Twin Peaks Epic Views and Secret Gardens |
Skyline vistas spur you on as you make your way to the top of Twin Peaks.
BOUNDARIES: Market St., Danvers St., Corbett Ave., Twin Peaks Blvd.
DISTANCE: 4 miles
DIFFICULTY: Strenuous
PARKING: Market and Noe Center, 2284 Market St. between 16th and Noe, has off-street parking.
PUBLIC TRANSIT: F streetcars (street level); K, L, M streetcars (underground); 22, 33, 37 Muni buses
Twin Peaks has an allure that dates back at least to Spanish times, when the peaks were known as Los Pechos de la Choca, which is typically translated as “The Breasts of the Maiden” (or sometimes “The Breasts of the Indian Girl”); the more-subtle current name has become iconic to the point of overstatement. Scholars suggest that the Ohlone people may have once planted medicinal and ceremonial plants here. Certainly the vantage point was useful as a lookout. And indeed the view is magnificent—but so is the journey.
Climbing from the Castro flats, we explore colorful Victorian architecture, ferret out hilltop parks with a locals-only feel, and traverse magical secret garden stairs and slides. Keep your eyes peeled for the endangered Mission Blue butterfly, which can often be seen flitting about this windy perch. This walk requires some climbing on loose trails, so wear suitable shoes and expect to get some exercise.
A walk up to Twin Peaks is an excuse to explore the Castro’s back streets. Starting from the corner of Castro Street, turn left and head west up Market Street on the south sidewalk. After several blocks, just after crossing Douglass Street, turn down the pedestrian stairs onto Ord Street; then turn right on 18th Street. Turn left to follow Danvers Street to Caselli, cross Caselli, and continue on the alleylike back street, which is still Danvers. At 19th Street, turn left again.
This part of the Castro may be San Francisco’s most finely composed neighborhood. It has an ideal hillside setting and a solid collection of attractive, though not spectacular, Victorian residences. Eureka Valley, as the Castro is still sometimes referred to, was long a working-class neighborhood with immigrants from Scandinavia, Ireland, and Germany. But Little Scandinavia, as it was once called, is now more associated with rainbow flags celebrating gay pride than half-timbered homes. That said, the neighborhood is architecturally consistent. Whereas the imposing estates of Pacific Heights were surrounded by large lots on which 20th-century apartment buildings would be built, the Castro’s kit Victorians were put up, and remain, side by side, almost uninterrupted. The grid bends to the terrain here, giving the neighborhood a European feel while also making it possible to switchback up and down.
Press on 19th to the corner of Yukon, where you will see 
Kite Hill, a scraggly open parkland with no apparent entrance. Continue a little way on the right side of 19th Street until you reach the first private garage, at which point a dirt trail should be plainly visible. Head up the trail, through gardens which rapidly yield to a wild, grassy mountaintop. Kite Hill seems a bit neglected, but it’s more appealing for that fact. People live in San Francisco for decades without ever discovering this spot. For those who do make their way here, the views—of Castro rooftops and the downtown skyscrapers on one side, of a canyonlike neighborhood squeezed between Kite Hill and Twin Peaks on the other—are a big payoff. Regardless of the weather below, it’s very gusty up top, and one can instantly understand the name. A kite would surely soar high over the city from here. If all you want to do is sit and absorb the view, you’ll find a bench where you can do just that.
From the top of Kite Hill, look for the gravel path—the lower of two paths exiting the hill—near an SF REC AND PARK sign to make your way to Corwin Street. After walking a few hundred feet, you’ll see a well-established community garden on the corner of Corwin and Acme Alley. These are dry gardens, well worth a lengthy pause to admire the impressive array of drought-resistant plants. Proceed downhill through the gardens until you reach a small patio that is actually half of 
Seward Mini Park. Yes, the odd concrete structures you see before you are a pair of slides. They look as slick and curvaceous as an Olympic luge run, not to mention kind of dangerous. The slides were built in 1973 following the guidelines set by a 14-year-old Seward Street resident, Kim Clark, who won a Design a Park competition at her local public school. Presumably these slides are for kids, but no one would fault an adult for taking this quick route the rest of the way down to Seward Street. The slides are closed on Mondays and after 5 p.m. all other days, with locked gates preventing renegades from sneaking a ride.
At Seward, turn right and stay on the elevated sidewalk, along the right side of the street. It’s a beautiful block with lots of planting. At the end of the block, turn right onto Douglass. At 20th, Douglass hits an incline too steep for cars and the street turns into a concrete stairway for pedestrians. Walk up the steps, through another hillside garden, and at the top, continue along Douglass Street, on the right-hand side through another well-planted block. By now, you might have come to the reasonable conclusion that this is San Francisco’s Garden District.
Turn right to return to Romain Street. Sutro Tower stands directly ahead, though it’s still some distance off. Head two blocks up to Market Street. This part of Market, an extension that dates to the 1920s, forms a rampart, cutting off the Castro from streets such as Corbett and Clayton, on Market’s upside. The divide turned out to be advantageous for the Castro, making the neighborhood feel more sheltered and complete.
The slides of Seward Mini Park provide a thrilling means to go downhill.
Cross Market on the Romain Street pedestrian bridge, continue west up Romain, and make a left on Corbett Street. After you pass Rooftop Alternative School, turn right at Hopkins Street and then left onto Burnett Avenue. Here, the neighborhood takes an unexpectedly bland turn. It’s evident that in the 1960s, Burnett Avenue and Gardenside Drive were handed over to developers of very little imagination. Adjacent to the drab apartment complexes that proliferate here, concrete public stairways lead upward—we’ll take advantage of these now and follow a more scenic route back down. The steps, intermittently signed as VISTA LANE, lead all the way up to Parkridge Drive. Here you’ll see a signpost pointing left towards STEPS TO TWIN PEAKS. Turn left and cross the street to follow Vista Lane’s steps upward; then cross Crestline Drive to the clearly marked SF REC AND PARK trailhead. A stepped, unpaved trail leads us out of apartment-land, past low shrubs and brambles, up to Twin Peaks Boulevard and the peaks themselves.
Almost there: the final push to Twin Peaks
It must be said that the peaks aren’t overly impressive when you first lay eyes on them from Twin Peaks Boulevard. In fact, the boulevard, which forms a figure eight around the two peaks, is largely the problem. The road, paved in 1934, has unsightly waist-high concrete shoulder barriers that may dissuade a dispirited walker from continuing all the way up to the peaks’ blustery tops. But slide on over the barrier and forge upward.
The views from the tops of both peaks are spectacular, and if you scale both hills, the effect is almost stereoscopic. From the south peak, named Noe, Market Street appears as a prominent seam through the central city, leading the eye to downtown skyscrapers. Pan to the left for an attractive vantage of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands beyond. You can see the south peak’s twin and glimpse Alcatraz just behind it to the right. Panning to the right along the bay, you’ll see Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge. South of Market Street are Potrero Hill, Bernal Hill, Candlestick Point, impressive San Bruno Mountain, and, beyond that, the northern reaches of the Santa Cruz Mountains. To the west is Mount Davidson, San Francisco’s highest peak, its giant cross poking up above a surrounding grove of eucalyptus. On a cloudless day you can see the surf at Ocean Beach, which from this distance appears to break in supreme slow motion. On days of crystalline clarity, you can even see the Farallon Islands, more than 25 miles away.
Looking immediately about you, the crumbling rock outcrops on which you stand obviously make a harsh habitat for plant life, but you’ll notice ankle-high coast strawberries, blue wild rye, monkeyflower, and yarrow. At times, pesky poison oak shrubs tend to run a bit wild until the parks department cuts them back. (If you brush against poison oak—be on the alert for the small, scalloped green leaves, which turn reddish in summer—you can expect an unpleasant itch and rash.) From up here it’s often possible to look down on red-tailed hawks as they survey lower slopes for prey.
Descend the south peak along the same trail you came up, cross Twin Peaks Boulevard, and head up the north peak, Eureka, where the view of downtown and the bay is closer but also somewhat obstructed by radio towers immediately to the east. As you will notice, from this vantage the Ferry Building lines up perfectly at the foot of Market Street. To the northwest, you’ll have an unobstructed view of Sutro Tower, the giant three-pronged antenna that brought television to much of the city when it was completed in 1973. The awkward orange-and-white antenna still has its detractors, who were quick to object to its sci-fi implications back in the ’70s, and it also has its fans, who are obviously unconvinced that Twin Peaks would be prettier without it.
The trail over the north peak continues down the other side. Follow Christmas Tree Point Road, which might easily be taken as a third rung in the figure eight formed by Twin Peaks Boulevard. Christmas Tree Point Road curves around the radio buildings, and along it is a popular viewpoint that’s accessible to motorists. The overlook has parking and benches, and the view of downtown is excellent.
At the end of Christmas Tree Point Road, turn right on Twin Peaks Boulevard and follow it down. There’s no sidewalk as the road hurtles downward, so be on your guard for cars. A sidewalk does materialize as the road becomes residential. You’ll continue on Twin Peaks as it takes a sharp right turn at a small pocket park with a bench at Clarendon. If you still have any juice left, look for a wooden staircase heading up to your right directly across from Crown Terrace that leads up to 
Tank Hill. Although several hundred feet shorter than Twin Peaks, Tank Hill still affords amazing views and has the luxury of being relatively unknown to tourists. You’ll often find locals on the hill at sunset. While the namesake water tank is long gone, it’s now a favorite spot for neighbors to watch Fourth of July fireworks when the fog complies.
Once you’ve had your fill, return the way you came, cross the street, and descend Crown Terrace to enter another picturesque hillside enclave. The lane crooks past Edwardian houses with Spanish revival details and finishes. Turn right to descend the picturesque 
Pemberton Steps, an attractive brick stairway flanked by hillside plantings that include a number of young Japanese maples. This top section is the oldest, and the moss-covered stairs have a secret-garden feel to them. The lower stairs have been redone, complete with benches and water fountains, and the neighboring homes boast particularly vibrant gardens in spring.
Continue down the stairs all the way to Clayton. Cross Clayton Street—use caution!—and cut through the little rock-and-cactus garden fashioned with care from a triangular street corner. Turn left onto Corbett Avenue and follow it down to Danvers Street, which leads back to Market Street and your starting point at Market and Castro.
Twin Peaks
Points of Interest
Kite Hill Yukon and 19th Sts.; 415-831-6331, sfrecpark.org/destination/kite-hill
Seward Mini Park 30 Seward St.; 415-831-2700, sfrecpark.org/destination/seward-mini-park
Tank Hill Clarendon Ave. and Twin Peaks Blvd.; 415-831-5500, sfrecpark.org/destination/tank-hill-natural-areas
