Hike SF

Ugly or depressing sights are no rarity in the Tenderloin, but last week I saw something truly disturbing. Walking down Golden Gate near the federal building, a few homeless kids were strewn across the sidewalk. The youngest, looking about ten years old and 90 pounds, sat in a pile with his legs covered in blankets.

His face had a couple of open sores, and his arms were absolutely covered with them. He stared intensely at a quarter-sized wound on the back of his arm, below the elbow. Right as I walked by, he unflinchingly plunged a needle into its center.

I was shocked, speechless. Drug addicts, I’ve seen my fair share, but not enough to prepare me to see a child like that.

Reux reminded me that the page was a little light on maps the other day, so I set aside a chunk of the weekend to add a few new features. Now behind each post is now a faint trace of the walk to which it’s referring, and for meta posts, all walks combined. These are built from the monolithic KML file of all hikes. They be browsable too, if boredom overcomes you. My fav is probably the one with the cactus.

Links to maps, both in Google Maps and KML, are linked on the side. You might be wondering: why can’t I show all hikes on GMaps? Because it’ll cripple your machine, that’s why. Try as it might, my browser can’t render all paths within 45 seconds, and dragging lags by at least ten. True, my machine is old and busted, but I doubt yours can do it in less than 20.

Posts now sport a hike map link near the top, which’ll take you to the path in GMaps. I suppose this might help one to figure exactly where I saw that hobo playing baseball, scary tree monster, or giant pile of rubble.

Whilst Ellie was rummaging in the UCSF library, I fled towards the shadows, large trees stretching out behind the campus. A real live forest–or the city’s closest to it.

As I rounded the cul de sac of Hill Point, a gap between driveways gaped larger than any urban architect would allow. Indeed, the shoulder-to-shoulder pattern was cleft by a city stairway, heading down and to the right. I’d no interest in reaching Carl, which I assumed was where it went, but curiosity got the best of me.

Around the corner, impossibility struck. Farther and farther down, prickly bushes crowded the path, thicker and thicker. Halfway down I stopped to tuck my pants into my socks. But before the next turn, ’twas too dense to continue. Turning back around, I snapped the above picture.

The lower end of the stairs, I thought, was probably blocked by home construction at some point. Then, useless as they were, the stairs were abandoned by the city, and eventually overgrown. Not even Stairway Walks in San Francisco, with its exhaustive list of public steps, mentions the stairs.

One day I’ll return with proper boots, thicker pants, steadfast determination and a better camera, and trace those stairs the end. Who’s with me?