I'd been in the Bay Area well over a decade before I ever took a drive along Guadalupe Canyon Parkway, the road that runs through that area, and it was kind of a revelation how "back to nature" and away from it all it feels. Even driving through it rather than hiking, I was like, wow, I never realized this remote-feeling gem is nestled right here on the south border of San Francisco. (You can see the mountain from either direction, north or south, of course, but driving over and through the area is way different).