Location: San Francisco, Cole Valley
Distance: 5.2 miles
Entry fee: $0
Following the completion of Urban Hike #6 Part A and another half hour wandering around Cole Valley, we decided that since we could see Twin Peaks just fine from where we were standing…why not go there?
Twin Peaks is situated at the geographic center of San Francisco and is the second highest
point in SF after Mount Davidson (which, I will admit, I had no idea existed.) The Spanish name for the peaks was “Los Pechos de la Chocha”…or “Indian Woman Boobs” (I’m not even joking…though chocha has a different meaning today and sounds dangerously similar to another obscene word in Spanish.) During the 1800s (when California became a part of the US) it was renamed Twin Peaks. The peaks each have their own names: Eureka Peak/North Peak (which is the one we hiked to the top of), and Noe Peak/South Peak. As part of a 31 acre natural preserve, the peaks remain relatively undeveloped and is one of the few habitats that remains for a number of endangered species, including the Mission Blue butterfly (though we didn’t see any of them up there, unfortunately…they look cool.)
We weren’t entirely sure where we were going, so we just started walking towards the tower at the top of the hill…we wound around Upper Terrace to Piedmont, down Ashby and onto Clayton, where we started following the signs for Twin Peaks. We made our way up the hill where, upon reaching the top, we traded shoes (Jen was getting blisters from her flip flops) and took in the amazing view.
The top of the peak is usually pretty crowded with tourists and tour buses (since you can actually drive up to the top.)
The hike back down provided a few more awesome views of the East Bay, St. Ignatius, and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Hikes #17 & 18: An unexpected success! Sometimes spontaneous hikes are the best
Lessons learned: don’t hike in flip flops; there are no bathrooms at the top of Twin Peaks
Flora and fauna: japanese tourists
Rambulatory Ambulatory 
