Yesterday was our fourth Crosstown Trail. The first one (2023) started at Lands End and ended at Candlestick Point. The second (2024) started at Candlestick and ended at Lands End, with beverages at Beach Chalet. The third (2025) was actually the Double Cross, from Fort Point to Pier 23, and post-hike beverages. The fourth, yesterday, was a repeat of the second.
The Crosstown Trail has five sections and cuts a diagonal through San Francisco, from, as intimated above, the southeast to the northwest corner of the City. Depending on how you do it, it is 15-17 miles in length. There is an “official” San Francisco Crosstown Trail: https://crosstowntrail.org. I take a few liberties, so my version is closer to 15.5, which is still a solid day’s work.
Section 1, Candlestick to Glen Park, is a little tricky, even for a near-native San Franciscan. To my defense, I grew up in the Richmond and Sunset districts. Candlestick Point was. a world way, and but for a Giants or a 49ers game, there was no reason to visit. I might have played a basketball game in a school gymnasium in Visitacion Valley. There was no reason to visit McLaren Park, although, to be fair, Crocker Amazon, where I played soccer growing up, was nearby. The Cow Palace, also nearby, hosted Monster Jam and San Jose Sharks games before the Shark Tank was built in San Jose. Put otherwise, Section 1 still requires consultation of a physical map. And, yes, I could have tracked the hike on my phone, but the idea of looking down while traversing the City was inimical to me. So, while there was consultation, it was minimal, as was the backtracking, usually not more than a street, and only a few times.
San Francisco has a variety of neighborhoods, and while the City is only about 50 square miles, you may be hard-pressed to find a resident of the Marina, just an example, finding their way to the outer Sunset. Similarly, you may need to look long and hard to find someone who lives in the Richmond visiting the Excelsior district, except possibly to play soccer at Crocker Amazon. Today, with (arguably) better public transportation and RideShare options, there are fewer excuses, but, still, intentionality, in the form of the Crosstown Trail, is needed to see and experience the City, or at least one diagonal of it.
Sections 2-5 are familiar ground. Section 2 starts at the Glen Park Bart Station, which we skirted en route to Glen Park, a pit stop at the Glen Park Recreation Center, followed by the Gum Tree Girls Trail and the Islais Creek Trail to Portola, and then a network of trails behind Laguna Honda Hospital. From the Forest Hill Muni station, the start of Section 3, we proceeded to even more familiar territory (for me), skirting Golden Gate Heights, where I grew up, and descending the Moraga Street Tiled Steps, before backtracking, slightly, to Gordo’s Taqueria, on 9th and Lincoln, and lunch. There is not a spot in the City that can as capably and quickly handle a group of nearly 30 famished hikers. For those interested, the. menu is below.
Sections 4 and 5 are comprised of Golden Park, the Richmond District, and the Presidio.
From Gordo’s we crossed Lincoln, entered Golden Gate Park, and then lunched on the benches at the Music Concourse. Once on the other (north) side of the Park, we continued to the Park Presidio Greenway and entered the Presidio at 15th Avenue and Lake Street. Once in the Presidio, we took the Lobos Creek Trail Valley Trail to Lincoln Boulevard, then continued up to and through Sea Cliff, before entering Lands End, and concluding in the parking lot overlooking the Cliff House, the Sutro Baths, and relatively calm Pacific. Some of us continued to Beach Chalet, for a few extra steps and to reflect on the day and accomplishment.
I lead two San Francisco hikes a year: the Crosstown and one in December, a 9-mile loop starting/ending at Lands End, and looping past the Golden Gate Bridge and the Presidio, with an obligatory lunch stop at, yes, Gordo’s, but on Clement. The hikes afford me an opportunity to reconnect with certain neighborhoods, with my childhood, to see how much has changed, and in many, if not, most cases, how much has not.
The San Francisco Bay Area is a study of microclimates, as is San Francisco. It can be relatively balmy in the Mission, a veritable monsoon in Golden Gate Heights, quite nice by the Music Concourse, and overcast at Ocean Beach. True to form, by mid day, the clouds had mostly broken, but as we walked west, toward Lands End, the marine layer reasserted itself. It was not cold, though, with temperatures likely in the mid 60s. Light wind. Quite pleasant.
Growing up in the Avenues, the sun would usually disappear from June to late August. It was not cold, though. Quite pleasant, to the contrary. Change is inevitable, but there are welcomed pockets of constancy. Sometimes, you need a 16-mile hike, through a city that was effectively your first home, to remind you of that.
The Peninsula Hiking Club 