One Sunday afternoon, my wife and two friends went for a walk on the section
of the BayTrail connecting Marina Green with Fort Point. The trail is
mostly made up of city streets, concrete sidewalks along the seawall
and a few sandy beaches.
We started out walking beside the Golden Gate and Saint Francis Yacht
Club marinas. As we walked along the seawall we noticed a sailboat
entering the marina just as another was leaving.
The jetty just behind the sailboats houses a unique San Francisco landmark.
It is the Wave Organ, built in 1986 by stone mason/artist George Gonzales using a design by
Peter Richards of the Exploratorium.
It consists of a series of pipes which interact with the waves in the bay
causing them to produce unique and characteristic sounds which change
with the tides and the height of the waves. It is truly worth a walk out
past the Yacht Club.
People are fond of spending time at the Wave Organ sun bathing and generally letting the bay seep into their consciousness. It is quite peaceful and unless you look, you wouldn't know that you were in one of the great cities in the world.
Just to the west of the Yacht Clubs is a small grassy space which is used
for picnicing, volleyball, sunbathing and a staging area for one of the
world's best windsurfing areas.
People come from all over the bay area to tempt the forces of nature. The
winds coming in through the Golden Gate are famous for being quite strong and
relatively constant. Windsurfing enthusiasts and spectators find it
challenging and exciting.
Rest and sun bathing are one thing but getting out in the bay is what one
does windsurfing for.
These pictures don't need further explanation.
Walking out to the seawall the following two sights seemed worthy of recording.
The view to the left from the Yacht Club. This is certainly
a beautiful place.
After leaving the beach and the windsurfers, a long stretch of dirt trail,
called the Golden Gate Promenade takes walkers, joggers, runners and bikers
on toward the sun. A great view of the city with the Palace of Fine Arts
building which houses the Exploratorium can be seen from here.
The Palace of Fine Arts was built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
As we continued toward Fort Point we came upon another San Francisco tradition,
a man with a talent for creating art from the materials at hand.
The man on the right is the artist and the other is a photographer who
seemed to have a passion for recording each of the works as they were finished.
I came back a few weeks later and there were no stones left standing. One
always wonders if they fell down or whether someone just wanted to touch
them and they fell. I'm sure I'll never know.
As I was standing on the fishing pier
next to where the man was balancing the stones
I noticed this view of San Francisco.
After leaving the pier, we walked along the beach. This little dog was
having such a good time running in and out of the water.
One of the usual sights on the bay is the fog. This was taken shortly before
noon. The sun was bright but the Golden Gate bridge was almost blocked out
by the fog. It didn't seem to dampen the enthusiasm of the sailboat owners.
A few more steps brought us to Fort Point. What a great walk on such a glorious day!
The Bay Trail virtual trail continues to the west with this link to the Fort Point virtual tour!
The Bay Trail virtual trail continues to the east with this link to the Marina Green and Golden Gate Promenade tour!