Bernal Heights Park: Great view and ...

North-facing benches and vew in Bernal Heights Park.

[This is the second in a series of articles reviewing parks of San Francisco, and another suggestion for dates on the cheap within the confines of San Francisco.]

The major landmark of the Bernal Heights neighborhood, Bernal Heights Summit is simply the tallest peak in the area. It is the apex of Bernal Heights Park. As far as parks go, Bernal Heights Park is not the most idyllic, but it does have some qualities that make it a stop on—if not the destination of—a cheap date.

The park is basically a fire road up to the mysterious microwave tower fenced in at the top of the hill. The paved road is closed to auto traffic to allow utilization by people and dogs. Lots of dogs.

Bernal Heights Park is an official off-leash dog park. If you don’t like dogs it really should be avoided. If you like dogs you will be in heaven because at almost any time of day there are several running around, chasing balls, and playing with each other and their people. Bernal Heights Park would make a great first-time in-person meeting place with an Internet “friend” with a dog or two. If conversation stalls, focus on the dogs and inevitably you’ll find something to talk about.

Bernal Heights Park has several benches, each strategically located to take in a different gorgeous view including Downtown and Twin Peaks. But the best visual reward comes if you make your way up the hill, not quite to the end of the fire road, and head east on a dirt path to the top of a ridge of hills a little closer to sea level than the summit. From there the panoramic view that includes everything from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Bridge and beyond—on a day not marred by fog—is stunning.

On those summer days when the fog rolls in from the west in the evenings, a seat on a west-facing bench with someone you dig provides a dramatic, and free, show, and opportunity for cuddling up against the wind and fog.

Bernal Heights Park is not a good picnic spot at all. If one could trust all of the dogs to behave around people food (a fantasy at best) there would still be nowhere to set up a picnic blanket. The park is rocky and uneven. In the summer the vegetation is brown and uninviting. In the winter rain threatens to flatten the entire hill with erosion, and the copious sandbags are not very inviting. In the spring, when the hill is covered with green grasses, the hill is lovely to look at but too moist to make picnicking a pleasant possibility. A good picnic spot, after the dogs have gotten their exercise, can be seen to the south, deeper into the neighborhood of Bernal Heights, Holly Park. (Proper review on its way.)

Don’t forget to wear your walking shoes, because to take in the views you’ll have to propel yourself up the hill. You’ll probably breathe heavy and get sweaty, but then the best things in life cause those reactions.