Why expeditions? I started doing these for a very specific reason. When I got home from my trip to Japan in May of 2023, I fell into a depression for weeks. I can’t put my finger on it, but something about Japan deeply affected me and I felt the loss of it quite strongly. I’ve had post travel let down before, but not that bad.
I noticed that doing little things like going to a nearby city for dinner and a movie perked me up a lot. Going places I rarely or never go and spending half a day or more there actually felt like travel to me, and that’s what I needed. I formalized it in July. Having a plan, going on the expedition and then documenting it afterward felt very satisfying! Still does.
Expedition 47: Double Cross Trail, Section 2. In June I walked Section 1. I’m not finished with the Crosstown Trail yet; I like to jump around! This section starts at West Portal MUNI station. I walked up around the back of the station, across a park, through a gate and down an alley. Across the street I walked up another alley which intersected with a second one.
Something about alleys, especially ones that don’t seem to have names, charms me. They are like secret, hidden places where you might find something magical. I loved the narrow streets in Japan too. On Kensington Way I saw this birdbath guarded by a dinosaur skeleton and two unicorns. A few houses down, the birdbath had a dog poop bag in it. Shrug.
On the other side of the street is Edgehill Open Space. On this side is an interesting mix of chert and bricks. Chert is quite stable, but that area was extensively quarried and there are regular rock and mud slides. After a bad slide in 1997, planned houses were not built there and it became part of the open space. Still doesn’t look very stable to me…
The Open Space is very wild with huge trees and green slopes. Just a few steps in I felt like I was somewhere else entirely. Good place for a lunch break! The trail comes out inside a gated community, Knockash Hill, which didn’t seem very San Francisco-y at all. Onward toward Twin Peaks. This little path intersected Ulloa Street.
Suddenly I was in civilization again passing a gigantic purple church and the Tower Market, which operated from 1942 to 2006. The market is now a Mollie Stone but I’m glad they kept the old facade! I stopped for coffee and then went back to dirt paths and steps where I passed Sutro Tower peeking out of the fog. The eastern part of Twin Peaks Blvd is now pedestrians and bikes only since 2020, thanks to local activists.
One thing I really enjoyed about this trail was experiencing how San Francisco neighborhoods are often punctuated with lovely green spaces. The city has never seemed terribly urban to me anyway, compared to my previous homes in New York City and Mexico City.
It was a beautiful, clear day with a few wisps of fog and the vista from Christmas Tree Point (for a few years in the late 1920’s, the SF Examiner sponsored a giant Christmas tree there) was fantastic. As far as I could tell, I was the only English speaker there. 🙂 The hot dog vendor was doing a brisk business.
I started downhill and passed this odd little corner with a bench and a foo dog. But then it was uphill again at Upper Terrace which lead me to the rather grand Mount Olympus pedestal. Adolph Sutro donated the land and a delicate statue in 1887 where it was in the middle of nowhere (the statue was quickly damaged but wasn’t removed until the 1950’s). Sutro apparently owned about 1/12th of San Francisco!
Next I went down a pretty step street and into Buena Vista Park. As I continued south, I noticed some bright white stones among the grey ones in the path wall. Further along, I found ones with letters cut into them. Old tombstones! Most were laid face down (to respect the dead?) by WPA workers but many are not. Who knows why?
In June, Expedition 36 took me to the cemeteries of Colma and I learned about the mass exodus of graves from San Francisco and how unidentified ones had been repurposed here and in other San Francisco building projects. That will for sure be a future expedition! At Buena Vista, park improvements were made during the Great Depression. Headstone pieces were used to save on materials cost.
Another stairway and alley took me to Duboce Park where I haven’t visited in many years. Years ago it was a schlubby little place but now it has a playground, nice landscaping and the Harvey Milk Center for Recreational Arts, which I’d never seen before. It kind of looms over the park. On the side, in weirdly hard to read lettering, it says “The American Dream starts with the neighborhoods.” Inside, a life sized Harvey stands behind what looks like a pearl covered toaster and velvet bagel. Sure, why not?