San Bruno, CA: Northern California Chapter, Basque Lunch & Cemetery Walk

Join us for a Camino lunch at the Basque Cultural Center in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port’s sister city, South San Francisco! With its origins going back to the Basque community in San Francisco, the center has been serving old country cuisine here since 1982 and even has it own frontón (court) for playing pilota (Basque handball). We’ll work off our hearty lunches with a micro-hike up to Sign Hill to get up close to the “South San Francisco – The Industrial City” sign that we’ve seen countless times when driving up 101 from the airport. We’ll then continue north to Colma, “The City of Souls,” to visit a few of the park-like cemeteries and pay our respects at the graves of a baseball legend, a newspaper tycoon, and a famous local eccentric. Who are they? Come and find out!

Schedule: Meet us at 10:30 AM outside the main entrance of the San Bruno BART station. We’ll walk to the Basque Cultural Center and have lunch at 11:30 AM. Please take a look at the available dishes on their lunch menu. We’ll end at the Colma BART station and expect to arrive by 4:30 PM.

Level of Difficulty: Moderate. Total distance is about 8 miles with a total elevation gain of around 500 feet. The Sign Hill hike is just half a mile and besides a short, but steep, climb at the start of it, the entire walk is almost entirely on flat sidewalks and paved roads.

Advance online registration is required. Click the Register button to sign up. Because we have a small group lunch reservation, space is very limited for this event (meal and walk). Please register only if you are certain you can attend.

Cancellation: Please email us at norcal@americanpilgrims.org so we can offer your space to someone else.

What to Bring: A day pack with water and snacks, and cash for the group lunch bill ($25-30-ish with a drink, tax, and tip). Sun protection (hat, sunscreen) and a jacket or sweater even if it’s a sunny day as it can be windy. If you have poles, bring them for the short hike up Sign Hill.

Leader: Guy Joaquin

The Ruff Stuff: For insurance purposes, we are unable to welcome dogs, except service animals, at our events.