GWSF side-quests 2025

When summer hits and I’m no longer teaching, my brain rebels at its idleness, and so I often make up little tasks for myself. For example, one year, I decided to walk from our condo to every branch of the San Francisco Public Library. This year, I created a photo scavenger hunt of sorts for some online-friends. This is a Flickr-thing, really, but I share it here as an archive of my “work”.

Flickr post:

Just living our lives, we end up in most parts of the City at some point. When you’re there, grab a nice photo of the baker’s dozen described below. There’s no need to add them to the GWSF pool, as these are not obscure City locations, and a bunch of people will be taking pictures of the same places. More details at the bottom

Thanks to SqueakyCleanDave for telling me about the Alley Cat races by the City’s bike messengers — that got me thinking of this.

It’s art

It might be the middle of June gloom as I write this, but you may only need a sweater at the first destination; it can be quite balmy. This outdoor gallery transforms a simple alley into political canvas.

I like raisin snails

Bring a coffee and a pastry to where the land ends, and think about Eduardo.

Not the destroyer of worlds

It doesn’t have a keyboard but this musical instrument does have one or more pipe divisions.

Crux immissa

The stars-and-stripes were raised at the City’s highest point to signal that the Civil War had ended with a Confederate surrender.

The Gruff Brothers’ Former Pasture

This tiny summit — named for its former inhabitants — is home to California saxifrage, but we’ll miss its February to April-bloom

Heptad of saltwater sanctuaries

The ocean always reclaims its own, once the playground of a mining millionaire.

“What am I? A duck?”

Near Anthony R Grove High School, these elegant risers offer stunning bay views earned through cardio commitment.

1966 Sit-in to 1973 slide

A sign reads “No adults unless accompanied by children,” but if you’re just taking pictures, you won’t need cardboard, and you don’t need kids.

A simple park now but once quite Nobel

You might be looking for our forktail damselflies, our garter snakes, or a Mission Blue, but you’ll probably just see a lot of chert and greenstone

Our own Braceros program

Find the whimsical wooden sculptures carved by a former city gardener in this neighborhood park.

70-foot Gnomon

Thanks to Tony Hawk, this park is a real dish again

Any ceramic climb

These community art projects bloom with ceramics and volunteer hours throughout the City. Spend time at any of of them

Franklin’s idea, but Burnham’s gift to the neighborhoods

Some are Beaux-Arts, mine was just a leased storefront at 45 Leland Ave. Go to yours, or your favorite, or one of the 31 you haven’t been to yet (like the new kiosk?)

Quest Guidelines:

2025: Most of us have pictures of these locations in our archives, but for the purposes of this, please get a new picture :)

Documentation: Take a nice picture of/ at the general destination hinted at above

Reveal Strategy: Make your photos Public on/ around January 9, 2026, and tag them GWSFsidequests2025. On Saturday, January 10th, I’ll tally the entries and see who’s completed all the side quests

Not a race: This is scored simply on completion; and I have prizes for 25 participants. There’s no rush; do these at your own pace over the next six months