Oh joy of joys it’s time for another Steeplechase! For the uninitiated, The Great San Francisco Steeplechase has Explorers traveling around San Francisco to ride three of its beautiful carousels. This gifted experience from 2015 has been an Explorer favorite for years and for good reason. This year, to celebrate our ten year anniversary of the Explorers Guild, we have a special version of the event that’s sure to delight new and veteran explorers alike.

But that’s not all, coming on the heels of Steeplechase is Driveway Follies, and a member of our Guild has offered us an opportunity for a whimsical adventure in Mill Valley. We have some more dates to consider below too!

The Great San Francisco Steeplechase - Sunday, October 19th

Here at the Explorers Guild, we are fascinated by stories. This is what has led us to grand adventures deep into forests, space flights to the martian landscape, and much more. Repetition of an exploration though, like what the Steeplechase offers, gives us a unique opportunity to build upon our myths and stories which continue to define us. Fro what it’s worth, it also doesn’t hurt that it involves riding the carousels of San Francisco.

For this special edition of The Great San Francisco Steeplechase we will tell our stories of the past as only the Explorers Guild can, with absurd whimsy close at heart. Tales of the Phantom Carousel, Stephen Clark, the tantalizing nature of The Last Carousel song, and so many more will be brought to life. This is an excellent exploration for one and all to join, and we’re excited to present it to you.

When: Sunday, October 19th - 10:30am

Where: Meet at Pier 39 Topiary Sculpture (Note this is at the entrance to Pier 39 and different from years past)

Don’t forget: Jaunty hat (the more fun/absurd/whimsical the better, there may be prizes), $15 cash (for all 3 carousels), clipper card (or a way to pay for muni), water, snacks and a lunch.

Route: We’ll start at Pier 39, then head to Yerba Buena for carousel number 2 and lunch, then wrap in Golden Gate Park. All this finishing around 2:30pm.

Lunch: We’ll stop for lunch at Yerba Buena Gardens where you can either purchase from a nearby spot or bring your own.

Connect: Join us on our Slack channel #1019-steeplechase for updates, questions, and shared excitement.

The Wylding Woods - October 25

One of the biggest questions we got as we were building Adventure Camp was: is it appropriate for kids? Unfortunately for those inquiries we identified that our event likely was not suited for kids. During our build though an Explorers Guild member reached out wanting to chat a bit about our process and about the immersive theater experience he was making (which as luck would have it was an immersive adventure focused more for kids) called The Wylding Woods.

Despite it being kid focus, as we talked about what he was working on it seemed like the Explorers at large might also appreciate the experience. After all there’s magical puppet creatures, big adventure, and a lovely woodland setting.

After discussing a bit more with him, it sounded like it would be a fun adventure to offer to the Explores Guild as a Curio.

I’m planning to attend on Saturday, October 25th at 2pm. He’s offered us a code to get $10 off tickets “EXPCLUB” for all of you who want to come with me. For what it’s worth, they have four shows a day most weekends in October, so if you can’t make it the 25th, there’s plenty more options. Just let me know what your experience was if you go a different day!

More Dates to Note!

As mentioned above, we have a few more events and important dates on our horizon.

October 30th is going to be our Driveway Follies Curio. 9pm to about 10:15pm, it’s a lovely show and I’m always so happy to share it with others. I’m even making a field guide for this year.

November 8th is going to be our exploration to the Rosicrucian Museum. This has been a trip that Explorers have been asking about for years, so we’ll be glad to finally go see it together!

November is also when we’re going to be having elections for our Board of Directors. This year the role of President, Secretary, and a Board at Large seat is up to vote. If this is something you’re interested in, there will be more information about it in the coming weeks.

Big thanks to Heather for organizing a trip to go say goodbye to The Visitors at SFMoMA. It was a lovely send off, and it was so nice to see many Explorer faces in the darkened crowd. Who knows when it’ll return, but it was nice to have it here when we did.

Semper Explorandum Explorers!