Story behind the image: Stairs of San Francisco

On a moderate northern California, Bay Area afternoon, a friend and I walked along the boardwalk of San Francisco Bay. We were wasting time until our sunset boat tour. We had already eaten a lunch of clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl on one of the piers, it was much too early to go have dinner and there was not enough time to go anywhere else in a metropolis such as San Francisco. So looking at a map on my phone we found the path to Coit Tower, a high point in the city that can be seen from multiple locations near the bay. The map showed that it was only a mile walk through a shortcut of stairs up the hill rather than zigzagging the streets. Sounds easy enough. 

What the good ole trust maps app on the phone does not tell you though is the elevation gain. What should have been an easy one mile or so hike up the hill turned into a serious workout up straight stairs. The saving grace of this climb was that it was mostly shady and there were several cute houses along the way. My friend and I stopped often to catch our breath. I feel like no matter how “in shape” you are or how much you workout or what altitude you come from and are at, stairs are really hard to train and can raise the heart rate really quick and really strong.

So this photo is a segment of stairs rising in front of us before leveling out for a short distance before more stairs will resume. Behind this photo is the stairs we had already conquered from the boardwalk by the bay. But as are many things in life, the work and the effort was worth it at the top. The views from the top swept vastly over San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area landscape. From the top you can see the Oakland Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz in between and downtown San Francisco to the far left. After taking in the view from all sides and a thorough rest stop, we headed back down the hill through the famously steep streets of San Francisco to reach our bay boat tour before sunset fully encroached.

Photo taken February 2022

Camera: iPhone

Location: San Francisco, California, USA