McLaren Park

McLaren Park is San Francisco’s second-largest park at over 312 acres, offering a wide range of active and passive recreational opportunities including trails, six playgrounds, five picnic areas, sports courts, the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, a golf course, McNab Lake, and Coffman Pool. The park features wheelchair-accessible parking lots at multiple locations throughout the park, and restrooms are available on-site with hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Shelley Promenade — a former roadway converted to a pedestrian and bicycle pathway — is explicitly described as a safe space for biking, wheeling, running, and walking, providing a paved, relatively level route through the park. Ongoing ADA improvement projects, including the Louis Sutter Playground ADA Improvements, have worked to improve accessible connections from parking areas to park features and sports courts.

The park’s trail improvement program has created new multi-use trails designed to meet Outdoor Accessibility Guidelines. The SF Recreation and Park Department’s accessibility page notes that visitors who need accommodations such as Sign Language Interpretation, Real-Time Captioning, or materials in large print or Braille can contact the department’s ADA Coordinator ([email protected] / 415-831-6834) at least five business days in advance. It is important to note that McLaren Park features significant topographic changes with over 425 feet of elevation change, meaning much of the natural terrain and unpaved trail network will be challenging for mobility aid users outside of the paved Shelley Promenade and ADA-improved areas. Admission to the park is free to all visitors.

Visitors report that the park is generally uncrowded compared to other San Francisco parks, making it a good choice for those seeking quieter outdoor spaces. Multiple restroom buildings are available in the park, with a newer, full-facility restroom near the amphitheater noted as being in better condition than older facilities.