Usually, when I go to the city for some alone time, I plan an entire itinerary for myself.
But, recently, I found myself in Inner Richmond with no plan for the day.
I decided to simply walk up and down Geary, and see what happened.
I grabbed an Amocado sandwich from Lou’s Cafe, and started walking.
The views along Geary were almost comparable to hiking along a mountain ridge in Mount Tamalpais. Although, some sections of that street are much ritzier than others.
Since it happened to be the day of the Bay to Breakers race, there were a lot of people running around in costumes. It was like a mid-May Halloween for adults only.
I walked for what felt like forever. I was about to give up and turn around, when I finally spotted a beach.
I walked down to an area with signs saying ‘Sutro District.’
I’d heard of the Sutro District many times before, but had only ever been down there a handful of times, and never for very long.
The Sutro Gardens are actually more like the ruins of where the Sutro Gardens used to be.
Apparently, there used to be such elaborate Gardens here that it took a full time staff of twelve arborists to keep everything up and running.
The Parapet used to be a grand balcony for upscale parties. I could totally imagine myself serving cocktails up there.
Now, though, it’s more of a high school and college burnout hangout spot. Only small portions of the gardens are still maintained, and most of the cement has crumbled.
Some lone bunches of succulents were thriving on the cliffs, in spite of a lack of maintenance.
Just uphill from the Sutro gardens, I found some historic war battery ruins.
Of course, since it’s San Francisco, the ruins are covered in graffiti. They’re a popular hangout spot for teenaged delinquents.
Not sure what this building was originally used for, but it looks like it’s recently been used for some raves or something.
Icky clothes, a pink and purple hair wig, and adult toy boxes littered the ground behind the building. It’s that classy San Francisco charm.
Just below the war batteries and above the gardens, there is a huge picnic area overlooking the ocean. When I visited, it was full of college age students having an event.
While I didn’t get any pictures of it, I loved the National Parks Visitor Center at the Lands End Lookout.
They had clean restrooms and water bladder refill stations, and lots of cute merchandise.
After walking around the gardens and batteries, I headed down to the Sutro Baths ruins.
I walked over to see the Cliff House, but there wasn’t much left there to see except for a balcony.
So, I headed down to the Sutro Bath Ruins.
The view from the top of the stairs is great, but, in order to get down to the actual ruins, you have to climb down a sand ladder.
This ladder is relatively well maintained and easy to climb.
I wanted to eat my sandwich at the uppermost pool, but some teenage girls claimed the spot just before I could. So, I headed all the way down to the ruins.
On my way there, I ran into a blue heron.
Of course, the view is always better with an edible. I cracked open this St. Ides tea that I had purchased up the street.
From far away, no one could possibly tell what it is– unless they know because they’ve had one, too!
A few sips made me hungry enough to finish my sandwich.
From the Gardens, I decided to take the hike along Coast Trail to Mile Rock Beach.
I had noticed that the 38 bus could take me back up Geary, so, I could hike for as long as I wanted to.
The trail was lush, and incredibly beautiful. There were lots of pairs of college age students out hiking, and I loved hearing everyone talk about how pretty it was.
The sand ladder down to Mile Rock Beach was a bit harder than the one down to the Sutro.
It was only about a quarter mile down to the ocean.
Down at the beach, there were lots of families playing and having barbecues.
Some groups of scouts were lashing together beach teepees.
After Mile Rock Beach, I hiked back over to Geary, where I took the 38 bus all the way back to Union Square.
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