How to Find a Place to Store Your Bags When You're Not a Hotel Guest

File this under not-so-fun endings to a long weekend: Struggling to haul your suitcase up and down San Francisco’s hilly terrain all day long.

A few weeks ago, I went to California to visit Yosemite. Since we were driving in from the Bay Area, I didn’t make an effort to pack lightly. After my friends and I had hiked some trails and watched, slack-jawed, as climbers scaled the sheer rock faces, we parted ways. They headed back to Chicago, and I had a free day on my own back in San Francisco before my plane back to New York. What to do with my gear? I waded through TripAdvisor forums about a storage space all the way down on Fisherman’s Wharf. While I do love sea lions and sourdough bread, I was less enthusiastic about the long BART trip. Instead, I headed for the Mission.