Words by: Rickey Gates // Photos by: Matt Shapiro
It feels like I’m in on a secret when I’m climbing a set of stairs within the buzzing hive of a big city. Not the stairs in or out of a subway station nor those that get you from the lobby to the fifth floor of an office building, but rather the sets of stairs that take you from one street to another or from a neighborhood to a hilltop. For a few vertical feet, the hum quiets down and the ubiquitous orchestra composed of hissing, scratching, rumbling and screeching from a world that has fully embraced the rubber clad automobile fades away. These urban stairs make me feel like I’m passing through a portal… in a way, I guess I am.
Few other cities in the United States boast as many portals as San Francisco thanks to the dozens of hills that the city was built upon. While visiting in-laws in Marin, I opted for a day in the city to seek out as many of these stairs as I could (with time built in for bahn mi and overpriced coffee of course). A ferry ride from the North Bay dropped me on the Embarcadero where, just a couple of blocks away, the Filbert steps were waiting to launch me to the top of Telegraph Hill. Having never been to the top of the iconic Coit Tower, I gladly paid the $10 entrance fee to ascend the final 234 stairs to the observation floor.
From Telegraph Hill, I made my way up and over Russian Hill via the legendarily windy Lombard street where steps are cut into the sidewalk to help walkers from straining their achilles tendons. From there I continued on to the edge of the Presidio where the Lyon Street Steps climb alongside mansions on one side and the quiet forest of eucalyptus and cypress planted by the US Army from the 1880’s through the 1940’s on the other. While normally there are at least a few folks repping the stairs, today I had the stairs to myself.
Through my old neighborhood of the Inner Sunset to Grandview Park where the greatest display of stair art can be found within the city. Mosaics elaborately decorate the risers, or the vertical part of the stair, that can only be seen from below (another secret?). Past apartment buildings and gardens within gardens the stairs approach the summit of Grandview park where more stairs climb just above the tangle of bramble and bush to reach the summit where one of the best views of the city can be taken in.
Rickey's Kit for New York City
I picked my way through “The Avenues” and on over to Mount Sutro and Twin Peaks where ravens and raptors float effortlessly on strong updrafts before I descended down into the Mission via Corona and Dolores Heights. After a quick plate of tacos (carnitas, of course), I continued over Highway 101 to where the Vermont Street stairs brought me up and over Potrero Hill - the final climb and descent of the day.
As I approached the Ferry Building, a quick glance at my watch suggested that I’d just spent a day in the mountains rather in the heart of a city. I boarded the ferry with two legs full of secrets - over 4,000 vertical feet of them.
Run with Rickey
Feeling inspired? Sign up to join Rickey on his next big trail-running trip.
About Rickey
For the past thirty years, running has been a central part of Rickey Gates’s life. Whether it be in the competitive realm of racing or the obsessive realm of curiosity, or a mindful space of meditation, running has long been the primary medium through which Rickey has interacted with the broader environment around him.
In an effort to understand his country, community, and self, Rickey completed two unbelievably ambitious, back-to-back running projects: TransAmericana (2017) in which he ran across the entire United States, and Every Single Street (2018) in which he ran, street by street, the entirety of San Francisco. His current obsession (which you are currently reading) is to paint a picture of North America through trails. He lives in Santa Fe with his wife and two children.
