Better late than never......

San Francisco was an interesting stop for me on my travels. I went with high hopes, which were shattered, but then remade into something even better than their original form. Lost? Let me explain....

When in Portland i was in a hiking shop and was reading about San Francisco and the number of hikes in the area which turned out to be quite a large number. This was a big relief as I had booked 6 nights in this city for some reason. When i turned up to San Fran and asked about these hikes i was told that they were pretty much inaccessible by public transport (shattering of hopes). Not to be completely outdone i headed off into San Francisco city centre to check it out, apart from the re-occuring homeless problem every American City seems to have, San Fran was a great city. I stumbled across 'Union Square' where an act was performing to promote a variety show he and his team would be performing that evening. He was a juggler/comedy act and was pretty damn entertaining, he was followed however by a stand up comic who died absolutely horrendously, to the point of terrible akwardness, but nevermind. I went into the infamous American chain 'Bloomingdales' (made famous to me by the shop always mentioned on Friends) and it was absolutely HUGE, and incredibly expensive. They did have a couple of cool things in the store though including two glass cabinets displaying original costumes for 'the Joker' and 'Batman' from 'The Dark Knight'. The trams in San Francisco were a huge disappointment, the majority of them were just normal buses disguised as trams which was ridiculous. I took the photos but did not bother wasting my money on a ride.

The next day i headed off for a stroll along the waterfront randomly passing a chocolate factory with a small shop offering 'free tasters'. I managed to get in, eat loads of chocolate and escape under the cover of another couple of customers coming in and buying something. Result. I headed further down the waterfront and came across Pier 39 which turned out to be an interesting experience. I was strolling past the numerous shops/cafes including a Hard Rock Cafe, and a great shop selling signed copies of everything from records to film posters. They even had an original Abraham Lincoln signature going for $18000. Anyway, I was strolling around and could hear strange noises that sounded a lot like seals, intrigued i followed the noise and stumbled across a harbour area with the most seals i have ever seen in one place. It was absolutely ridiculous, i could not believe my eyes. I stood and watched them all playing around for a while before continuing on from Pier 39 to Fishermans Wharf. Fishermans Wharf was another few interesting shops and on my way there a 'tram' full of cheerleaders and some American Footbal players went past promoting an upcoming match or something and throwing little soft american footballs out to everyone. The most intiguing thing i discovered whilst walking the waterfront was the new heights of effort the homeless were going to to get your money, and i have to say i was certainly more inclined to give some loose change. One guy had a cup attached to a stick with some line and was pretending to reel in the cup with his change in as if he were catching a fish. Another guy was sat on a bucket holding up branches to hide behind, then he would shout 'ARRRRGGHH' as people walked passed. It was pretty entertaining. Numerous others had amusing signs like 'need a million pennies to build spaceship', 'who am i kidding? i just want a joint'. Honesty is the best policy eh? hmmmmm.

When i returned to the hostel that evening i came across two guys from Portland who said they would be coming down at some point. One aussie (Marty) and a guy from Manchester (Michael). Marty had some exciting news, he had been told of a hostel in Marin Headlands (the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge) which was located in the middle of the national park amongst all the hiking (hopes remade). I did some digging and booked up a couple of nights there with Marty to replace a couple of my nights in San Francisco. However, before I shot off to that neck of the woods i headed over to Alcatraz.

To say i enjoyed Alcatraz would seem like a strange choice of word. It was very interesting, and i am glad i went, but there was something very strange about the idea of glamourising such horrendous criminals. The gift shop literally sold mug shots of the prisoners that were held there, each with a description of their crimes. On arrival of the island there was a short guided tour up to the prison block where we were told of various escape attempts. One close attempt was a guy that actually managed to swim over to San Fran but when he hit the other side he passed out through exhaustion. Some young teens found him and thought it was a dead body so called the police, when the guy gained consciousness he was back in Alcatraz, devestating. The prison block had an audio tour that worked very well. Each person was given a headset and walked around in their own little world listening to the tour. It was a very unusual feeling looking into a couple of cells where 3 guards were killed in cold blood at point blank range during an escape attempt by 6 prisoners. The response was typically American. The marines were called in and they stood outside the prison throwing in grenades until all the prisoners were dead (and one guard killed by friendly fire). The marks on the floor were still visible from the grenade explosions. As i said it was very strange but very interesting simultaneously.

I have forgotten the order somewhat but i also went for a huge walk right the way through Golden Gate Park and along the coastline passing the Golden Gate Bridge (although it was so foggy i was standing maybe 50 metres tops from the bridge but couldn't see it) and coming back the other side to Fishermans Wharf etc. On the coastal path i passed numerous hawks hovering very close to the path which was pretty great to see.

Right so back to the good stuff. Marty and I had to get to Marin Headlands to a hostel that was in the middle of nowhere, so the night before we left we did a quick shop to stock up on food. We were planning on getting a bus to just over the bridge then hiking a coastal path that led directly to the hostel. Unfortuantely this didn't turn out the way we planned and the bus didn't stop where we thought it would. Hence, we ended up getting a taxi from where it dropped us to the the hostel. We dumped our stuff quickly and headed out at about noon to go on our first hike. We walked along a coastal path that was covered in fog to begin with, so kind of lost the point of a coastal path. However, the fog cleared eventually and the sunshine blazed down on us both. We ended up doing a 12mile hike to a beach then back through some trails inland, up and down valleys. This was the first hike where i saw a large amount of wildlife. We managed to stumble across a huge amount of lizards one of which we only just caught a glimpse of as it hurried into a bush, that looked about the size of an iguana. We also saw about 3 or 4 snakes of the same kind (turned out to be called garter snakers and were completely harmless). An unusual bit of wildlife to see was a praying mantis, which i spotted moving right across the pathway, so picked him up to have a closer look, unfortunatley my camera decided to focus on my hand rather than the insect so no decent photos i'm afraid. The next day we had to get a cab to Muir Woods which was a nearby area renowned for being home to huge Redwood trees. We ended up hiking through this slightly commercial area, and right up to the top of Mount Tamalpais which gave incredible views right the way across the bay to downtown San Fran on the other side of the bridge. It was a hell of a climb but well worth the 10 mile round trip. On our last day we hiked from the hostel along the coastal path we intended to take originally on our arrival. It was a great walk finished off by a stroll across the Golden Gate Bridge.

I couldn't have asked for better weather during my time in San Francisco, as it was pretty much 30 degrees every day, but then it is California so I suppose i should have expected this.

That pretty much sums up San Fran, i feel i may have bumbled on too long and it might be a touch boring but nevermind. I am currently in Yosemite so the next blog should be more enthusiastic and upbeat as i am having a ridiculously good time.

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