McLaren Park
San Francisco  AA-C *** 1+ miles Transit; Rainy Weather Yes       WEBSITE        MAP

This big chunk of open space right in San Francisco is a very pleasant surprise, especially as it really is accessible by bus. But for a wheelchair user, it has several major drawbacks. It's hilly, so most of its many routes have at least some steep sections. It has lots of trees, which is a good thing, but! their roots have wreaked havoc with many of the paved trails. Most of these were built a long time ago and have not been well maintained, let alone upgraded, so they lack curb cuts at road crossings and some have steps on slopes where well-graded ramps should be. Several routes are impeded by pillars evidently intended to deter motorcyclists. If you find this kind of thing as upsetting as I sometimes do, don't expect to enjoy yourself here!

But if you are very strong, or have a good power chair and a taste for the unexpected, you may want to check McLaren out.

On Shelley Drive good signs direct you to disabled parking adjacent to the Jerry Garcia amphitheater, which is accessible and has accessible restrooms, though I understand they are sometimes locked. From there, all paths are at least somewhat steep, but we were able to make our way along the north side of Shelley Drive and west through pleasant eucalyptus and cypress woods uphill to the water tower where I believe the view would have been wonderful if it hadn't been so foggy.

Details: From Balboa BART station, Muni bus 29 goes to Mansell Avenue at Shelley Drive, but stops may be problematically situated. Don't count on finding the restroom open. Dogs are permitted, and numerous. Some maps don't show the park's true borders; satellite photos give a better idea. Last visit February 2010, when I wrote the review below.

From Bay Nature Magazine Spring 2010:
Draped over a cluster of hills in southeast San Francisco, 317 acre McLaren Park has plenty of civilized features, in fact just about everything you could want in a city park, amid swaths of feral wildness: "unimproved" meadows where blue-eyed grass, brodeia, and buttercups bloom, coyote brush thickets active with juncos, leaning stands of eucalyptus, pine, and cypress, all easily accessible by bus or bike. It's crisscrossed with more than seven miles of root-rumpled asphalt paths and dirt tracks, a retreat for picnickers, walkers, runners, and amiable fleets of off-leash dogs.
The less-traveled paths are to the south, but most efforts to restore riparian habitat are north of Mansell Avenue, where there are picnic tables on mowed grass and two landscaped ponds much enjoyed by ducks and the aforementioned dogs. Hills rising 4oo feet above the city offer memorable views, but even on a morning when dense fog made the park's topography truly bewildering, we found delights: healthy plantings of ceanothus and monkeyflower, and, near Cambridge Street, a small unnamed pond fenced to exclude dogs, where black phoebes darted above reedy shallows and two hooded mergansers glided behind a willow-grown island.