| High Pointing With The Family Trip Report |
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| High Pointing With The Family   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: California, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 37.73831°N / 122.45477°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Jul 8, 2007 Activities: Hiking Season: Summer | Page By: JasonH Created/Edited: Aug 28, 2007 / Sep 9, 2007 Object ID: 329793 Hits: 641 Loading... Page Score: 87.12% - 6 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
The DriveOn Friday July 6th my wife Milinda and I decided we needed to get out of the Central Valley. It was hot, as it usually is in the summer. Triple digits are never fun, unless you are psychotic. So a trip to San Francisco seemed like a cool thing to do. We hadn’t been to the city in an over a year. Then again we hadn’t done a lot of things that we used to do before our daughter Abigail was born.
We had plans for Saturday so we ended up going on Sunday. We didn’t make any plans on what to do when we got there, instead it would be spontaneous. But going to Mount Davidson was one of the things I really wanted to do there. As usual we got a late start and we didn’t leave Sacramento until 10:00 in the morning. We had two choices to get there. Option one would have been Interstate 80 all the way. Or we could have taken option two, the 80 to highway 37 in Vallejo to the 101. We chose option two because it is a much more pleasant drive but a little longer.
The drive there was pretty easy. The traffic was pretty light by bay area standards and we didn’t have to make a stop until we got to San Rafael. We got out of the car and we were hit with a strange sensation, cool air. It was right then that Milinda realized that she had forgotten here sweatshirt. Not a big problem, after all we are heading to a city of over 700,000; finding place that sell inexpensive sweatshirts shouldn’t be a problem. As it would turn out it wasn’t as easy as we first thought.
After stretching our legs for a few minutes we got back on the road. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, which is always a treat for some reason. Shortly after we got into San Francisco we left the 101 and headed south on Highway 1. Our first goal was to find Milinda a sweatshirt. We learned that highway 1 is not the best place to go if you want to buy a sweatshirt. We drove all the way through San Francisco and we were just about to Daly City when we noticed the Stonestown Mall. We must have picked the wrong day to go there because it took forever to find a parking spot, but we finally found one in the far reaches of the parking lot.
We were excited to get out of the car and we did so quickly, which isn’t so easy with a fussy one year old. Right after getting out I looked off to the east, and what did I see. The mall was right at the foot of Mount Davidson. So I begged and pleaded and promised her whatever she wanted. It was really pathetic, but it worked and she agreed to go there after we got done with the ordeal of the shopping mall. Neither one of us enjoys shopping, nor we hadn’t been to a mall since before last Christmas. When we got inside we learned nothing had change, all the stores are the same in every mall and it is infested with teenagers. Our first and only stop was that great shrine to expensive, cheaply made clothing, American Eagle Outfitters. After what seemed like an eternity Milinda settled on an expensive, cheaply made sweatshirt and we got the hell out of there.
Well with an hour wasted by that ordeal I was ready to get up to Mount Davidson. But there was one more speed bump. My stomach started growling and Milinda was pretty hungry too, as was Abbie. The only place in sight that combined speed and not costing an arm and leg was that monument to crappy burgers, McDonalds. So after our lunch of Quarterpounders and formula we got back on the road.
The ClimbIf you have ever been to San Francisco then you know it is not the easiest city to navigate. And the streets surrounding Mount Davidson are hard by San Francisco standards. Instead of going in a normal grid pattern, the streets form a circle around the hill, with streets heading away from Mount Davidson. On top of this a lot of the street signs on Portola Drive were nonexistent, and this caused us to drive right by our turn (Marne Avenue). We drove a few blocks further before we noticed and we took the next right at Fowler Avenue. Once we got onto Fowler we quickly found Juanita Way, which we needed to find anyway. We followed Juanita Way back until it dead-ended into Marne Avenue, and we turned left onto Marne, and then made a quick left onto Dalewood Way.
Dalewood Way might be the steepest road I have ever been on. Our little 1991 Honda Accord struggled to get to the top and I thought we were going to have to go back down and get a running start. Just when we thought all hope was lost, the transmission switched gears, and the engine had new life. In Hundley lore we now call this “The Miracle On Dalewood Way”. A little dramatic, perhaps, but if you know the history of our car, you would understand.
The Trailhead |
At the intersection of Dalewood and Lansdale Avenue the climb ended and I quickly noticed the bus stop that marked the trailhead. I parked the car, giving it a much-deserved break. We broke out the stroller and loaded Abbie and her diaper bag. We walked across the street to the bus stop and found the trail hidden behind it. The trail was not too steep but it was heavily rooted and pretty muddy. We learned the hard way that we should have not worn sandals and we should have not used the stroller.
The trail goes up the south side of Mount Davidson. It was heavily forested and we didn’t get any views so the city until almost to the top on the east side. This is the only place on Mount Davidson where the view opens up. Unfortunately it was very foggy that day, but we got little teases in spots. It was at this point where Abbie decided she didn’t want to be in the stroller anymore. So Milinda took her out of the stroller and Abbie got to walk up to the summit, which is marked by the giant cross dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
Trees surrounded the summit so we were not able to see anything off to the west. But a combination of the cross, the fog, the trees, and the wind made for an eerie atmosphere. It was a big moment for me. I finally got to share a summit with my daughter and hopefully it will be the first of many. Abbie being only one year old didn’t share my excitement, but she had a great time never the less. She ran all over the place and had a good time playing in the mud.
We hung out on the summit for another thirty minutes. Abbie wore Milinda out running around. And I took a lot of photos I thought would look really artsy but turned out to just be blurry. We headed down a more direct way. Mount Davidson is covered with chris-crossing paths but quickly found our way back to the trailhead. To our disappointment are car had not been stolen, maybe next time.
The AftermathI packed the car back up, while Milinda got a fussy Abbie back into her car seat. Within minutes we were going down the steep Dalewood Avenue and Abbie was passed out. We had spent most of our time in the city in the fog so some sunshine seemed in order, so we headed east towards the bay. So far this trip was very spontaneous, so we kept that ball rolling and headed to Twin Peaks.
Twin Peaks is a hair lower than Mount Davidson, but there are no trees on top so the view is 360°’s. But it was very foggy that day and all we say was little glimpses of the city to the northeast. The wind quickly drove us back into the car and we headed off to AT&T Park, home of my favorite baseball team, the San Francisco Giants. We got down there to late to catch any of the game from the free viewing area, but we did get there in time to hit the post game traffic.
It was getting kind of late and we needed to find a place that was not fast food and would cost an arm and a leg to eat at. I knew we would find a place that fit the bill at Fisherman’s Warf. I also wanted to find a Giants sticker for my climbing helmet and I knew of a bay area sports clothing store at the tourist trap known as Pier 39. As usual we made the mistake of driving down The Embarcadero, and after taking twenty minutes to drive one mile we found a parking spot.
We negotiated our way three blocks through the tourist swarm to Pier 39. Our first stop was the sports store for the sticker. I found a sticker but the service was crap, so I got the hell out of there. With that done, the hardest part of the trip was upon us, what to do about dinner. This question has dogged couples from the beginning of recorded history. The lucky place had to meet these standards, reasonably priced, close by, and most importantly toddler friendly.
It was a good thing we only had one real choice, Bubba Gumps. It was 6:00 when we got there and the dinner rush was in full effect. We were told the wait would be 15 minutes, but the15 minute wait turned out to be a 15 Minute wait for another wait of 10 minutes. The wait was worth it, because we got a window seat with a great view of the bay. It might have been the best view of the day.
We were than treated to an amazing spectacle. Abbie demolished her Mac n Cheese. Everyone that saw her got a chuckle. I have never seen anyone use two hands to eat Mac n Cheese, so this was a treat. It was so much fun I almost forgot about my food, so we were there for a lot longer than we should have been. Abbie’s normal bedtime is 7:30 and we were still at the restaurant at 7. So with a little reluctance we decided to get on the road. We went home the same way we got there, and we were back in Sacramento by 9:30.
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SF Bay Area Peaks
