An Adventure in Urban Hiking

On days like today, living in a city can be stifling. Don't get me wrong - I love city living and all it has to offer. On days like today, though, I have an urge to get out. The sun is shining, the sky blue, and though it might be a tad windy (as San Francisco has the tendency to be), it's the kind of day where I want to be out in the country, far away from honking horns and city lights. Alas, I'm a car-less city dweller, so it seems my options could be limited. I love Golden Gate Park, but sometimes it's also nice to see something a little different. Yesterday I used The Google to see what kind of in-city hiking San Francisco has to offer, and stumbled across Glen Canyon Park. Aptly named, the park is a lush, green canyon tucked just behind Noe Valley (my neighborhood) with a short little trail, and only a mere mile away from my house (up some steep steep hills).

This morning Adam and I set out after a quick breakfast, armed with my camera and a full Nalgene (side note: for a delicious breakfast make some rolled oats with water, add a dash of milk, some raw honey, a healthy sprinkling of cinnamon, and some slivered almonds). We made our way down Diamond Heights, where the park greeted us at the bottom of the hill. The trail started at the road, and only a few hundred meters in the cars and city sounds disappeared. Instead, we found ourselves on a green trail running alongside a tiny stream. There were beautiful wildflowers, buzzing bees, and the trail varied from a sun-bathed, wide path to a shady trail only large enough for one person.


The trail isn't very long, and after a brief hike we came out onto the side of the canyon, peppered with snake holes and boulders large enough to sit (and pose) on.


After wandering around the edge of the canyon, we made our way back onto the main street, where we discovered the best-kept Safeway in the city and had a feast of meatballs, feta orzo salad, and fresh strawberries. We ate in a playground adjacent to the Safeway that looked out onto the canyon, and after a bit of lounging made our way back home. The rest of the afternoon consisted of a nap, a long walk, and a bit of Sunday evening grocery shopping. I also made some delicious (if I do say so myself) and cheap (really, maybe $2 for all of it) black bean burgers. Interested? Here's the recipe:

1 can black beans, rinsed (more or less, scaled to how many people you're trying to feed)
~ 1/3 cup uncooked rolled oats
Garlic (however much you see fit, but I recommend a healthy serving)
The juice of 1/2 a lime
Chopped cilantro (again, however much you see fit)
A bit of black pepper

Mash all ingredients together until 3/4 of the beans are mashed up and the oats are sticking to the black beans
Make patties with your hands (this made 5 small-medium sized burgers)
Heat a large skillet and add a bit of olive oil
Cook the burgers in the skillet, about 5 minutes on each side
*If you like, add a slice of cheese in the last 2 minutes of cooking
Enjoy with some sliced red onions, lettuce, tomato, dijon mustard and ketchup


To keep this from turning into a total marathon blog post, I'll wind things down. Both the burgers and the urban hiking will be repeated in the future. The burgers with some mozzarella cooked inside, and urban hikes at the Land's End Trail and Lake Merced, both here in SF. Ah, escapism.