Roaming Yerba Buena Cove

Not too long ago, we set out to trace the shoreline of both Mission Bay and Yerba Buena Cove; when we stopped to rest at Salesforce Park, a number of attendees got enticed away by the Bhangra event that was just starting, so we never managed the second half of that roam.

However, we have traced the old waterfront before, and I would like to do it again from the edge of Rincon Hill to Telegraph Hill, and come back alongside the present-day Embarcadero, several blocks of landfill to the east.

"One thing about the cove of Yerba Buena, or San Francisco, as it very soon came to be called, was the great number of good-sized fish that swam close in shore and were stranded by the outgoing tide. These were the natural food of all sorts of predacious animals, which existed in enormous numbers and, being little interfered with by man, for that reason were indifferent to his presence. I often used to sit on the veranda of my father’s house and watch bears, wolves and coyotes quarreling over their prey along what is now Montgomery Street."

I don't remember where I picked up this reminiscence, but I suspect it was at somewhere within foundsf.org.

We will use our imaginations to picture those days as we make our way around the high-rises of the Financial District and the warehouses to the north - and I will bring some old photos to look at. This will be almost entirely flat and paved. There should be a couple of quieter spots to sit and meditate, even on a Friday afternoon.