Day Trip Adventure: Portals of the Past, Golden Gate Park
Stroll through Speedway Meadows, cross the Polo Fields, visit the Portals of the Past at Lloyd Lake, and climb to the top of Rainbow Falls
This is part of a series of family-oriented day trip outings around the San Francisco Bay Area I look forward to enjoying with my kids once social distancing and shelter in place isn’t the norm any longer.
Portals of the Past at Lloyd Lake by Cody Tolmasoff
Portals of the Past — Bonus Golden Gate Park Adventure
I really enjoy taking this walk along old Speedway Meadows to see the Portals of the Past. So much of what we see in San Francisco is recently built. Even if something seems old, it likely doesn’t date back before the 1906 earthquake (with a few exceptions). This three and a half mile out and back hike gives us a glimpse of old San Francisco, to let our imaginations picture what life was like at one time.
Adventure: Portals of the Past walk in Golden Gate Park
Stroll along Speedway Meadows
Cross the Polo Fields
Visit the Portals of the Past at Lloyd Lake
Climb to the top of Rainbow Falls
Stroll Along Speedway Meadows
Speedway Meadows by Cody Tolmasoff
Between South Lake and Middle Lake on the east side of Chain of Lakes Drive in Golden Gate Park lays a long flat meadow leading up to the Polo Fields. Back in the late 1880s, the park mandated a strict 10 mph speed limit. Some rich businessmen got together and raised funds for a “speed road” to be built in the park, a one and a quarter mile long track people could race down. Unfortunately, the money raised was far short of what was necessary and the Parks Department was on the hook for finishing the job.
Issues arose between bicycles, pedestrians, and horseback riders. The park did their best to try to work around the issues until the early 1900s when the track was again in need of major repair. The idea of building a stadium in the park was approved, and the Park Commissioners voted to build it in the middle of the Speedway Track, turning the remaining pieces into a meadow. The part on the west side of the Polo Fields is mostly left alone. But on the east side, it has been renamed Hellman Hollow.
Can you imagine horse carriages racing down the track here? Walk east up Speedway Meadows toward the Polo Fields.
Cross the Polo Fields
Polo Fields by Cody Tolmasoff
The Polo Fields broke ground in 1905, and construction was delayed following the 1906 earthquake and refugees camping next door in Camp 6 (also known as Camp Speedway, and now known as Hellman Hollow). Originally, the Golden Gate Park stadium opened as a velodrome for bike racing. The 2/3 mile paved track was for cyclists and the upper 3/4 mile dirt track for horses. Polo had been played here, but never gained popularity.
Cross the Polo Fields to the eastern side and walk through Hellman Hollow to JFK drive and Lloyd lake.
Visit the Portals of the Past at Lloyd Lake
Portals of the Past by Cody Tolmasoff
This entryway is all that was left from the A.N. Towne mansion on Nob Hill built in 1891 for a railroad executive. It was the best known representation of the Bryn Mawr style, which was popular for a brief period in the late 1800s. Towne had died from a heart attack before the 1906 earthquake whose subsequent fire consumed the house leaving only the entryway and which became an iconic photograph of the time showing the ruins of the city through it’s columns. In 1909, the Towne property was cleared of rubble, and the widow Towne donated the entryway as a lasting monument to the city.
A stroll around the lake and through the columns is an interesting reflection on a different time. Once you finish at Lloyd lake, follow the stream feeding the small waterfall up JFK drive past Transverse drive and under Crossover drive. Rainbow falls should be on your left.
Climb to the top of Rainbow Falls
Rainbow Falls by Cody Tolmasoff
Rainbow Falls is named for the multi-colored lights that once sat behind the waterfall. There is a trail up to the top of the falls where you can see the Prayerbook cross which was placed up here for the Mid-Winter fair in 1895. The cross is mostly hidden now, but at one time it was quite prominent on the hillside.
Once you are done here, head back the way you came
Cody Tolmasoff is an author and publisher for Adventuring.in. He is a recovering programmer and a San Francisco native, raising two daughters, and regularly finding new adventures around the SF Bay Area. This article is an excerpt from a book, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park West.
Find him on Twitter @codyo, and read his most recent title Adventures in Getting Out on Amazon, filled with advice on successfully getting your family out for day trip adventures.
Originally published on Medium on 6 May 2020