FOR A CITY THAT’S JUST 49 SQUARE MILES IN SIZE AND DENSELY POPULATED, San Francisco has saved a lot of space for parks— about two dozen— including the 70-acre Glen Canyon near Miss Jo’s house.
The canyon gives a hint at what the hilly parts of developed Fog City once looked like and is where Miss Jo goes to wander. Afterward she feels like she’s been hiking in Sonoma.
There are narrow paths near the canyon rim and floor, among stands of arroyo willows, orange sticky monkey flowers, 
wild currant bushes, lots of brush and clusters of boulders, which all make great cover for coyotes, the likes of which Miss Jo hasn’t yet had the pleasure of meeting.
In the summer, dainty bluish-purple damselflies
dart across the ground and red-tail and red-shouldered hawks circle overhead. The air smells of Monterrey Cypress and Blue Gum Eucalyptus where barn owls nest.
In 1868 the canyon briefly became the site of the first U.S. dynamite factory, the Giant Powder Company, under license from inventor Alfred Nobel. After the operation blew up the next year, it was replaced by an amusement park and small zoo. Its next life was as a paid picnic area, before becoming a city park by the 1920s.
While hiking, Miss Jo likes to think about stories she read about the Gum Tree Ladies, who in the 1960s and 1970s fought to keep an elevated highway from passing through. Now the canyon is designated as a protected natural resource of significance and its native habitat is being restored.
The canyon is a short walk from Glen Park’s village. Parking is limited near the canyon and rec area.
Photos by Miss Jo of Glen Canyon during the summer
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