By San Diego Guide and Chicago Manager Chelsey Stone
Tom (right) described this photo best: “here’s a very damp picture of the bridge with two very damp runners“
On your next visit to San Francisco, consider hitting the trails. Guide Tom Hills is a long-time San Franciscan and has some great recommendations.
“I'm originally from the UK, but I've been here since the ’90s. My husband's from here, and San Franciscans don't leave. I did become an American citizen this year, so I'm now, like, bonafide.” We laughed that it “only” took him 25 years. Be sure to read everything below with a charming British accent.
“I started in 2019. I'm an artist, so it fits really well, being a guide, because I set my own schedule. I make sculptures, mostly of birds and animals. I show in some galleries and then do commissions.
I mostly do trail running myself, but many of our runs are downtown. I would never run there by choice just because you think, Oh, why would I go downtown to run? It’s not in my neighborhood. But it's nice to go early morning and run through Chinatown or the financial district.”
Tom (right) on a recent, sunny run with a client at the Palace of Fine Arts.
“It's nice one on one because you can actually really chat with somebody. But in group settings you see people getting to know each other even over quite a short space of time, like the running we just did for the American Chemist’s Society. We've got grad students and the guy who's about to be president of the whole thing, and they're all running together, and it's such a good level. Everyone's huffing and puffing up the hills, all in the same boat, the lowliest to the highest.” (Our clients couldn’t agree more; read one client’s experience with run-networking.)
I asked if running tours have bounced to pre-pandemic frequency, and he assured me they have.
“There's been so much in the press about San Francisco not being safe, so I think people have been put off, but it seems totally fine to me. It's nice to see big conference groups come back. It's an amazing experience when there are 60 of us running downtown.”
Hit the trails
“I've learned the great trails we have. [When you’re on them,] you can't even believe you're in a city.
Golden Gate Park is beautiful. You see coyotes, raccoons, and all sorts of birds. Even though it has busy parts, it has a perimeter trail that goes the whole way around. That's an easy one anyone can do. You're really close to the street, so you're not out in the middle of nowhere.
There's the Sutro Forest, which is close to where I live, and I think Mount Sutra is about 900 feet. So it's not exactly Mount Everest, but it has wonderful trails, and you’re in the middle of nowhere. You'll get great views. You can do that and run to Twin Peaks, the two hills you see from Market Street. You can do a complete trail run all the way up to the top without having to go on the sidewalk, pretty much.
There’s also Mount Davidson just beyond there. There’s even fewer people there.”
“Then of course, the Presidio. Sometimes on Golden Gate Bridge runs we come back through the Presidio because it's so amazing that we have what was a military base, and it’s now a national park. It's this huge area of the city with wonderful trails and woodland. This weekend I ran with a client, and we saw dolphins from the Golden Gate Bridge. It's great we have nature so close to us. But, the dolphins are not guaranteed!
Just be sure to heed Tom’s warnings if you’re going to venture onto the trails: “Some of it's quite technical. There are bits of loose stone and rock. You'll be more comfortable in trail shoes. There're a few mountain bikers out there. Prep for the poison oak.
Because of the funny microclimate thing here, the west tends to stay really foggy, especially in the summer. Sometimes it’ll be a sunny day and you go out for a run and you get to the west side and it's filled with mud. You come out, especially if you slip and you have mud up to your knees, and you're running back through the neighborhood completely covered in mud. People look at you like, how did that happen?”
How to put a personalized tour to good use in San Francisco
“I've had clients where they've been like, can we do a trail run? So we don't do the usual, but we go up for beautiful views of the ocean. If you just want to be in nature, it’s a great option.”
Chase the Cable Car
“I run with A Runner’s Mind on Sacramento St., and we occasionally do this “race,” Chase the Cable Car, where we meet just above Fisherman's Wharf, and there are two blocks where you chase the cable car, and it's really, really steep. The object is to beat it to the top of the hill. It's fun because everyone on the cable car is cheering and the muni driver is ringing the bell.
You have to wait for the cable car to actually show up and then to see people's faces as it climbs is hilarious. It's one of those things you think, this isn't going to be too bad. And then you think, my legs are going to drop off!
We did it recently and a coyote wandered out and joined in the race. That was quite mad.”
I asked if anyone had ever beaten it. “Usually there's a guy that runs with us, a paleontologist of all things, and he can. He's amazing. But sometimes we have months where no nobody can do it.”
Are you up to the challenge? Check out A Runner's Mind's social media for the next chase or join Tom and City Fit Tours any day of the week in San Francisco for our regular routes or go off-roading on a personalized tour.
You can follow Tom and his amazing sculptures on Instagram @tomhillsculpture.
