Fog Season on Mount Davidson Starts at the Dalewood Trailhead, Where Neighbors Are Fixing the Mud

The 36 Teresita ends at a bus turnaround where Dalewood Way, Myra Way and Lansdale Avenue meet. A few steps past the shelter, a short trail climbs straight toward the summit of Mount Davidson. It is the most direct way up from the south side. For most of the year, the first stretch of it is mud.

The Miraloma Park Improvement Club's November 2026 newsletter explains why: fog sits on this part of the city so often that the entrance stays wet and slippery almost year-round. Fog season is starting again, and this year the trailhead is in better shape than it has been. The reason is simple. Someone followed up about the problem, volunteers showed up, and San Francisco Recreation and Park followed with a plan. On the side of the mountain closest to Monterey Heights, upkeep works that way. The monthly volunteer day even meets at this same turnaround.

One Follow-Up, Then a Work Party

The club's president thanks one community member in the newsletter for following up with Rec and Park about the slippery entrance and gathering volunteers for trail work. On Saturday, September 26, a volunteer crew working under Rec and Park supervision spread wood chips over the problem spot that person had identified.

A volunteer who was there described the morning in the same issue of Miraloma Life:

"Together we spread mulch along the entrance path to help with traction."

The newsletter called it "a very productive and enjoyable event." After the work party, Rec and Park walked the trail itself.

What Rec and Park Has Planned for the First Stretch

Robert Gee, the club's president, wrote that Rec and Park "examined the trail from the entry steps up to the first fork" after that follow-up and prepared a maintenance plan. According to the newsletter, the work covers three things:

1. Tread maintenance at strategic points, so water drains off the trail instead of running down it.
2. Cutting back vegetation that has grown into the original trail corridor.
3. Gravel at the entrance, which the newsletter says would "additionally aid with the irrigation." Rec and Park has promised to provide it "hopefully sometime in the near future."

The first two items address where the water goes. The third depends on materials that, as of the November issue, were promised but not yet delivered. The section from the entry steps to the first fork is the stretch south-side walkers use most often. It is also the stretch most likely to change shape over the next few months.

The Monthly Volunteer Day Meets at the Same Turnaround

The September work party was a one-time event, but Rec and Park's Natural Resources Division also runs a recurring volunteer day on the mountain. It's held on the fourth Saturday of each month, from 9:30 a.m. to noon. The official Rec and Park event listing names the meeting point as the bus turnaround at Dalewood Way and Lansdale Avenue. That is the same entrance the September crew mulched.

According to that listing, the work is restoring reed-grass prairie, scrub and grassland, sometimes on steep slopes. Tools and gloves are provided. Volunteers should wear closed-toe shoes and clothes they can work in. The club's newsletter describes the program as "enhancing the most diverse native scrub community in the City" and asks volunteers to be on time.

The holidays complicate the calendar this season. In 2026, the fourth Saturday of November falls on Thanksgiving weekend, and the fourth Saturday of December is the day after Christmas. Rec and Park's public month views for November and December don't show a Mount Davidson entry on either date. Check the Rec and Park volunteer signup calendar for the current date and age requirement before heading up the hill. The club newsletter points readers to the same page.

Why the South Side Gets So Wet

Mount Davidson is the highest peak in San Francisco, and its slopes are very different from one another. Rec and Park's park page describes it this way:

Fog is what the club's newsletter blames for the mud at the Dalewood entrance, and fog drip is part of how Rec and Park describes the forested slopes. That's why the plan for the first stretch focuses on moving water off the trail.

There's a second way in from the west. The trail off Juanita Way is longer and runs through the woods. The Dalewood and Myra route is shorter and more direct. SF City Guides, which runs a Mount Davidson walk in spring and fall from Sherwood Avenue and Myra Way, warns that the hilly trails can be windy and muddy. It recommends a jacket and sturdy shoes, and notes that the walk takes about 1.5 to 2 hours with no restrooms along the way.

What the Birders Logged the Week Before Halloween

The forest has birders too, and they post their counts publicly. The eBird hotspot for Mt. Davidson lists 197 native and naturalized species recorded on the mountain. Rec and Park says the park's vegetation supports both migratory and resident birds, including 18 species considered locally sensitive.

The most recent sightings show what's up there right now:

• October 27, 2026: a Hutton's Vireo
• October 25, 2026: Anna's Hummingbird, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Flicker, American Kestrel, Black Phoebe, Steller's Jay, California Scrub-Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Pygmy Nuthatch

The Red-tailed Hawk fits Rec and Park's note about raptors hunting from the eucalyptus. The mix of forest birds and open-country birds like the kestrel reflects the two-sided mountain in the table above.

A Citywide Plan That Includes the Mountain

Mount Davidson is also part of a much larger plan. On September 25, 2026, Rec and Park and the San Francisco Environment Department announced plans to showcase the Twin Peaks Bioregion Initiative. They described it as "a once-in-a-generation effort to connect Twin Peaks, Mount Sutro, Glen Canyon, Laguna Honda and Mount Davidson into a resilient network of restored natural landscapes."

The construction named in that announcement is at Twin Peaks. This year the City finished improvements to the Marview Trail and broke ground on the Twin Peaks Promenade, which will turn roughly a third of a mile of former roadway into a universally accessible park and trail. Rec and Park General Manager Sarah Madland said the initiative is about thinking "beyond the boundaries of an individual park."

On Mount Davidson, the near-term work is smaller and closer to home. It's the drainage plan and vegetation cutback at the Dalewood entrance, both set in motion by one volunteer's follow-up and a Saturday work party. Those fixes sit inside the larger bioregion plan.

The summit carries its own history. Rec and Park notes that the 103-foot cross at the summit went up in 1934, and that in 1997 San Francisco voters approved selling it to the Council of Armenian-American Organizations of Northern California. City Guides describes it as dedicated to victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Whether you start at the 36 Teresita turnaround or on Juanita Way, the climb ends at the cross. As of the November newsletter, gravel for the entrance was still on Rec and Park's to-do list.

If Mount Davidson is part of your weekly routine, whether it's a morning loop from Dalewood, a dog walk under the eucalyptus, or a slow climb to the cross, I'd love to hear how the trail is holding up after the first rains of the season. Ilana Minkoff loves the places that make life in Monterey Heights feel personal, and the mountain at the top of the street is one of them. Let's Connect.