June 26, 2024.
Today I walked a section of the Double Cross Trail, companion to the Crosstown Trail. The trails create an X across San Francisco with the Double Cross Trail going from southwest to northeast. I started at the southwest corner, the overlook near the hang glider area. I love this warning sign where the hang glider looks to be pursuing a running pedestrian!
The overlook has a lovely ocean view plus a section of (I think) Battery Davis poking out of the sand. I was hoping to see the remains of the Nike Missile site and then realized it’s the parking lot, which is dotted with odd protuberances and rusty doors and this building in the corner. There’s another one in the Marin Headlands that’s been restored; might be worth a visit.
After a short, noisy walk along Skyline Blvd, I entered the golf course at Lake Merced. It has elegant looking granite course markers with a stylized image of the course. I enjoyed the view over the lake while having a sandwich at the Cypress Grill.
I passed a fisherman on the North Lake Bridge and walked north and then east to Pine Lake Park. This lake, along with Lake Merced and nearby Mountain Lake, are the only natural freshwater lakes in San Francisco. Hard to see in the photo, but there’s a big gang of turtles out on a rock in the lake. I searched in vain for Plaza Kosmonavtikov that caught my eye on Google maps. It’s an open area of nasturtiums. Hmm. I think people can freely add sites to Google maps; is there any oversight on that??
The park becomes Stern Grove on the eastern side. I took a moment on the stage and then admired the Trocadero, a beautiful Victorian building you can rent for events. A tree fell on it last year so it’s currently closed. The trail section ends with a half mile walk to West Portal station but I was pooped so I opted for the K streetcar. There are two more sections of this trail to look forward to!