A San Francisco Urban Hike with Reebok

First things first what exactly is an urban hike?

Here in San Francisco, I normally define urban hiking as exploring the stairways, hills, and hiking trails of the city. However, Urban Dictionary defines an urban hike as extensive shopping in a city shopping district (aka urban hiking trail) where paths or sidewalks adjoining different stores are open-air rather than enclosed.

I am a huge fan of both definitions of urban hikes, but since I partnered with Reebok via DSW for this post let’s chat about the stairways, hills and hiking trails of San Francisco! We can talk about shopping tomorrow.

Where are my favorite urban hikes in San Francisco?

Full disclosure – I live in North Beach in San Francisco. I’ve lived here for almost ten years and prefer to stay as close to my hood as possible, so all of my urban hikes start in North Beach, involve exploring the trails on this side of town and involve me wearing my Reebok Classics with my small white dog Benji. Why Reebok Classics? They are fashionable and functional and perfect for an urban hike!

I live at the bottom of North Beach close to Pier 39 and Fishermans Wharf. There are a ton of tourists in this area so I only hit Pier 39 or Fishermans Wharf very early morning before the tourists hit the area and it is hard to move at a normal pace! So with that in mind here are my favorite urban hikes in San Francisco:

• Pier 39 to Fort Mason (very early in the morning) – starting at Pier 39. I always like to head straight to the sea lions, they live on the dock to the left of the main Pier 39 entrance and are LITERALLY the best part of San Francisco. I spend some time quality time with the sea lions then head over to the Alcatraz viewing area and check on the rock. From there I head through the center of Pier 39 and over towards the wharf. The wharf in the morning is a magical place and I love getting a little behind the scenes action of what it takes to make all that clam chowder in a bread bowl happen. The wharf leads to Aquatic Park, Ghirardelli Square, and Fort Mason. I like to enter Fort Mason from the base of Aquatic Park and get my hills in for the day. I can spend some serious time in Fort Mason being one with the woods or I can head straight to Chrissy Field and get in some faux California beach vibes. When I’m ready to give up I head over to Chestnut Steet and grab a coffee or beer and uber my booty back to North Beach.
• Washington Square Park to AT&T Park – starting in Washington Square Park. My love for Washington Square Park is real. In fact, if you don’t want to go on an urban hike you can just sit in the park and have a grand old time (this is the park where a homeless man gave me Benji). Anywho, if you want to an urban hike, do this: start in the park and head up Filbert Street to Coit Tower. This is uphill so be prepared. Your glutes are going to hurt! Hit Coit Tower and take in views of the city (if it isn’t too foggy) and keep an eye out for the coyotes. Yes, there are coyotes on Coit Tower – so keep your dog close! From Coit Tower head down the Lombard Street steps and down to the Embarcadero. From here you are done with hills and can cruise the Embarcadero for as long as you like. Hit Pier 23 for a beer, explore the Exploratorium, grab a bite at the Ferry Building and finish at AT&T Park. The back half of this urban hike is right along the water and usually fairly sunny for San Francisco standards. And if you make it all the way to AT&T Park you are pretty far from North Beach and it is time to call an uber to get home.

These are just two of my favorite urban hikes, but I plan on keeping this post updated and continuing to share my journey with Reebok and my city by the bay. So check back for a new San Francisco urban hike and shop Reebok at DSW here.

What I Wore:

Jacket: Lorna Jane (c/o), Fit and Fierce Zip Through

Sports Bra: Lorna Jane (c/o), Barre Sports Bra

Leggings: Lorna Jane (c/o), Resist Core A/B Tight

Shoes: Reebok via DSW (c/o), Classic Nylon Sneaker

Snag your favorite Reebok Classics at DSW here

Sunglasses: Ray-Ban, Large Original 62mm Aviators