We’re down in the wilder spaces of the park, now. The lower side, with its hiking and mountain bike trails, its hidden gardens, its untamed forests ..read more

Now it’s time to head out from the music concourse to a place that’s even more timeless. We climb up stairs as we head south, around the California Academy of Sciences, into a wooded area ..read more

We're heading to the far west side of the Bay Area for our last stop on the tour... for now. And, we're going back in time. At the end of the 19th century, when Golden Gate Park was just a few decades old, engineers built a pair of windmills to irrigate it. They harnessed the power of the ocean winds to pump water through the barren sand and nourish the verdant landscape. Over time the windmills fell into disrepair and slowly disintegrated. But, in the early 21st century, some visionary San Franciscans decided to rebuild them. We’ll hear that story from Niels Swinkels ..read more

We’re heading out from the ponds of the Golden Gate Casting and Angling Club. It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to our next stop. As we approach John F. Kennedy Boulevard, again, we come across a site you won’t find on any map — but one that locals return to year after year. About 30 feet up one of the park’s majestic tall trees, there’s a great horned owl nest. Every year, the owls return to the same spot. Right now, though, we’re crossing the street to see some much bigger creatures. We’re going to the bison paddock. For well over a century, Golden Gate Park has hosted a herd of these 900-po ..read more

We’re down in the wilder spaces of the park, now. The lower side, with its hiking and mountain bike trails, its hidden gardens, its untamed forests. We continue westward, exploring this less cultivated area where there's more space and more animals, too. You’ll see coyotes out here sometimes. Plenty of raccoons in the evening. Foxes, if you’re lucky. We turn off the road, back into the forest. It’s quiet except for the occasional whizzing sound, gentle crank, and quiet chatter. We’re at Golden Gate Park’s casting pools. Reporter Ian Lewis shows us how it's done ..read more

Most of the cultivated features of Golden Gate Park are found on its eastern side. Now we’re heading for the wilder west — an area more frequented by locals than tourists. And as you’ll see and hear, there’s plenty to discover. There are lots of grassy areas here where people like to picnic. It gets foggier ... and we pass by one of Golden Gate Park’s more dramatic features. It's a waterfall cascading down from a man-made hillside, right next to an overpass. We continue on, under the bridge, and down the hill. The creek running alongside us eventually feeds into a lake with plenty of birds in ..read more

We’ve just left the Shakespeare Garden, in a thicket off 9th Avenue. We're going to head back toward the north side of the park, and to get there, we'll take a circuitous route down a hill into the parking garage serving the California Academy of Sciences and the DeYoung Museum. Soon we’re back in the sprawling music concourse. We go down a path to the left of the Japanese Tea Garden until we get to John F. Kennedy Boulevard, where our destination is just across the street. It’s a garden. Sheer Elegance. Wild Blue Yonder. Lady Elsie May. Daybreaker. Although these might sound like romance nove ..read more

The music concourse can be seen as the cultural heart of Golden Gate Park. This wide oval plaza is filled with fountains and framed by museums and the bandshell housing the venerable Golden Gate Park Band. Now it’s time to head out from here to go to a place that’s even more timeless. We climb up stairs as we head south, around the California Academy of Sciences, into a wooded area. Back in the trees, you’ll find flowers from the writings of William Shakespeare. It’s a place dedicated to English literature’s crown prince. Walk through the entrance gate and down a worn brick path to be transpor ..read more

We just got a fun workout with the swing dancers on John F. Kennedy Drive. Now, let's catch our breath and wander into the Music Concourse. As we walk along Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, we can see the California Academy of Sciences in front of us, with its skylights and living roof. To our right, the M.H. De Young Memorial Museum looks like a copper-clad battleship beached in the middle of a forest. In between the two cultural attractions is an open-air, oval-shaped plaza with many levels. If you walk down to the other end of the concourse, you’ll find yourself at the bandshell. This is the Spre ..read more

Now, let's climb the steps up and out of the hollow and turn west along John F. Kennedy Drive. The flower garden before the conservatory is full of blooms and people lounging on the grass. It’s a nice, flat walk to our next stop, and we can just see it up ahead. In San Francisco, you don’t have to go to a stuffy nightclub or a formal classroom to learn how to swing dance. If you want to learn the Lindy Hop, you can learn in the great outdoors. Reporter Carolina Hidalgo, who is originally from Chile, was surprised to find the group dancing in full daylight on one of her walks in Golden Gate Par ..read more