Symbols:
The star symbol rating system uses a range between one and five stars plus a gagging character for an emphatically poor rating. One star is considered poor. Two stars is average. Three stars is good. Four stars is superb. Five stars is phenomenal. The five star rating does not happen to come up in San Francisco as it is reserved for truly phenomenal features found at places like Yosemite and Salt Point.

If there are photographs available they will be indicated under a camera icon.

Text Abbreviations:
Very common abbreviations are AVS (average speed) and EST (estimated).

Freeway surveys use a summary line that looks like this: 55.2 mi.  AVS35   Gr10   1'35." these four aspects refer to a) total miles in county, b) average speed without congestion (a virtually useless figure for San Francisco), c) the GRADE of roadway, and d) the time it takes without congestion. Road GRADES use a 13 point scale where 1 is a 4WD only dirt road and 13 is an expressway above 4 lanes. For San Francisco, 10-13 is relavent. 10 is 1/1 lane, good condition, no shoulders. 11 is 1/1 with paved shoulders. 12 is 2/2 lane with shoulders. These ratings apply to dedicated freeways and not city streets. 13 is above 2/2 lane with or without shoulders. The convention 1/1 means (for example) one lane in each direction.

Hiking trails have an abbreviated rating known as "GSFBMP." This system is seldom used in San Francisco. A brief overview of this sytem is therefore offered. Six categories generally use a 5 point scale for G=trail size, S=overall steepness, F=frequency of use, B=bicycle use frequency, M=mud factor, and P=panorama, or view, aspect.

An event or aspect is often indicated as being of special interest by being bolded in the context of regular text. This is expecially true for event listings of trails or roadways.

For a graphical description of San Francisco symbols and abbreviations, you may download the following PDF: SF_symbolsprimer.pdf