I hiked over fifteen thousand miles before the start of the American Discovery Trail, but none of those miles required me to hike through an urban center. On the third day out the official ADT route required us to hike through San Francisco. This might have been cause for concern had not Dennis Hale from the Castro Lions Club already made arrangements for us to stay at the Hayes Valley Inn on our third night out, where he served as manager.
I contact Lions Clubs along our route to give talks about community and kindness. I got about 20 informal bookings, but the Castro Lions Club was not one of them. Without wanting anything in return Dennis put us up just as an act of kindness.
Dennis was a jovial, teddy-bear of a man who constantly moved while talking to us. I took several pictures as we were in his office chatting, and everyone has some blurred motion. Others came to chat with Dennis as were there as well. Dennis shared some information about the good works of the Castro Lions Club which I turned into my first podcast from the journey on You Tube.
Lion Dennis
Besides the kindness of Dennis a notable feature from this early leg of our journey was the cultural zones we went through in a short amount of time. We were at the Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco on a Saturday morning with a vibrant farmer’s market going on. Lots of people, lots of activity and lots of positive energy from the vendors to the street musicians.
Around noon we made one of five aided water crossings during our journey, this one on a ferry from San Francisco to Oakland. The Oakland side of the bay provided a stark contrast of abandonment. A wide street by the wharf had less activity than my small town’s main street at any time of day, giving off the eery aftermath vibe of a nuclear holocaust. We turned up Broadway in Oakland, a major thorough fare that still had less activity than oure neighboring small town of Winsted, population 10,000. At one underpass we were stopped by some homeless people; we explained that we were essentially homeless as well.
In the afternoon we entered Berkeley, a college town with a similar vibe to another college town where I’ve spent many years, Ithaca, NY. In major college towns such as Berkeley and Ithaca you can find restaurants that offer virtually every type of food. In the front of one restaurant we were stopped by a young man championing some typical college cause. We explained we were championing our own cause.
Dynamic landscapes are a big part of the attraction for me with long distance hiking. Many times on my long distance hikes I’ve gone through many different life zones in one day, usually accompanying a long elevation change. This was the first and only time so far I’ve hiked through such varied cultural zones in the same day. Yet the most memorable part of the day remained the jovial and kind Lion who could not keep still.
