San Francisco's Fort Funston has two long stairways and Lands End and the Presidio boast multiple long beauties, but these parks are all closed because of the shutdown since they're all part of the Golden Gate National Parks. Have been hiking other parks in the meantime.
It'd been several months since I'd visited Golden Gate Park's Strawberry Hill (the park's highest point) and Stow Lake. The last post I did for this, my favorite part of this huge park (second largest in SF after the Presidio), was in February of this year. The stairways here don't seem to be as well known as some others in SF.
Disembarked from the N-Judah Metro at 19th Avenue and strolled downhill to Lincoln and into the park (first pic: on the trail to Stow Lake), soon to cross the 1893 stone Roman bridge (second pic) to the trail starting up Strawberry Hill (third pic).
After the first few steps, 20 or so widely spaced logs served as a stairway of sorts (pic 4) on the way up to the summit, as did another short flight of rough logs to the trail below next to the lake.
I'll just repeat my earlier staircounts for the three stairways this time. My count for the concrete-and-wood green-railed main (north) twisty one that starts down from near the hilltop reservoir is 110 steps (pics 5 through 14) to its foot near the Chinese Pavilion and steppingstones.
Thirty-eight steps (pic 15) up on the south side of Huntington Falls (16, 17) don't go all the way up. They merge with the northside stairs where you cross the falls on one of the wood footbridges (pic 18). If you go up the south side this way, you'll get around 125 steps to the top. Didn't do it this time because there was a group of people hanging up there for a while.
So from the foot of the main steps, curved around to the foot of the widely spaced, mostly wood stairs on the north side (61 steps, pics 19, 20, 21), then circled back around to my beginning.
Critter sightings: last pic
It'd been several months since I'd visited Golden Gate Park's Strawberry Hill (the park's highest point) and Stow Lake. The last post I did for this, my favorite part of this huge park (second largest in SF after the Presidio), was in February of this year. The stairways here don't seem to be as well known as some others in SF.
Disembarked from the N-Judah Metro at 19th Avenue and strolled downhill to Lincoln and into the park (first pic: on the trail to Stow Lake), soon to cross the 1893 stone Roman bridge (second pic) to the trail starting up Strawberry Hill (third pic).
After the first few steps, 20 or so widely spaced logs served as a stairway of sorts (pic 4) on the way up to the summit, as did another short flight of rough logs to the trail below next to the lake.
I'll just repeat my earlier staircounts for the three stairways this time. My count for the concrete-and-wood green-railed main (north) twisty one that starts down from near the hilltop reservoir is 110 steps (pics 5 through 14) to its foot near the Chinese Pavilion and steppingstones.
Thirty-eight steps (pic 15) up on the south side of Huntington Falls (16, 17) don't go all the way up. They merge with the northside stairs where you cross the falls on one of the wood footbridges (pic 18). If you go up the south side this way, you'll get around 125 steps to the top. Didn't do it this time because there was a group of people hanging up there for a while.
So from the foot of the main steps, curved around to the foot of the widely spaced, mostly wood stairs on the north side (61 steps, pics 19, 20, 21), then circled back around to my beginning.
Critter sightings: last pic
1. On the short trail to Stow Lake
2. Roman Bridge over Stow Lake to Strawberry Hill
3. Trail starting up Strawberry Hill
4. Logs as widely spaced steps
5. Starting down from the summit near the reservoir
6. Down the main stairway
7. Continuing down the main stairway
8. Steeply continuing down
9. Main steps alongside Huntington Falls
10. Main stairway
11. Wood steps now
12. Main stairway
13. Foot of the main stairway
14. Foot of the main stairway
15. Foot of the south stairway
16. Huntington Falls
17. Huntington Falls
18. Short footbridges cross the falls
19. Foot of the north steps
20. Up the north stairway
21. North steps turn at the bench ahead
22. Stow Lake beauties
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