Читать книгу Afoot and Afield: San Francisco Bay Area - David Weintraub - Страница 16

TRIP 2 Golden Gate Park: Stow Lake

Distance		2.4 miles, Semi-loop
Hiking Time		1 to 2 hours
Difficulty		Easy
Trail Use		Leashed dogs, Good for kids
Best Times		All year
Agency		SFR&PD
Recommended Map		Map: Map & Guide to Golden Gate Park (Friends of Recreation and Parks)

HIGHLIGHTS Walking this charming semi-loop — which visits Stow Lake and also introduces you to the Rose Garden, the Japanese Tea Garden, and the Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens — it’s hard to imagine San Francisco’s premier park as a bleak area of sand dunes, far removed from the city’s population center, but that’s what civil engineer William H. Hall had to work with when the park was created in the 1870s.

DIRECTIONS Parking around Golden Gate Park is often hard to find, especially on week ends. Also, there are road closures within the park on weekends and most holidays. If possible, use public transportation. San Francisco Muni bus lines 5 and 28 serve the trailhead at Presidio Blvd. and Fulton St. For more information, call SF Muni: (415) 673-6864.

Chinese Pavilion, on the east side of Stow lake, was a gift from the city of Taipei.

FACILITIES/TRAILHEAD Restrooms, phones, and snack/food vendors are scattered throughout the park. There are no facilities at the trailhead, which is on the southeast corner of Presidio Blvd. and Fulton St. (The nearest restroom is just west of the Rose Garden.)

You follow a paved path beside noisy Presidio Blvd. into the park. After about 100 feet you reach a four-way junction, where you go straight through the park’s lovely Rose Garden. Crossing John F. Kennedy Dr., you turn right on a paved path, and after about 150 feet veer left and climb past some tall eucalyptus trees. The path soon levels and curves left beside the Japanese Tea Garden, well worth a visit. Its entrance is ahead and then left about 100 yards on Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr.; there is a fee for admission.

Opposite the Tea Garden exit is a paved path going right and uphill to Stow Lake. Ahead, across Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., is Friend Gate and the entrance to the Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens (free admission).

The Arboretum

The 70-acre Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens contains plants from around the world, including Asia, South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and, of course, California. You can explore the John Muir Nature Trail, walk through a garden with plants mentioned in the Bible, and experience the Garden of Fragrance. There is a small pond here, and the water, combined with the variety of flowering plants, attracts many species of birds. An information board near the entrance lists guided walks and classes that are available.

To visit Stow Lake, go uphill on the paved path and then climb a set of steps. When you reach the lake, turn left and follow the paved path that circles the lake, which is actually a narrow body of water surrounding an island. Paddleboats ply the lake’s placid waters, which are fringed by Monterey pine, eucalyptus, and Monterey cypress. On the southwest side is Rustic Bridge, an 1893 stone span that leads to the island. Continuing clockwise around the lake, you come to the Boathouse, where you can buy snacks and drinks and rent boats and bicycles. Restrooms are downhill and across a parking area, left.

Stow Lake is a favorite birding destination — from its shore you may spot great blue herons, black-crowned night herons, egrets, gulls, ducks, geese, and songbirds. Sometimes a rare bird shows up and creates a stir among local birders.

Passing the Boathouse and ambling beside the lake, you come to Roman Bridge. To visit the island, turn right and cross the bridge. At a four-way junction, you turn right again and now begin to circle the island counter clockwise on a dirt path. A hillside rises steeply left, and after about 100 yards you come to a fork; the branches soon rejoin, so you can take either. Passing Rustic Bridge, you soon come to the colorful and elaborate Chinese Pavilion, a gift from San Francisco’s sister city, Taipei.

On the east side of the island is Huntington Falls, fed by the outflow from a reservoir atop the island. A series of stone steps allows you to cross the rushing water, which flows unimpeded into the lake. Just past the falls are steps leading to the reservoir. Now back at Roman Bridge, turn right to cross it, then right again when you reach the paved path to continue around the lake. At the northeast corner of the lake you close the loop. From here, retrace your route to the trailhead, or spend more time exploring the park and its many other attractions.