Urban Hiker SF

After college, I sat at various desks at various jobs for 10 years. When I realized 10 years had come and gone, I was in a state of shock. The years were blending together and flying by with nothing too memorable about them. As time went on, I found myself grumpier and grumpier about my work and my commute. I wasn't in a good place.  Without a real place to go afterward, I quit a cushy job in January 2012 in order to take a few months off to reflect. At first, the feeling of freedom made me giddy. But then it made me nervous. I thought, "What am I going to do with myself now ?" And then sometime in May, had the idea for Urban Hiker SF . The idea for the company allowed me to combine my love of novelty, exploration, and the outdoors with the business knowledge I've accumulated over the years.  In February, it will be 1 1/2 years since I launched UHSF. We're running a number of tours weekly, and meeting wonderful people from all over the world. But, while we do ...

The desire to visit Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island had tugged at me for years. I found it fascinating that there were two islands sitting in the bay - one man made and one natural - that were part of the city I lived in. They were close by, yet completely unfamiliar. My birthday in December provided the perfect opportunity to finally explore the two islands. My dad and his wife were in town from LA, and after numerous visits to San Francisco, they were excited to see something new. At a happy hour a few months back, I had met a winemaker from Oro en Paz , and learned that there was wine tasting on Treasure Island. With that as my inspiration, I planned out a birthday itinerary. While you can certainly do this itinerary by car, you can also try it as an urban hike! To do so, check out this map .   Here are two hiking options: Yeba Buena Loop: 1.5 miles ( red ) = 1.5 miles Treasure Island Loop: ( blue ) = 2.75 miles You can combine the Yerba Buena Loop wi...

The beauty of the Internet age is that we have the power to undo almost everything we create. With the simple click of the delete button, our mistakes are erased and forgotten. Unfortunately, not everything today is part of the Internet age, and the evidence of this is all over our city streets.   In case you haven’t noticed, you’ll find the name of the street stamped into the concrete at most San Francisco street corners. The DPW contracts the stamping job to a third party, and while they get it right most of the time, there have been some laughable typos cast into the concrete.   One of the first sidewalk typos I remember seeing was on 22nd and Church. On the southeast corner of the street, I found “22 ND” stamped with a backward N. Just one block later, I found 23RD with a backwards and upside down “3”. Since spotting those, I’ve been scouring the sidewalks for typos, and I’ve found a number of gems. There was “Buchnana” where Buchanan was supposed...

Hikers on a Match.com hike This month, we at Urban Hiker SF are proud to celebrate our first anniversary! For the past 12 months we have helped you discover the stairways, hills, and hiking trails of San Francisco while you learn the history that shaped the City by the Bay. 500 Hikers and Counting Since last August, we’ve toured San Francisco with over 500 hikers from over 10 countries!  We’ve expanded our services to cover corporate events, and have run events with airbnb , Akamai , Eventbrite , and Google . Lastly, we’ve run dating events with Match.com and couples events with HowAboutWe.com .     New Hiking Routes When we launched our business last year, we had three hiking routes , “Urban Jungles,” “Stairways to Heaven,” and “Walk on the Wild Side.” In the past year, we launched two new tours , “Presidio Exploration” and “Tales of the City”. “ Presidio Exploration ” explores the historic Presidio neighborhood and includes points of interes...

When I was little, I had Barbie dolls - lots of them. There were the standard Barbie dolls like Malibu Barbie, and then there were the ones my dad would get on his business travels like Indian Barbie and Chinese Barbie (who was then called the cringe-worthy “Oriental Barbie”). I loved dressing up my dolls, doing their hair, and inventing make-believe lives for them. While arguably not the best role model for little girls, Barbie had one clear benefit - she gave me the ability to exercise my imagination and creativity. Now as a 34 year old woman, the dolls (and my childhood) are both long gone. But somewhere up in Upper Market, the spirit of Barbie is still alive. Yes people, I have found Market Street Barbie.   I run urban hiking tours with my company Urban Hiker SF . On my Urban Jungles (Castro/Upper Market/Twin Peaks) hiking route, I pass by the intersection of Market and Glendale Streets numerous times a week. It is here where I have found Market Street Barbie. ...

I recently received an invite to the Google Glass Explorers program. What this means is that I am one of approximately 10,000 people who were chosen by Google to try out Glass and see what comes of it. If you're not already familiar with Google Glass, the new wearable technology device helps you take photos, videos, and run Google searches all from voice commands.  I got my Glass on June 5 and think it could have some fun applications for urban hiking. Many people don't know what I mean when I say that I run urban hiking tours, so I'll be able to show them what it's like to climb on a hiking trail to Twin Peaks (see below), walk through a eucalyptus forest in the city  (video), or slide down the Seward Street Slides  (video)!  Weekend hikers heading up to Twin Peaks. Photo taken #throughglass. If I had a constant Internet connection, which I could get from a wireless hotspot on my phone, I could share the photos and videos I take with my hikers - instant...