Mountain Lake encampment, San Francisco.

-California beginnings, one of many.

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(In 1772, explorer Juan Bautista de Anza proposed an expedition to Alta California and on January 8, 1774, with 3 padres, 20 soldiers, 11 servants, 35 mules, 65 cattle, and 140 horses, Anza set forth from Tubac Presidio, south of present-day Tucson, Arizona. In 1776, Anza ended his 1500 mile journey at Mountain Lake, in present day San Francisco).

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Mountain Lake is near a street filled with rushing traffic, but is tucked behind the row of houses, and trees line the walks, insulating the traffic sounds.

The late afternoon birds were active around the margins and in the overhanging branches, the lake itself was placid beyond its protective fence. There were joggers at this after/work hour. Most smiled as they went by, which was an unusual perk for the pedestrian- most San Franciscans look dead level ahead and beyond, and never exchange a glance if it can be avoided. Here kids played along the rocks at one end of the little lake, and I sat for a few minutes at a bench near the stands of tall grass that grow at the water’s edge.

Mountain Lake is the only natural lake in the vast Golden Gate Recreational Area, and here, it is said, Anza and his men halted in their careful reconnaissance of the SF peninsula, at the end of the journey north in the 1770s.

I was startled by the sea. I didn’t expect to see the Pacific from out on 15th Avenue, as the beach is ‘way out at 48th, but the north-most tip of the peninsula makes its round a half mile from where I stood, and I didn’t doubt that the seasoned explorers noticed the lay of the topography in an arc from the west to the north, that is, from the Pacific Ocean to Mountain Lake, with a nearby river of fresh water and the nearby commanding lookout over the entrance to the bay. No trees, so the open hills provided a clearer view in all directions, I would guess.

Though not barren, the pleasant woodland we know today was more typically a sandy ocean/prairie grassland in the early centuries of recorded history. Although it must have had a bleak beauty, with sun and fog, there was a potential for re-supply by sea, and a footing for a fortress out of the wind, within a few miles; all boded well for future settlement.

Anza’s report stated they had pretty much everything they needed right here, and not far, they planted a cross to mark the site they chose for a Presidio.

The land explorations are amazing for their duration- Anza had journeyed from Tucson-twice- and books tell us he knew what he was doing. He supplied his troops with the best equipment, and brought a strong, experienced little force with him here to the lake.

I read the park signs, and appreciated the beautification project. Flowers and native plant species and fresh diggings and plantings. Anyone can volunteer to weed it and it’s obvious that people do.

The sun was dropping into twilight as I took the nearby Lobos Creek path, by the prairie environment the naturalists are creating, it is quite lovely, especially as the daylight fades, and the light changes in the various grasses and pale flowers. Gone are the bright and vivid garden flowers of spring; this little walk has the tans and browns and grays of grass and thistle. It’s quite nice.

I couldn’t see Lobos Creek, the fresh water source that encouraged the explorers; hidden in foliage, it moseys along the treelined ravine on its way west to the ocean at Land’s End.

It’s was there long before our arrival, and unnoticed it will remain, long after we’re gone.