Twin Peaks

In the hospital today I got some sightseeing tips from a patient. She was stuck in the hospital because she was pregnant and had medical problems where she needed constant surveillance until the baby is out. She was really cute, probably around 20 years old, and bored to hell because she had been at the hospital for five days and had six more weeks to go before she could deliver. I took her on a walk because she had cabin fever and we ended up talking for a while. I get really sucked in to learning about new people and their lives, it's fascinating in a voyeuristic way. She was Latina, went to the City College in San Francisco, and lives with her boyfriend and mother. She doesn't read a lot, but she used to like reading biographies and nonfiction. She complained to me about how bored she was and showed me pictures of her four dogs, who apparently had been lost on Saturday while she was in the hospital and caused her much distress. She detailed the dramatic story for me, including how she had yelled at her boyfriend to search for the dogs ("Leave me alone! Go find the dogs!").

During her relished escape from her hospital room, I told her I was here for a month so she gave me sightseeing tips. She told me to climb a hill called Twin Peaks. It turns out Twin Peaks are two hills that have the second highest elevation in San Francisco and are pretty much in the center of the city, so there are nice panoramic views. After being at the hospital today, I headed over there.

The bus I took to the area wound higher and higher up, and as we went higher the air got foggier and foggier until I could only see about 10 feet in front of the bus. The bus dropped me off in a random, seemingly desolate foggy road with a signpost indicating a trail going up a hill. So up I climbed!



The wind was blowing strongly, and as I climbed higher the wind picked up. I could feel the tiny droplets of fog landing all over me. My hair became damp and stuck to my face because I was essentially hiking through a cloud. The climb was very steep and there were wooden slats to function as stairs. The hill was covered with small exotic shrubs that are able to survive the harsh environment.

I reached the top of the first peak and stood up, only to realize that the wind was so strong at the top that it might blow me clear off the mountain! So I crouched down, and eventually got so freaked out that I just sat down and laid flat, immobilized by fear. It is very rare that I feel I am in physical danger, so when it does happen it is especially acute. I sat there laughing to myself at the ridiculousness of the situation, namely that I was scared to be blown off a mountain. The only noise was the wind was blowing past my ears and all around me was white cloud, so I could only see the could rocks and shrubs on top of the hill. It was a strange feeling, like I was on an alien planet. I decided I had to eventually leave the top of the peak, and figured i could move around by crab-walking. So I crab-walked to the edge of the peak to start my descent. I must have looked so crazy; I'm glad no one was up there with me, haha. Here is a picture of my feet as I was laying flat, immobilized by fear.



And here is a picture I took later at the bottom of the hill to show how foggy and steep the hill was.



I made my way down the first peak, and almost headed home without climbing the second peak, but I thought I would feel like such a coward if I didn't climb it, so I headed up again. This hill had a nice beginning to the trail.



As I was walking up, a runner in spandex came running past me up the wooden stairs. After he cleared me, I started running up the stairs too, and realized that is the way to defeat the freakiness of the high winds! So I ran all the way up. The top was still a little scary because the wind was so strong, but my efforts to climb the hill were rewarded by this:



Someone has written, "Stand and glorify!" on the rock at the peak! I read it and stood up proudly with my arms akimbo and puffed out my chest. Although I quickly had to crouch back down because I didn't want to be blown off the top.

One thing I like about Twin Peaks is the exotic plants. Since the peaks are so blustery and damp, only certain plants can survive there. I saw a lot of things that looked like dandelions after they have bloomed and have turned into the fuzzballs, but when I reached out to touch them they were soft and firm and damp from the fog. They were actually these pretty pink puffy flowers.




I also saw this spiky creature:


Earlier I had reached out and touched a plant that looked spiky, but was actually quite soft. This one looks like the real deal, though. This plaque about what can grow on Twin Peaks might be interesting too.