Wildlands of San Francisco

It is all around us and it is relentless. Right now it is working at destroying our homes and cities. While we sleep at night it is tirelessly toiling away. Overcoming everything we know. Everything we have made. Everything we will ever do. There is no escape, we are in a symbiotic relationship with it. We love it deeply and without it we will die. Yet in the long run, our species will be gone and it will overrun this world until all life is gone and there is nothing left but a burnt ember orbiting the Sun. Hinge and Grass

You have been a witness to the battle so long, you don't even recognize it anymore. A weed growing through a crack in the sidewalk. The moss on a fence post. The Spider hiding away in a corner of the bookshelf. Chaos... Nature... Uncontrolled life.

But we think we can control it.Our suburbs and cities are our attempt at organizing it and creating structure so we can have huge conglomerations of human protoplasm interacting with itself for the betterment of itself. ...An act which seems to be becoming more and more out of control. We are of nature, out of control, bound by chaos.

In our attempt at creating structure, in the building of our cities, there are always spots where Nature reins supreme. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes through neglect, and somtimes because it is just too bloody hard to build something there. In today's missive I will share some of San Francisco's out-of-control spots.

Stairway to the Sky

One of the many things that San Francisco is a city of is staircases. Most of the time they are an assist up a hill or between levels that are too steep for a street but fine for a person on foot. "Bridges of elevation" one might say, but here and there throughout the city they can be found as entryways. Invitations to unseen places. Portals to the little reminants of the wildlands that are impossible to eradicate.

Stone Stairway

Whether rough-hewn or tidily made, there are stairways that seem to invite you. "Follow me, I'll lead to some place interesting."

Sutro Tower Path

Sometimes you will see a path going off to the side. Perhaps you have passed the place before, and not noticed it. It has always been there. Isn't it about time to take a look and see where it goes? This path is by Sutro Tower, you only have to duck under that tree to follow it.

Neighborhood Garden

And sometimes the entryway is posted & emblazoned, inviting you in. The best gardens are a form of managed chaos. This is the entry to a "Nice Neighborhood Garden" by Bernal Hill.

Nice Neighborhood Garden

The sign didn't lie, thisis a nice neighborhood garden. It's a very nice neighborhood garden. If you find it, treat it with respect If you find a talkative neighbor that is working it, you will hear some great stories!

Sometimes, when walking through one of these wild places you will come upon a developed bit that is surprising and delightful. When San Francisco put in this reservoir there were no developments nearby or even this high on the hill. Imagine how much this view is worth now.

Leather Leaf Fern

Wandering along these paths you get to see different plants like this leather-leaf fern (Polypodium scouleri). This one is happy and healthy living unmolested off the beaten track.

Twisty Tree

Look carefully and you can see the wildlands slowly making progress. This disused walkway off of Forest Knolls has so little traffic moss is starting to grow on it.

If you leave it alone long enough it will go wild all on its own. This Australian Tea Tree looks like a photo of a modern dancer where they kept the shutter open.

Dog in the Fog

A little big of weather makes the wildlands even wilder. This dog just stood there for a few minutes peering into the fog looking for its owner? ...Or maybe she was channeling her inner wolf.

Stump

When you wander through unmanicured places the disarray finds an order of its own. An old tree stump loses section of its bark revealing a tightly patterned figuring.

Sutro Baths

This is all that is left of the massive Sutro Baths complex which burned down in 1960. The only bathers are waterfowl.

While the paths that run along the cliffs & bluffs at the western side of the Presidio are developed, they give you access to the stony beaches and views of the serpantine cliffs.

Run down shed

Out in the Portrero district you can find this rotting shed that has a prickly pear cactus cozied up against it. Just doesn't seem like San Francisco, but there it is. If you squint, you can see the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance on the right side.

And when you are done rambling around the town, you can grab your guitar and serenade the sunset from the top of one of the Sand Dunes by Ocean Beach.


Photography Posts
A Jaunt to Nevada
Jun 04, 2016
Though San Francisco is the place to be, it was no more the place for me. It was the end of February. Time was up for my place in Pacific Heights and I wanted to get a little more distance between myself & the house remodel. My solution was to move to Fort Bragg for the remainder of the house thing. "But why, then, did you drive to Nevada?" You sagely ask. It's simple. Since we were selling the house, I needed a new mailing address.
  Wildlands of San Francisco
Some Humble Abodes
May 23, 2016
There are uncounted scads of really nice Victorian houses in San Francisco and if I was to take pictures of the best of them I couldn't afford the film... er... hard drive space. Besides, San Francisco has many more syles of houses beyond Victorians. This a selection of a few that I have shot in the past month or so.
Fort Bragg on a Foggy Night
May 12, 2016
The fog rolls in.. It is late on a late spring night. Nothing on TV. There never is. Grab the camera & tripod... it's time to take a walk.
And a Few More Pictures of San Francisco
May 09, 2016
There are always a few left-over pictures that don't seem to fit in with any article.. I'll throw in a Batch of San Francisco images here. these are shot in all sections of the city, and are not displayed in any particular order.
California's Lost Coast
May 07, 2016
There is an area of California known as the Lost Coast. Somewhere north of Fort Bragg, south of Ferndale and west of highway 101. There are a few ways to get there but fewer people who will tell you how. Some places you can drive to, much of it is accessable only by foot if at all. It is one of the remaining places that Sasquatch can run free.
San Francisco Skylines - Part Two
Apr 19, 2016
We all do it, some folks more than others. Perhaps your practice is utilitarian, maybe you are just following a whim, whaterver your purpose San Francisco is a great town to do it in. Even with all the hills, in fact the hills might make it better
San Francisco Skylines
Mar 21, 2016
If you listen carefully you can hear it.... Humphrey Bogart in his best film-noir voice-over.... "They call her San Francisco... City by the Bay. She's taken many hearts... Poor saps, they think they left left'm, but they were stolen, every one."
What are you going to do in San Francisco anyhow?
Dec 28, 2015
I like San Francisco. I always have. For my first job I was a driver for a water lab. Every morning I had to drive from Redwood City to Marin (through San Francisco, of course). I had all morning to do the drive plus my lunch hour. I would often spend my lunch hour picking a new route through the city. Way too much fun to be paid for, but i took the money anyway. Now I had the opportunity to spend all day every day in the city.
What Happened to July?
Aug 18, 2015
One of the nice things about July is that the ginger plant blooms. This is probably the last year I get to see this one do it. It's growing by the front door & some of the stalks reach 8-feet in height. This year there are about 16 stalks.
Recent Pictures
Jun 19, 2015
May & June get lumped together. Lots of packing. 56 years of house to deal with. Getting my replacements at Gryphon up and running.
Some Recent Pictures
May 19, 2015
April was an interesting month. Packing things up. A few shots testing a new Canon 100-400mm lens. Of course when packing things can get messy... I knocked over a pile of empty film reels. It looked so nice I just had to take a picture.
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