Mount Sutro, Forest-covered summit in San Francisco, United States

Mount Sutro is a hill in central San Francisco, originally named Mount Parnassus, rising 909 feet (277 m). Most of it belongs to UCSF, and a 61-acre parcel including the summit is protected as the Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve, open to the public. About 80% of its dense forest is introduced eucalyptus planted in the late 19th century, with older trees over 100 feet tall. Sutro Tower is not on this hill but on a lower one to the south.

The hill, originally called Mount Parnassus, lay within Rancho San Miguel, granted to José de Jesús Noé in 1846. Adolph Sutro bought the land in 1879 and used Arbor Day celebrations to plant thousands of trees on its rocky slopes. The hill was later renamed for Sutro, mayor of San Francisco from 1894 to 1896. In July 1895 he donated a 13-acre site on the Parnassus bench to the Affiliated Colleges, today UCSF's Parnassus Campus.

Rotary Meadow, a garden of California native plants at the summit, was funded by a $100,000 grant from the San Francisco Rotary Club #2 and its members in 2004. Sutro Stewards volunteers maintain it, and UCSF supplies its water. Most plants reach peak bloom in spring, and the surrounding eucalyptus forest blocks any city view.

The terrain is easy to explore on foot, with parking available near street entrances along main roads. Bring comfortable walking shoes and be prepared for changing weather, especially when fog rolls in.

Sutro Tower, the city's tall radio and television mast, is not on Mount Sutro: it stands on a lower hill to the south, between the mountain and Twin Peaks. The forest's dense understory of non-native Himalayan blackberry gives cover to great horned owls and woodpeckers; over thirty bird species have been recorded in a single morning.