The Golden Gate Bridge & Fort Point
Out onto the bridge, the view back to the city, Fort Point below, the Bluffs trail. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. The Bridge Welcome Center and south plaza
Start at the southern end, by the round house and the section of original cable you can put your arms around. Read the numbers — 1.7 miles, 746-foot towers — then walk out before the buses unload.

2. Out onto the span
Walk the east sidewalk for the city-facing view; it's the pedestrian side. Go as far as you like — the first tower is a fair target. The deck hums and sways a little, which is the bridge doing its job. Wind and a jacket, always.

3. The view back to the city
Turn around at the tower or beyond. The whole city stacks up behind you — downtown, Alcatraz on the water, the hills. This is the photograph people fly in for, and it earns it. Then walk back the way you came.

4. Fort Point
Down under the south anchorage, a brick Civil War fort the bridge was built to arch over rather than demolish. Free to go in. The roof, directly beneath the span with the surf below, is one of the great strange vantage points in the city.

5. Battery East and the bridge overlook
Climb back up to the old gun battery on the bluff — the classic three-quarter view of the bridge with the headlands behind. The Coastal Trail picks up here heading south.

6. Batteries to Bluffs Trail
A cliff path that drops past disused gun batteries to Marshall's Beach and back up — steep steps, raw coast, the bridge framed from below. End by climbing to the Presidio and the shuttle at the Transit Center.

The Golden Gate Bridge & Fort Point