Golden Gate Park is to San Francisco what Central Park is to New York! It’s a large green patch embedded in the city and it has in it a large number of smaller attractions. There are gardens, museums, playgrounds, lakes, buildings, monuments, some woodland and even a bison paddock in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. There are even some trails so you can hike in Golden Gate Park, too.
Northwestern Corner of Golden Gate Park
It was on an April morning in 2023 that we were last there. It was time for me to get back on the trail, after a two-week break. And since spring has got to be the best time to visit Golden Gate Park I decided to make it what might be an urban hike. However, it sure didn’t feel like an urban one because of how green the park was, and how it cut off the urban-ness of the City by the Bay.
This time in Golden Gate Park, the idea was to explore the northwestern part of this green area within the city of San Francisco. There are many trails there; some of them running parallel to the roads in the area and many going around the attractions in the park and crisscrossing each other.
As we walked through that corner at Great Highway and Fulton, the POIs that we got to see, were Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden (and the Dutch Windmill), North Lake and the Bison Paddock. And I saw Murphy Windmill from afar.
Sights from the hike
Things to know before you go
- Any time is a good time to explore the area.
- The best time to hike this area would be in spring
- If you’d like to go see the areas mentioned in the post, parking on John F Kennedy Drive would be ideal. There’s ample roadside parking along the Drive
- There are 3-4 restrooms in this corner of the park
- If you have more time, you could also see Middle Lake and South Lake
If you’re there in Spring, you might also want to go see —
The Cherry Blossoms in Japanese Tea Garden
The Kwanzan Cherry in Blossom
This Golden Gate Park hike was hike 14 of 52. (I’ve done a few more since then. You can follow me on Instagram if you’d like to explore your backyard using the 52hikes Challenge. You can start any time of the year. Sign up here to get started on your 52 hikes).
Also in the Golden Gate Park:
Japanese Tea Garden
Sculpture Garden
Other:
Things to do in San Francisco
Linking to
My Corner of the World
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Come, Trip with us 😉
I enjoyed the gorgeous photos from your hike, Dee.
Hugs and blessings
Thank you so much, Veronica.
I hope you are doing well. 🙂
Oh wow I see nice trails like this and I want to go check them out!! Such a beautiful area! Trails are nice but interconnecting networks of trails are divine and this seems to be such a place.
Plus I checked out for geocaching. Their are dozens of geocaches located in the park. So win/win/win for me.
It’s a lovely area. What makes it even more special is that it’s in the City of San Francisco. I’ve been to this park a few times and still have some sights to see. So I guess I’ll be walking that way again. 😁
That’s so cool! I hope you get to visit sometime soon and do some geocaching there. 🙂
Happy rest of the summer!