Gary-Summer: October 2, 2024

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

October 2, 2024 - Presidio

Title: October 2, 2024 - Presidio

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking : Car

Trail head: Cow Hollow Inn

Trail: Greenwich, Lyon, Mountain Lake Trail, Park Trail, Presidio Promenade, Lombard, Chestnut

Destination: Loop

Distance: 6.06/0.49 miles ¹

Start Time: 10:27

End Time: 3:36

Travel Time: 5:09 (1.18 mph)

Moving Time: 3:10 (1.92 mph)

Elevation Rise: 782/94 '

Descent: 843/14‘

Maximum Elevation: 382'

GPS Tracks

¹I did not turn on the GPS until going about half a mile away from the hotel, on Greenwich. All of the mileage and elevations are in the format of aaa/bb where aaa is taken from the GPS, bb is from the hotel to when I turned on the GPS. bb is computed from Google Earth.

Lyon St Stairs

Description:

I slept in until about 7 this morning. I thought I might be sleeping a bit later, but I did not. The forecast calls for it to be warm today, but not as warm as yesterday. Maybe someplace in the 82-85 range. Turns out I saw that it got up to 89.

The first order of business is getting breakfast. Last night at Amici’s, Sherri asked the waitress for a recommendation for breakfast. She talked about the Cracked and Battered on Chestnut, a little more than a block away. So there we go. Sherri has eggs Benedict and I a breakfast burrito. Both were pretty good. Sherri had slightly more than she felt like she needed to eat, but she devoured it all. I finished mine without a problem and felt full. We passed by an Apple store, but it was closed. Sherri wants to talk to them about her email and calendar not syncing.

By the time we get back to the hotel room, get ourselves ready-including Sherri making us sandwiches, and making our day packs appropriately suited for our trek today, it is a bit after 10 (how is that for a convoluted sentence?). We have decided to walk around the Presidio today. We will see how that goes, particularly if it gets hot.

We go over to Greenwich St and walk towards Lyon. We want to go up the Lyon St Stairs

Us by upper end of golf course

today. Last December we went down them in the rain. I noticed when we reached Brodrick, there is a dip to get to Lyon, so we headed up Broderick until we got to Green. Here it is pretty level. This puts us to the base of the stairs.

These stairs are magnificent with landscaping on both sides and a handrail for those of us, like me, who are unsteady. The first section is both long and steep. We take our time, but do a steady ascent. At the landing, about two-thirds of the way up, there is a little garden with a big heart in the middle. The heart is part of a 2004 project which left hearts all over San Francisco-think Tony Bennett. We let our legs return to being somewhat solid after they started quaking like Jello. Then onward to the last third, which is not as steep. We get in a conversation with a person who is carrying a full backpack. She is training to climb a peak in South America and needs to bump up her pack to 55 pounds, about half her body weight. I do not envy her.

The top of the stairs puts us at the Broadway entrance to the Presidio. After crossing Predisio Blvd, we get onto a trail which crosses the top of the Presidio, just under Pacific Ave. This is the southern border of the area. I was counting on the trails in this area to be well shaded, but there is a lot of exposure on this section. By the time we had done a little over a mile, we needed to find a bit of shade. We found it at the benches by the Presidio Wall Playground.

After resting for probably a half an hour, we continue on. There is a bit more shade. Crossing Arguello Blvd, we get to a section which borders the golf course. This is also the start of the

Under Highway 1

Mountain Lake Trail. It is wide and paved with a large area on the side with mulch on it. This seems to be where all of the dog walkers congregate. At least, there were at least five clusters of dogs with multiple handlers in each cluster. But for the most part the dogs are well behaved and do not bother us.

At the end of the trail is Mountain Lake. A sign says this is where the Spanish settlers originally stayed until they could find something more permanent. We go on the south side, find a grassy area with shade and plop down. Neither of us are hungry, but feel like we should have something. Out comes a package of fig bars I have been carrying around for a couple of months. They are appreciated.

National Cemetery

I do not know if it is the grass, the rest, or the weather, it seems cooler after we have laid down for a while. Probably 45-60 minutes. We both are feeling tired, so we start our return trip by going to the North of Mountain Lake and taking the trail under Highway 1. This leads us onto the Park Trail.

The Park Trail wanders down the hill we are on and heads to where all the more modern-thin World War II-buildings are. At the top, the trail skirts the golf course with a warning that this is an active course-I guess if we are struck by an errant golf ball, we will not have recourse. We also went past a store where many years ago we got some hot food. No hot food today and Sherri is not interested in the soda. The trail recrosses Highway 1, this time over it, but you would never know as the highway is buried. It follows some streets down. We see the National Cemetery there. After Arlington

Us and Golden Gate Bridge

, there is always a pause to honor those who died.

As we approach the buildings, we go off of the Park Trail and take the Presidio Promenade. This heads us more easterly. We also rest for a few minutes when we come across a bench. Then we continue on. While warm, it is bearable. Sort of a fun fact, the Promenade goes right over Highway 101, where we drove yesterday. We are able to gaze at the Golden Gate Bridge from on top of the highway.

The downside of this, is that the Promenade now is pretty exposed to the sun. We go behind the Walt Disney Museum. It goes right past the Visitor Center, so we go in. It is several degrees cooler inside. Plus we get to see on a relief map where we walked today. Sherri asks Joseph, a volunteer, if he knows of any good places to eat in Cow Hollow. He names off a couple taco places and a sushi establishment. Also Original Joe’s. We will see what we are up to tonight. Turns out that Original Joe’s is a ways walk from our hotel. But the taco places gives us some ideas.

We left for the remainder of today’s walk. The Promenade leads us past Letterman Hospital and then to the Lombard Gate. Now we have about a half mile to the hotel. The intersection of Lombard and 101 looks pretty confusing, so we cross 101 at Chestnut. This gets us down to Steiner and our hotel is a block away.

Getting into our room about 3:15 provides a relief. Sherri is content to lay down. I consumed a great deal of ice water and then laid down and rested. Feels good. I needed about half an hour. Sherri fell asleep for a while longer. I continue my hydration consumption for several hours.

After 6, Sherri would like to go to the Apple store around the corner and see if they can help her with a few problems on her phone. We canceled our participation on Zoom tonight and went to the store. They only can tell her that the problems have a common denominator and she will need to make an appointment with the Genius Bar.

Now to find dinner. We walk down Chestnut, rejecting some as being too filling-I am not that hungry. We decided that Tacolicious fills the ticket. I have chicken verde and carnitas tacos. Sherri also has a chicken verde taco with a Baja fish taco. She also imbibed with a margarita fresca After an hour, we were filled up and walked back to the hotel. There we just lounge around and try to figure out what we are up for tomorrow. We end up in bed a few minutes after 10.