When I lived in San Francisco, I often overheard visitors say the darnedest things. “We have to see Alcatraz! And Ghirardelli Square!” Ugh. Seriously? Guys, you’re missing out: San Francisco is the capital of urban hiking.

I get it. With the trails of Marin and Pacifica just a short drive away, why bother hiking in a city? And just what is “urban hiking,” anyway? For those of us who habitually and deliberately plan travel, as well as a general lifestyle, around being car-free (guilty), it’s imperative to find a way to experience nature without driving to it.

Luckily, the hills, parks and even sidewalks of San Francisco provide ample opportunity for just that. One gluteal-busting walk from the Ferry Building to Ocean Beach shows that the word “hike” may even be an understatement within the city limits; this so-called walk is a bonafide butt and core workout. Luckily, the views, as well as the delicious food in which one feels justified to indulge afterward, more than make up for the scaling involved. In fact, one in-person look at these views, and urban hiking becomes one of the best reasons to visit San Francisco.

1. Filbert Steps, Telegraph Hill

Before you get there: If you find yourself in this part of town on a Saturday, be sure to fuel up at the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market. Our picks are the chilaquiles from Primavera Tamales.

2. Jones Street & Green Street, Russian Hill

Where to go from here: Continue on Green Street toward Pacific Heights for more great views, or walk down the hill toward the Marina for great shopping and restaurants.

3. Alta Plaza Park, Pacific Heights

What to do, now that you’re here: Go early, and quietly sip on your coffee (stop at Jane on Fillmore on your way over), while you watch the dogs play in the off-leash park.

4. Sutro Heights Park, Sea Cliff

They call it “Land’s End” for a reason. Breathe deep, and give thanks.

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Related on EcoSalon

Take a Hike: 5 More Great Tips for the Urban Explorer

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Will San Francisco Become America’s First City Without Bottled Water?

Top photo: Andrew Moore

Summit photos: Amanda Zantal-Wiener

The post 4 Views That Prove Urban Hiking is the Best Part of San Francisco appeared first on EcoSalon.

PG&E’s safety codes and corporate responsibility seem questionable at best.

Pacific Gas & Electric, the same people people who brought you Hinkley groundwater contamination (the one with cancer, not the one with Julia Roberts) would like you to know that they feel just terrible about all of the recent explosions. And also some of the older ones, like the one that mutilated nine Bernal Heights firefighters in 1963. And definitely the San Bruno blast that killed eight people last year. But darned if those ancient, cracked pipes just won’t stop shattering unexpectedly and turning leafy neighborhoods into nightmarish, flame-ravaged hellscapes when you put off fixing them for five or eight decades!

Chris Johns, the president of PG&E, explained that the company was “deeply sorry” to have caused the explosion, in a tone that came off roughly as apologetic as Reed Hasting’s latest blog post about changing Netflix DVD delivery. Look, PG&E would like to fix the hundreds of rusty, improperly welded pipes crisscrossing the Bay Area left over from the Truman administration. In an ideal world, would a substantially smaller number of their products and services kill people? Of course. Would they set fewer homes on fire? Sure, why the hell not. But we don’t live in that magical fantasy land with “safety codes” and “corporate responsibility” and “PG&E not making your house blow up.”

Do you have any idea how many memos that PG&E employees have sent each other over the last 20 years? At least 250,000, according to the 250,000 memos they were forced to recently submit to the California Public Utilities Commission. Well, give or take a few internal messages. Specifically the ones concerning historical, metallurgical practices and upkeep, or “why our pipes keep setting everybody on fire.” What do you expect from them? To keep records of all of these memos in some sort of, I don’t know, centralized mainframe data center? A series of computers? When they’re already running themselves ragged trying to put out all the fires?

But they really are working on making things better. They bought three solar power plants! And what is the sun if not a big, friendly, helpful series of explosions? So stop worrying. And just ignore that odd, faint hissing noise and vague metallic smell. It’s probably nothing.

Image: Indybay.org

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