Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

“The first two things that struck me were the rush of the wind and the roar of the traffic. It’s often windy on the bridge, I figured, but the presence of a dozen windsurfers and kiteboarders in the water below signaled that this was an especially windy day. As for the traffic, I quickly realized that this roar was simply something I would have to embrace, the ceaseless symphony of vehicles the soundtrack of this place. As I approached the entrance to the bridge proper, I could feel the anticipation growing in my stomach. Then, as the great tower and cables loomed larger and larger, it suddenly hit me: I’m walking across the Golden Gate Bridge! An electric surge of joy sizzled through me, and my smile grew as wide as the Golden Gate Strait.”

“When that happened, I stopped in my tracks and simply gaped at the wide-angle wonderland before me: from the grand green Presidio to San Francisco’s skyscraper’d skyline, to the balletic Bay Bridge, storied Alcatraz, the East Bay hills, pastoral Angel Island, and the gold-and-green slopes and pastel hillside hideaways of Marin. [...] I continued toward the northern tower, and as I walked, a profound transformation took place. I began to appreciate the bridge as a solid object, a manmade construction. I stopped and looked closely at the rivets, girders, and cables. I felt the scratchy-smooth texture of a girder under my hand, grasped a rough-twined suspender rope in my palm.”

“The bridge walkways are NOISY! The traffic flow is constant, and the roar of cars and trucks passing by is nearly deafening. [...] The bridge is really high! Even though I’ve passed under the bridge by ship several times, it wasn’t until I walked the bridge that I truly appreciated just how high up over the water it is. The bridge shakes from passing traffic. Combined with number 3 above, this shaking of the bridge caused my knees to shake a bit from being so high up. Really. I don’t do heights well.”

“The 1.7 mile one way walk across the Golden Gate Bridge took us just over 45 minutes - including numerous stops along the way. We really had to watch where we were going to make sure that we didn't run into any other pedestrians on the crowded bridge. I had no idea how many people would want to walk along the bridge - especially on a partially foggy day. In addition to watching to avoid a pedestrian collision and craning our necks to see the tower height, we also looked down several times while walking in both directions to see the sea lions swimming and playing in the water.”

“The way back north was less daunting - I was already getting used to the height and the big empty spaces. I was less afraid of the edge, and took more pictures. I used the zoom lens on my camera for some close-up shots of San Francisco, the boats and ships nearby, and the bridge itself.”