I stared down the long, shadowy canyon in San Francisco's Financial District towards a sunny Telegraph Hill, several blocks away. The super-steep street that faced me on the slope's southern side, dotted with trees, almost looked fake, like some backdrop for an unwritten stage version of Tales of the City [1].

I'd postponed walking up that hill for months. I was too busy, or it was too cold. Maybe after lunch, I'd think. Maybe tomorrow.

It wasn't always this way. For years, living back east, I'd often get fresh air, stretch my legs, reboot my brain, and satisfy a lunch craving all in one jaunt. On a bitterly cold day, I'd walk a dozen blocks for a bowl of my favorite borscht. On warm days, I'd walk in circles for no reason at all. But in San Francisco, the hills are steep and many, the blocks are long, and six miles now lay between me and the nearest Polish restaurant.

Last week, I decided to change things. Inspired by LIME to Walk Out! [1], I set off towards Telegraph Hill, literally the light at the end of my 0.8-mile-long [2] wind tunnel. Typical postcard scenes greeted me for six blocks-cable cars, Chinatown, and the soaring Transamerica Pyramid [3]. Once out of the downtown thicket, a warm sun appeared as if from Oz. A few blocks later, the sidewalk climbed skyward to a heart-thumping surprise: seven flights of stairs before reaching the peak, all hidden to me from the ground. At the top, I rested with warm breezes and a panorama of the bay, the Ferry Plaza [3], Golden Gate Bridge, and the Marin Headlands [4].

I learned that nature asserts itself, even paved over. Double-digit street grades [5] will dictate your gait, sun and wind will frolic even in concrete canyons, and sometimes a landslide [6] injects drama into a simple weekday stroll.

In all, I clocked 1.6 miles, much of it uphill, in 35 minutes. But nothing felt better than rising above my own inertia.

Paul Freibott [6]

San Francisco, CA