Beautiful Bernal Heights

We've been catching alluring glimpses of Bernal Heights Park from our house, and during walks through the Mission. It flashes up between buildings, or just sits there on the horizon beckoning us to its lush green hillside. From the grimy, littered streets of the Mission, it looks rather Edenic.
We'd planned on taking an epic bike ride into Marin this weekend, but we're slogging around with nasty colds and not quite up for that kind of physical exertion. I've wanted to visit "the hill" for some time, but we've been busy or it's been rainy or too windy to go. So, our limited range and the nice weather made it the perfect day for a leisurely walk up to Bernal Heights Park.

Strolling up Folsom, we magically entered another neighborhood of quaint cottages, gigantic beautiful trees, cute cafés and great parks. I found a couple of houses I wouldn't mind living in...
some of the most mesmerizing bark we've ever seen...
... and suddenly we were in the park, which was like being miles away.
Until we turned around, that is. Bernal Heights Park has a spectacular view of the city, and it tickled the fancy I hold for maps and navigating and things of that ilk. It's great to see a place in a different context, and to see it from a giant hill reminds you that we're living with our heads in the ground every day.. there's much more to it than we generally perceive.

(click on the image to see it in full size!)
We spent a lot of time looking out at the city, identifying streets and landmarks, and catching a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge through the fog. On the hill itself, we enjoyed that luscious grass that's been teasing us from afar for so long, and saw cheerful orange California poppies and a large cliff of cool-looking rock at the back of the hill.
We walked around the whole thing, following various trails until we decided to try leaving.. which was a bit tricky since there are only a couple access points and STEEP, loose gravel trails. We ended up following a trail-cum-water ravine down, and scooting, carefully picking, then finally bursting off the side of the hill! The pictures don't accurately represent how steep the park is.. you look practically straight up from the bottom, and it seems like the people walking above are just going to totter off in a gust!
All in all, it was a low-key but really fabulous little trip. And it took us HOW long to walk these ten blocks from our house?! It just goes to show how amazingly dense and varied this small city is.. I don't foresee getting bored with it anytime soon!