Crews work to clean up San Francisco's Lands End park

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Lands End is one of San Francisco's most popular spots to hike or just sightsee.

It sits near the Cliff House on national park land overlooking the San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge.

But among the pristine views and nature trails, hiker Alexander Robinson found something else. "I've seen turntables. I've seen chairs, coolers, suitcases," Robinson said.

There are mounds of trash, beer cans, bottles, dirty clothing and what appears to be a homeless encampment at the park. "My first reaction was just disgust and anger," Robinson said.

Robinson has lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years and wants the site cleaned up and restored to what it used to be. "Open land in San Francisco is very limited and I think that's one of the things that makes the city so wonderful to be in. And at this point we need to keep those lands as clean as possible and we need to respect them more," he said.

This mess is the responsibility of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Spokesman Howard Levitt says from time to time, they do have issues with homeless camping there. "When we become aware of those camps of course we send maintenance crews in to clean them up. And we do what we can to discourage people from camping in the park, which is illegal," Levitt said.

Maintenance crews are on site every day and volunteer groups also come out to help. "It's impossible to cover every inch of the park all the time," Levitt said.

Robinson suggested a grassroots cleanup effort to help, but Levitt says homeless camps require special treatment and equipment.

He says it's a priority to protect all their parks and if you see a lot of trash, the best thing to do is call them and report it.