first part of the trail that starts up from Portola Dr. at the south end of Twin Peaks Blvd.: 1, 2, 3

Curious as to whether the new steps behind homes on Midcrest Way were mow walkable. Yes, and the staircount for the second section up is 89: 4 thru 16

At the top of Midcrest Way there’s a short tail into the park.

At Midcrsst onTwin Peaks Blvd. there’s a crosswalk for the third section up. No new stairs here (yet), but watch this spot! This is a winding trail with just four old wood steps at the top at this time: 17 thru 27

Eureka Peak (north peak) got replacement steps a while back, but so far Noe Peak’s steps look the same: 28, 29

Twin Peaks Blvd. is now closed to vehicle traffic on the east side. There should be a crosswalk from the east Blvd. over to the west where brush has been cleared for a trail on the other side of the guardrail, and a more noticeable trailhead for the Marview trail descending alongside the reservoir.

There are a few trailmarkers now like the ones in Glen Canyon.

On the east side. Again strong winds and Karl playing peekaboo with Sutro Tower: 30 thru 36

And again down the 90 east steps to wait for the 37 Corbett at the top of the Vista Lane stairs:37 thru 40

1 View from Portola Dr.

2 Trail alongside Twin Peaks Blvd. on the south side

3 Crossing over to the second trail section and the new stairs

4 Starting up the new stairway

5 Midcrest Way left

7 89 steps

17 Top of short trail from Midcrest Way into the park

18 Opening in the guardrail and crosswalk to the third section

20 Top of Midcrest Way and crosswalk

21 Up the third section

24 Four old steps at the top right now

28 Noe Peak's south steps across the Blvd.

29 Noe Peak's south steps

30 Around to ahe east side

32 Eureka Peak ahead

33 Eureka Peak's new stairs

36 At the overlook

37 Back along the east side for the steps down to Crestline

39 90 steps

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Eastside Steps

7/21/2017

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Usually hike from Twin Peaks to Mount Sutro. This one was the opposite.

Starting off with the 136 north stairs: 1, 2

Alongside the road over to Johnstone. Love looking down from here: 3 thru 8

Descending to Clarendon, crossing over into the Midtown Terrace neighborhood and up La Avanzada: 9 thru 13

From La Avanzada to Palo Alto: 14, 15, 16

Up the Marview trail into Twin Peaks Park: 17 thru 20

Superstrong winds and blowing fog: 21

An online survey taken recently depicted the vehicle accessible part of Twin Peaks Blvd. and new eastside car-free section in two different bright colors, but it wasn’t like this in reality; just newly paved.

Moving along the east side: 22 thru 26

Checkig out the eastside stair-trail down to Crestline to see if it had been replaced. So far the old uneven wood steps are s till there, but instead of the usual 93, this time counted 90: 27 thru 33

The 37 Corbett bus still stops at 74 Crestline. When going bak downhill there’s a short end-of-the-line layover at Parkridge. They no longer announce “Twin Peaks,” but instead “Burnet” as a destination.

Top of the long Vista Lane stairway at the 74 Crestline stop. Vista is about three blocks long with several continuing flights starting up from Burnet near Hopkins: 34, 35, 36

1 136 steps

3 Upper Historic Trail and a new guardrail

4 Edgewood Trail is down this way

5 Heading south to Johnstone

9 Now on the Midtown Terrace side

10 Up La Avanzada

11 Passing the trailhead for the trail circling Sutro Tower

12 La Avanzada

14 La Avanzada to Palo Alto

17 Eureka Peak ahead. Marview trail to right

18 Up from Marview in the Midtown Terrace neighborhood

20 Twin Peaks reservoir

21 Karl and Sutro Tower are good buddies

22 The west, vehicle, side of Twin Peaks Blvd. with new trail added

23 Eureka Peak's new stairway

24 East side

26 East side and Eureka Peak

27 Top of the old eastside stairs down to Crestline

28 Staircount 90 instead of 93 this time

34 Top of Vista Lane at CVrestline

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Clarendon Trail

7/21/2017

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Googled the newClarendon trail upon reading it had recently been completed. It was depicted as a very noticeable bricked entrance. It doesn’t look like that though. But you can’t miss this new trailhead; it’s easy to see and there’s a trailmarker.

It’s just to the west of the main Clarendon entrance for Behr Ave. and the Aldea residences.

To find the new trail, took the steps behind Parnassus, across the road to the south end, then down to Clarendon: 1, 2

This new Sutro Forest trail is an excellent continuation of the familiar route down from Twin Peaks.

I’m impressed. It’s between Clarendon and Behr. You’ll see some Aldea residences above, then the south side of Sutro Nursery: 3 thru 26

It connects with the Quarry Road Trail. Followed the Quarry out to its east end first, a very short distance: 27, 28, 29

Then back to continue west on the Quarry Trail, soon emerging at the familiar trailmarker for the Historic, Christopher Dr. and summit. Meandering about for a while, not descending all the way to Christopher: 30, 31, 32

Downhilling, the Quarry Trail now below: 33

This stairway is one of two that connects Behr Ave. with Johnstone above. 56 steps: 34, 35, 36

Switchbacky Edgewood Trail out to Edgewood Ave. for my last trail of the day: 37 thru 42

Edgewood Ave.: 43

Farnsworth steps down to Willard, then Parnassus: 44, 45

1 Up to the road. You're looking at the trailhead for the Historic.

2 Winding round

3 Easy to see

6 Tanks for this trail

16 Sutro Nursery above

27 Up to the Quarry Road Trail now, heading east

28 Love the wild nasturtiums

30 Wandering around

33 Quarry Trail now below

34 56 steps - Behr to Johnstone

37 Down to the Edgewood Trail

38 Edgewood Trail

40 Edgewood trailhead

42 South dead-end for motor vehicles of Edgewood Ave.

43 Edgewood Ave.

44 Farnsworth Lane down to Willard

45 149 steps

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Lands End Foraging

7/4/2017

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Starting off at the El Camino del Mar, Lands End’s upper trail. 47 steps to the west end of the Legion of Honor parking lot: 1 thru 12

In search of ripe blackberries, down to a nicely overgrown trail that descends from the edge of the golf course: 13 thru 18

Now halfway up the 120 eastside stairs: 19 thru 24

Westside Lands End/Coastal Trail stairway (138): 25

West on the Coastal Trail, passing the top of the 262 steps to Mile Rock Beach: 26, 27

Up the 89 steps connecting the upper and lower trails: 28 thru 32

Back on the El Camino again: 33, 34

2 Passing the top of the connector

7 47 steps

15 Blackberries and nasturtiums

18 Center, top: eastside stairs partway up

19 Coastal Trail

25 Lands End Trail westside stairway

26 Looking down from the main trail

27 Just past top of the Mile Rock Beach stairs

28 Connector up to El Camino del Mar Trail

32 Back up at the El Camino del Mar Trail

33 El Camino del Mar Trail

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Historic Circle

7/2/2017

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Beginning and ending this Mount Sutro hike with the stairs (136) behind the UCSF medical buildings. Starting up: 1 thru 5

Onto the east trailhead for the upper Historic and winding round the west side, including the wild beauty just above Christopher Dr. Not quite all the way down to Christopher: 6 thru 29

Above the Quarry Road Trail: 30, 31

Downhill on Nike Road and Behr: 32 thru 37

Johnstone and winding downhill on the road where finally they’ve removed those plastic barriers and replaced them with new guardrails: 38 thru 47

Passing where I started up the Historic: 48

Shortcut stairs alongside a building and out to the parking lot again: 49, 50

And again the stairway descending from the parking lot: 51 thru 57

1 Heading toward the stairs behind UCSF buildings

2 Up to a permits-only parking lot

3 136 steps

6 Around the north side on the upper Historic Trail

19 West Ridge Trail descends to Crestmont

20 West Ridge down from the Historic

21 West Ridge: Historic to summit

27 Above Christopher Dr. in the Forest Knolls neighborhood

28 Christopher Dr. below

31 Quarry Road Trail below

35 Behr Ave.

37 Behr Ave.

42 New guardrails

43 Trailheads for Edgewood, Fairy Gates and lower Historic

48 Back to trailhead for the upper Historic

49 Shortcut stairs down to the parking lot

50 Curving round a building

51 Back to the parking lot stairs

56 This short flight leads to trail behind homes on Edgewood Ave.

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Still Not

7/2/2017

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The Presidio’s Batteries to Bluffs Trail footbridge steps had still not been replaced last time hiked.

As before, there was access about halfway along from the east trailhead, but just past the Marshall’s Beach trailhead the same sign and barrier remained.

No closed sign at Lincoln anymore, but several steps down the west side from Battery Crosby the same barrier existed as before.

People were hiking it anyway.

Batteries to Bluffs east to west: 1 thru 61

Downhilling on Lincoln to the west, trailing above Baker Beach. Pausing at the top of he shorter “Sand Ladder”: 62 thru 70