Grandview Park, also referred to as Turtle Hill by local residents, is a small, elevated

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

in the

Sunset District The Sunset District is a neighborhood located in the southwest quadrant of San Francisco, California, United States. Location The Sunset District is the largest neighborhood within the city and county of San Francisco. Golden Gate Park forms the ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is surrounded by 14th and 15th Avenues, as well as Noriega Street. Despite its small size, or about the size of a city block, the park is important

geologically Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

and

botanically Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and offers views of downtown

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development ...

, to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, the

Marin Marin (French) or Marín (Spanish "sailor") may refer to: People * Marin (name), including a list of persons with the given name or surname * MaRin, in-game name of professional South Korean ''League of Legends'' player Jang Gyeong-hwan (born 19 ...

headlands, and across to the

Sutro Tower Sutro Tower is a unique three-legged tall TV and radio lattice tower located in San Francisco, California. Rising from a hill between Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro near Clarendon Heights, it is a prominent feature of the city skyline and a landma ...

. The summit of Grandview Park rises to about . It is an outcrop of chert, which is part of the heterogeneous assemblage known as the Franciscan Formation, or

Franciscan Assemblage The Franciscan Complex or Franciscan Assemblage is a geologic term for a late Mesozoic terrane of heterogeneous rocks found throughout the California Coast Ranges, and particularly on the San Francisco Peninsula. It was named by geologist Andrew ...

, the primary geologic feature on which the city of San Francisco is founded, here covered with a thin layer of sand. It provides one of the last remaining habitats within the city for a number of native plants, including the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

Franciscan wallflower ''Erysimum franciscanum'', commonly known as the Franciscan wallflower or San Francisco wallflower, is a plant endemic to the northern California coast, from Sonoma to Santa Cruz Counties. It is a member of the genus ''Erysimum'' in the mustard ...

and

dune tansy ''Tanacetum camphoratum'' is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names camphor tansy and dune tansy. It is native to the Pacific Coast of North America from British Columbia to California, where it grows in sand ...

, and also

bush lupin Bush lupin or bush lupine is a common name applied to a number of shrubby species of lupin: *''Lupinus albifrons'' Silver bush lupine *''Lupinus arboreus'' Yellow bush lupine *''Lupinus chamissonis'' Chamisso bush lupine *''Lupinus excubitus'' Gra ...

beach strawberry ''Fragaria chiloensis'', the beach strawberry, Chilean strawberry, or coastal strawberry, is one of two species of wild strawberry that were hybridized to create the modern garden strawberry (''F. × ananassa''). It is native to the Pacific Oce ...

bush monkey flower ''Diplacus aurantiacus'', the sticky monkey-flower or orange bush monkey-flower, is a flowering plant that grows in a subshrub form, native to southwestern North America from southwestern Oregon south through most of California. It is a member of ...

, and

coyote bush ''Baccharis pilularis'', called coyote brush (or bush), chaparral broom, and bush baccharis, is a shrub in the family Asteraceae native to California, Oregon, Washington, and Baja California. There are reports of isolated populations in New Mexi ...

. The hill is crowned with

Monterey cypress ''Hesperocyparis macrocarpa'' is a coniferous tree. It is commonly known as the Monterey cypress and is one of several species of cypress trees endemic to California. The Monterey cypress is found naturally only on the Central Coast of Califor ...

trees. Because of the fragility of the environment, visitors to the park are asked to keep to paths.

References

External links

16th Avenue Tile Steps
- Google Maps street view including mosaic stairway and view of ocean, Golden Gate Bridge * {{San Francisco Parks in San Francisco Hills of San Francisco Sunset District, San Francisco