Getting out of the City by Staying in the City

If you live in or near San Francisco, you are within a reasonably short drive of some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world - Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Napa and Sonoma Counties, and more. People travel from all over the world to visit these spots that are seemingly right in our backyard.

But sometimes you might not feel like going away for the weekend to visit somewhere beautiful, and the reasons for sticking close to home are numerous: you may not want to deal with logistics, pay for a hotel, deal with traffic, etc. Or, like me, you might not even have a car with which to escape the city!

Luckily for those of us who live in the Bay Area, we have many great options for getting out of the city by staying in the city. One of these such options is Glen Canyon Park. Glen Canyon Park is located within a 10 minute walk of Glen Park BART, and contains 70 acres of parkland.

The terrain of the park is varied, but it's hard not to notice the myriad rock outcroppings throughout the park. Some folks think there's not a lot to see here, but I disagree - you just need to get off the main trails.

If you enter from the southern end of the park either from Bosworth or Elk Street, you'll pass the visitor center as you head North. The trail splits into a "V" in front of you, and you should take the path to the right. It's paved with asphalt for a little bit, and then you'll see some wooden stairs to your right.

When you take the stairs, you're transported off the paved trail and onto some narrow dirt trails where you can climb upward to get an interesting perspective on the park below.

You can visit the park yourself or take my Walk on the Wild Side hike to see more. I've added some photos below, and here's a more extensive photo gallery of what you can expect to see there.

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