Last weekend I took Henry and his cousins on a waterfall hike in Golden Gate Park that overlooks Stow Lake. Stow Lake is a popular spot we visit because it’s just a 10 minute walk from our place and there’s feeding ducks, renting boats, pretty walks along the water, and a short, but steep hike that goes to the top of a waterfall. Keep reading to see pictures from our hike and a freaky Stow Lake ghost story I read about recently…
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This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds. Get Your Summer Going with Blue Diamond Almonds!
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Henry still loves feeding the ducks at Stow Lake, and has for years! We do the same thing every time we’re getting reading to leave for our walk to Stow Lake. I pretend to answer my phone and talk to the ducks who are reeeally hungry and would we please hurry over with their lunch already. It’s silly, okay, but he laughs every time.
So there’s this freaky Stow Lake ghost story I read recently about a mother whose baby fell into the lake over 100 years ago and was never found again (yikes). And people claim that on foggy nights they can see the mother walking around the lake asking people if they’ve seen her baby. Remind me never to go to Stow Lake at night! It’s giving me the creeps thinking about it. And this picture above of these three kids leaning over to feed the ducks is scaring me now too!
Now where was I… so after feeding ducks, we head out on a path that goes around the lake and then over a bridge to the inner island of the lake where the waterfall hike is. It’s so lush and green, the whole park is! Plus it smells wonderful from all the Eucalyptus trees.
The waterfall is really beautiful with rocks and a rock path you have to carefully step through to go across. The waterfall is man made of course but kids don’t know the difference, right? We might as well be in a Hawaii! Well, actually, that’s a lie because sometimes the waterfall is turned off when it rains too much or early in the morning and now Henry thinks that’s a normal waterfall thing- “Is the waterfall on or off today, mom?“. Oy vey. Poor city kids.
The hike up to the top of the waterfall gets really steep. These little ones needed some hands to hold to make it up- it’s a workout!
There are a few different landings and bridges until you reach the top and then it’s a beautiful view of Stow Lake below and if it’s not foggy you can see quite far through the city (which was not the case on that day but I love a foggy afternoon in Golden Gate Park).
We stopped at the top for a snack of some Blue Diamond Almonds (confession: bribery is sometimes how I convince Henry to actually go on hikes with me). My personal favorite is the toasted coconut, but you can’t go wrong with the straight up roasted salted variety either.
Dance party break! And then back down the steps to the bottom. There are so many outdoors activities to do in San Francisco, I love it! In case you missed it, I posted three favorite outdoor activities in San Francisco last week right here.
PS Also, in case you didn’t read between the lines here, I single handedly took three kiddos out of the house, across the busy street, through Golden Gate Park, yada yada yada up the steep waterfall, gave them a healthy snack, took some pictures all along, and then successful back home without losing or injuring one of them! All while carefully growing a nervous system for another child in my uterus! I know. (Wild applause!)