San Francisco Photo Tour

Golden Gate Bridge & Fort Point

Wheelchair accessible Find out how to get here by city transit, explore around the Golden Gate Bridge, and take a tour through Fort Point.
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When you get to the Golden Gate Bridge make sure you have plenty of film, because I am certain you will want to take lots of photos. To get here by bus catch the #28 Daly City bus, check your transit map.


The Golden Gate 
Bridge

Anyone that comes to San Francisco must see The Golden Gate Bridge. It is one of the longest suspension bridges in the World. While you are here you must spend a little time by walking out on the bridge or even across it. (Round trip takes about an hour.) There are many walking and bike trails in this area, so get out and explore, I am sure you will enjoy it here.



The bridge 
engineer

This statue is Joseph Strauss, he is the designer and engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge which was built between 1933 and 1937. During that time Fort Point, down below the bridge was used as a construction and operations center. Joseph Strauss' original design called for the demolition of Fort Point, but you will see later how the engineers solved the problem.

The 1.2 mile bridge cost 35 million to build, and during it's construction eleven men lost their lives.



Cable slice

This is a cross section of the cable that suspends the Golden Gate Bridge. There are only two of these huge cables that hold the weight of the middle section of the bridge. From the large cable there are smaller cables that hang down and connect to the bridge. In 1998 I saw the Blue Angel's fly right between the vertical cables, I have not seen them do it again. (They did it twice that day.)

The two main cables contain 80,000 miles of wire steel strands, enough to encircle the equator three times.



Brick path
Two bricks

This brick path was built with funds generated by the sale of bricks which people paid to have something written on and donated to pave the path. Coit Tower is in the process of doing something similar with clay tiles, the price is quite expensive.

Now let's head down the path to get a better view of the Golden Gate Bridge.



Bridge top

This is a great spot to take photos of the bridge. Before you leave here have someone take you or your group's photo standing in front of the bridge.

The bridge is also supported by two 746 foot towers, sometimes when the fog rolls in you can only see the tops of these towers stretching above it. The two towers and the cable anchors on each side contain enough cement to pave a five foot wide sidewalk from San Francisco to New York.



Below Golden Gate 
Bridge

Below the bridge is Fort Point, to get there take the trail off to the right that says to Fort Point. Off to the left of the trail is a dirt path short-cut, just follow the other people.



Trail to Fort 
point

At the bottom of the hill is the other end of the Golden Gate Promenade that starts at Aquatic Park next to the Fishermans Wharf, three miles away if you want to walk here. Now take a left and head toward the fort.



The arch that saved the 
Fort

The original plans for the Golden Gate Bridge called for Fort Point to be demolished. The graceful steel arch (above) was how the engineers avoided demolition. You may have noticed that the bridge is not Gold, it is painted International Orange, which was chosen because it blends well with the bridges natural surroundings.




Fort Point

Sign at Fort Point

Fort Point is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, it is open daily 10:00 a. m. - 5:00 p.m.. Just behind this sign is a grassy park like area, while I was there I should have checked to see if there is a short-cut to get back up to the bridge.



A small cannon

This is one of the smaller cannons that was used to protect the fort and the surrounding area. If you are here at noon they have a cannon demonstration, I believe they fire out over the bay, and you could be the one to fire it.



Rear of large 
cannon

This is the rear of one of the large Rodman gun's designed by Bvt. Brig. Gen. Thomas Rodman, they were placed in the lower level casemates.



Side of large 
cannon

This is the side of a Rodman gun, they would roll the gun backwards so they could get in front of the gun to load it. These guns could fire a 128 pound shot up to 3.2 miles.



The casemates

The gun casemates are open in the rear to the court yard, the reason for this is when the guns were to be fired it would allow the smoke to clear so they could reload the gun.



The powder room

These are not wine or whisky barrels, it is one of the powder rooms for the guns. To get around Fort Point you can get a self-guiding tour pamphlet or other publication from the Visitor Center. They also have an audio tour you can rent that guides you through the casemates, around the quarters, and into the past.

Now go back up the hill to the bus stop at the bridge and catch the #28 Daly City bus to Gerry Blvd. and get off there.

To see more photos of the Golden Gate Bridge go to my Home Page and click on Buzz electric scooter or My Blue Heaven as I call it.




The next stop on my Photo Tour is the "My Blue Heaven (Trip across Golden Gate Bridge)", to go there Click Continue Tour below.

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Photographed and created by David T. Smith






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