Golden Gate Bridge Walk

For Mother's Day with our kids, we planned on walking on the Golden Gate Bridge a bit, looking around in the Presidio, and then going over to Fisherman's Wharf to check out the fishing boats, Pier 39, etc.  We didn't get any farther than the Golden Gate Bridge, but that's o.k.

It was a nice day; a bit hazy but not a whisp of San Francisco fog in sight.  Nonetheless, we bundled the kids up as walking on the Bridge can be cold.

We parked on the north, Marin, side of the bridge, in the parking lot to the right of 101.  That meant that, in order to get to the pedestrian side (the bay side of the Bridge is pedestrians only until 3:30, when bicyclists may use either side) we had to use the pathway which went under the Bridge.  Evan, who's 5, loved seeing underneath the Bridge.  He found all the steel structure fascinating, though the noise of the cars overhead worried him a little.

We started out and quickly realized that this was going to be a much longer walk than we anticipated.  Ever few minutes we had to stop to answer Evan's questions.  The wind and the traffic noise made it impossible to just carry on a conversation as we walked along.  So, we had to stop to answer: Is that an ocean? Which one?  Is that a bay?  Is it natrual or made? Why is the Bridge painted?  How did they build down in the water? What's in the cables? What's in the towers?

And, there was so, so much to see!  Maybe the most exciting thing was the bright orange Coast Guard helicopter flying around.   It made a couple of passes by the Bridge, flying the length of it with rotars right at roadway level.  The sightseeing helicopters which zoomed under the Bridge and pulled up steeply on the ocean side to head back over the City were equally exciting.  We stopped to watch a large ship glide under the Bridge on into the Bay and then waited to watch the Pilot's small boat pull up next to the huge ship for the Pilot to jump aboard.  Then there were all the ferries and sailboats out on the Bay.  We watched wave after wave of comorants headed out to sea.  All pretty exciting stuff for a 5 year old boy.

At the half-way point, both Evan and Ella voted to continue on to the other end.  We were starving by the time we got there.  Much to our surprise and dismay, the only available food is over-priced, pre-packaged sandwiches, chips, pretzles, etc.  We spent $9 for two bags of chips and a strawberry yogurt.  Never thinking that we'd make it all the way across, we had of course left all our snacks in the car.  At least we had brought water with us.  How about a hot dog cart, guys? 

There's lots of stuff to do on the south side of the Bridge.  Fort Point is an old fort at the base of the Bridge that you can hike all over.  There is a parking lot right at the Fort.  We didn't go down as it is quite a walk.  We did walk along the Battery area which has old bunkers in earthen hills.  There are some open, roped-off, doors that lead to a deep, deep blackness.  We walked around a little.  Evan's favorite was the piece of cable which is cut-away to show all the smaller cables inside.  There are places to picnic and, had we thought about it, a picnic lunch would definitely have been the way to go. 

After negotiating with the kids over souveniers in the gift shop, we headed back across.  The walk back was much warmer and the wind had subsided a bit. 

A few tips if you go:

It can be very cold or, as we found out, quite warm with the sun shinning on your back.  Wear layers.

Its very, very noisy.  Evan wasn't very happy about that.  It makes conversation nearly impossible.

Bring your own picnic lunch, snacks, and drinks.

There are restrooms on the south, San Francisco side.  There might be on the north side as well but we didn't look. 

Allow lots of time.  There is a lot to see so give yourself time to linger and look around on both sides of the Bridge.

If you have little kids, bring strollers!  Its a long walk and I sure wouldn't want to be one of the parents I saw who were carrying their kids.