Have Y’all Ever Hiked San Francisco’s Secret Garden Steps?

(Paolo Bicchieri)

There are a bazillion ways to spend a pleasant day in the City by the Bay. You could meet up with the surfers at Queer Surf, best for the beginners rather than venturing into the froth at Ocean Beach on their own. The radiant jewel neighborhood Bernal Heights is worth a visit, too. But, more than the sea or the shopping, one would be a dummy to pass up on the sneakiest, prettiest urban hike in the city. That hike would be the Pemberton Steps — yes, they are steps, but it’s quite the trek; ergo, a hike.

The steps are so delightful and out-of-the-way to come upon that I spent years trying (not very hard, I admit) to stumble upon the steps a second time after a rare encounter. Ranging from Clarendon Heights all the way to the top of Twin Peaks, the hike is a lovely, private chunk of our small city. As Bonnie Wach wrote for SFGATE, “The Pemberton steps begin at the curve of Clayton Street right before you cross Corbett. Climb 20 feet up the brick stairway and you leave urban angst behind. Car noise fades into the leafy overgrowth, and by the time you reach the first cross street (Villa Terrace) you find yourself wondering if this hilly perch has always been here, or if it magically appears like Brigadoon whenever the planets align just right.”

Indeed, it’s a mystical journey to traipse these red-hewn steps. Wach notes that there are certainly plenty of steps in San Francisco: the delicate 16th Avenue’s tiled steps, the sweeping Lincoln Park steps. But Pemberton Steps is notable for two reasons. First, it’s even more out of the way than the other already-on-the-low steps in the city — on either side of the hike are folks’ well-manicured homes and gardens, each street you pass is as relaxed and unridden as any in San Francisco. Second, no other jaunts end at Tank Hill Park.

The park is as shockingly pleasant as the steep walk to get there. (Taking the scenic route through Mount Sutro Forest around UCSF is a wooded alternative to the Pemberton Steps approach.) On a clear day sitting on the bench overlooking the Bay is about as pristine a sight as that earned by climbing Mount Davidson, the highest natural point in San Francisco at 928 feet. If none of this has convinced you of the objectively-superior choice to take the road less traveled, to ascend Pemberton Steps on a day off or to start a morning, then you can go fly a kite. You’d be wise to do so from Tank Hill Park.

(Paolo Bicchieri)

(Paolo Bicchieri)