Upcoming dates:
May 8th, 15th, 17th.
June 12th, 14th, 19th, 27th.
Because of some upcoming travels, there will only be four roams each in May and June.
The Meetup page and the Instagram page will have the latest news if there are any changes to the plan.
All weekend roams start at 1:30, lasting around three hours, and Friday ones at 3:00, generally taking two hours. All roams are loops unless otherwise stated; I also flag any longer or especially hilly routes.
I have had the next couple of routes lined up in my to-roam list for a while, so I thought it would be nice to do them on consecutive Fridays:
In the lee of Twin Peaks, Eureka Valley is a historic neighbourhood. Having lived nearby for a long time, I have always been fascinated by how the street grid gives way to twisting streets, stairways and unexpected open spaces.
This roam on Friday 8th will be packed with climbs, which we will take at a steady pace, as well as a fair number of dirt paths, one of which I have not explored before!
We will start and end at the foot of the giant rainbow flag in the Castro.
After tackling its northern counterpart on the 8th, we will be in Noe Valley on the 15th. It’s a lovely part of town, much of which we have explored before.
This is a newish route through the area, taking in the classics like the Harry Street steps and Billy Goat Hill, but also some of the lesser known open spaces in the neighbourhood.
We did this as a three-hour roam about eighteen months ago; this version cuts out some of the harder ascents in Diamond Heights, but as you might expect from the title, there will still be plenty of climbing over the course of two hours. We will be taking it at a moderate place, and taking our usual meditation breaks on the way around.
We will meet at St Paul’s Catholic Church, on Church at Valley.
The Mission district, as shown from Bernal Heights in this picture, is one of the flattest parts of the city, and as such was developed very early on – and then largely destroyed in 1906.
This roam is primarily to visit the wonderful ‘hidden garden’, which is only open on Tuesdays and Sundays, but we will also pass through some of the famous alleys, and look for the traces of the old San Jose railroad line that cut diagonally across the neighbourhood.
When I am planning a route in this area, I usually try to pack too much in, so I will be more selective this time. We will meet at the Mission Playground, on the Valencia Street side, at 1:30 on May 17th.
The first roam in June will not be until the 12th, when I am back from my travels.
Over the years we have explored the Bernal Cut with a number of different routes; I have long been fascinated by its history, from the early days of the railway in San Francisco to its current incarnation (I will probably bring along some photos so that we can see how it used to look).
Our route this time will take us from Glen Park (meeting in front of the BART station) to Holly Park – one of the oldest open spaces in the city – and back again. This is a relatively flat roam, even if they had to dig down to make it even flatter for the trains!
I didn’t know the south east corner of the city that well until recently, but Heron’s Head has been a draw for me for a long time. In the last few years we have also visited the larger of the city’s two sundials several times. This route will incorporate these attractions, as well as some gardens and parks around Bayview and Hunter’s Point.
There will be a climb to get to the sundial, and one or two other uphill blocks but otherwise this is relatively flat; some stretches of this will be a little drab and industrial as well, but time along the shoreline is always worth it.
This roam is on Sunday 14th, and we will meet in front of the Bayview Library on 3rd at Revere.
Bring water, snacks, and layers for whatever the weather is doing. Punctuality is always appreciated.
These roams are offered by donation. They are one way I am able to afford to live in San Francisco.
‘Shundo David Haye has probably walked through more parts of San Francisco than you have.’ I’ll take that endorsement – it came from this nice article in the SF Chronicle at the beginning of the pandemic
Camille, who I have known through Zen Center for more than twenty years, had a lovely piece on Roaming Zen published in the Bold Italic.
Corona Heights – the first picture I used to promote Roaming Zen in 2016.
Views to the Farallones from this little-known park.
If you need some prompts as to the benefits of roaming, here are a trio of articles from the Guardian:
Two-hour ‘dose’ of nature significantly boosts health – study
Woodland sounds help relaxation more than meditation apps – study
Blue spaces: why time spent near water is the secret of happiness
All of which is achievable without leaving the city limits!
And this from the New Yorker:
A small but growing collection of studies suggests that spending time in green spaces—gardens, parks, forests—can rejuvenate the mental resources that man-made environments deplete. Psychologists have learned that attention is a limited resource that continually drains throughout the day. A crowded intersection—rife with pedestrians, cars, and billboards—bats our attention around. In contrast, walking past a pond in a park allows our mind to drift casually from one sensory experience to another, from wrinkling water to rustling reeds.
Or, to put a name to it, Attention Restoration Theory.
The genesis for Roaming Zen was perhaps my shuso practice period at Tassajara in 2012, where I noticed that I derived as much energy from being on the trails or up the road, among the trees and by the creek, as I did from the hours in the zendo. It was also crystalised by a visit to Tassajara with a group from Young Urban Zen a year or two later: after the days of work, a group of us set off for a hike along the Horse Pasture trail, and at one stage, hearing all the talk of people’s pre-occupations and mundane affairs, someone in the group asked if we could all hike in silence for a while and properly take in the surroundings. Afterwards, the agreed verdict was that the silence had transformed the hike.
And so, having tried versions of it at City Center, Green Gulch and Tassajara, one of my favourite things to do these days is to gather a small group of people, and lead them around a chosen route, cultivating mindful presence through walking and sitting quietly in the midst of city life.
There are so many little corners of San Francisco that lend themselves to the activity, surrounded by beauty, views, and sometimes quiet. We have visited forests, hills and canyons, creeks and beaches, staircases and alleys, lakes and hidden parks; we have listened to birds and waves, watched butterflies, bees and coyotes, smelled flowers and ocean spray. We have looked over all sides of San Francisco and to the mountains beyond.
I like to give credit to OpenStreetMap, for featuring much more detail in paths and trails than I ever get from Apple Maps or Google Maps – I would not have found some of these routes without it – and FoundSF/OpenSF History for filling me in on what used to be in the places we visit.
Shundo David Haye - Zen Priest 