BGuthrie Photos: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (North Side) Visitor Center

CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (North Side) Visitor Center:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. GGBNVC_130726_001.JPG: The Glorious Golden Gate Born and raised in San Francisco the pride of the "Bear Flag State" my heart knows it's coming home when I cross the Golden Gate. Greeting Marin County, she spans the ocean's roar, connecting to the headlands, rolling hills and rocky shore. Born of a dream:"It can't be done!" they cried. But gallantly she stands, A monument to man, his aspirations and his pride. Lofty spires reaching for the sky, royal arches beckon you, she's the nugget of the West Coast, queen of the Pacific blue. Circling her towers are crowns of silver mist, peeking through the fog banks Mister Sun blows her a kiss. Smiling a sunny welcome, to strangers out at sea, feeling her outstretched arms is coming home to me! We love our Marin County, our emerald by the bay, and to the glorious Golden Gate, happy 50th birthday!
2. GGBNVC_130726_007.JPG: Geology – Formation of the Mountains: California's geography is the result of complex and dynamic forces. Various processes have continuously formed and reformed the land's surface as the crust has been pushed, stretched, torn, and eroded. At the same time, change has altered the ocean's level, shifting the shore of the Pacific between the Sierra Nevada and the Farallon Islands. This ongoing series of movements and climatic changes has created California's dramatic mountains, river valleys, and broad plains. The San Francisco Bay area lies at the base of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers in the midst of the Coast Ranges. These ranges parallel the California coast for 880 kilometers (550 miles) from the South Fork Mountains in Humboldt County to the Santa Ynez Mountains in Santa Barbara. They are a chaotic mass of ocean floor and layered sediments whose composition point to the processes that formed them. Two separate periods of earth movements formed the Coast Ranges. The first took place as the sea floor began to slide beneath the western edge of the American continent. The continent grew as chunks of ocean sediment and rock crammed against the landmass. Mountains and valleys were formed as areas of land sank or rose and were subjected to erosion and sedimentation. Higher temperatures elevated sea levels, breaching coastal mountains and filling valleys with ocean water. At one time the entire Central Valley was an inland sea before filling with sediment. Then, 40 to 50 million years ago, lateral movement began along the San Andreas Fault System. The System is made up of multiple fault lines that lie within a narrow zone and separate a sliver of land from the rest of the continent. This western-most sliver is now moving northwest 25 to 50 millimeters (one to two inches) a year. The San Andreas Fault is the most well known fault of the System. It runs three kilometers (two miles) west of the Golden Gate Bridge, and its trace is clearly seen as it passes through the finger like lagoon of Tomales Bay before reentering the ocean. First the Sierra Nevada and then the Coast Rangers were built as the ocean floor slid beneath the American continent in a process known as subduction.
3. GGBNVC_130726_010.JPG: The Golden Gate Bridge: The Golden Gate Bridge is a structure of striking form and elegance. Built in 1937, it remains in indispensable link in the Bay Area's transportation network and a historical monument of civil engineering and construction. The bridge is named for the Golden Gate Strait, where the mouth of the San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean. References to the area as the Golden Gate exist before the gold rush began and before the idea of a bridge was conceived. The Bay's poppy and bunch-grass covered hills and dramatic golden light are an enduring source of inspiration. The dream of spanning the Golden Gate was expressed as early as the 1850s. Michael O'Shaughnessy, City Engineer of San Francisco and engineer for San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy water system, was the first to seriously consider and champion construction of the bridge. He proposed the idea to Joseph B. Strauss in 1915, who was to become the Chief Engineer for the Golden Gate Bridge, and the bridge's foremost proponent. The design of the bridge was realized through the expertise of the engineers, Charles Ellis, Charles Derleth, Leon Moisseiff, and OH Amman, and the architect, Irving F. Morrow. Morrow is responsible for the aesthetic details of the bridge, including its International Orange color. He felt this contrasting color would complement at bay's cool gray and blue skies, enhancing the dramatic scale and setting of Golden Gate Bridge. Over four years, countless laborers worked to transform drawings into structure. The bridgemen, as they were known, stoically managed extreme heights and massive materials to complete one of the world's most beloved suspension bridges.
4. GGBNVC_130726_016.JPG: Water: The San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary has been essential to California's urban and agricultural development. For thousands of years the estuary's water supported fishing, harvesting, and transportation for Native American Miwok. The arrival of Spanish and Portuguese ships in bat's shelter initiated the ongoing expansion of California's population. The estuary's role grew with the increasing population. Today it continues to be a critical resource, providing safe access to the coast, supporting recreational and commercial activities, and sustaining fresh water supplies for the Bay area and much of California. Soon after the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese immigrants, thousands of settlers flocked to coastal rivers and mountains to search for gold and trade goods. Still more followed as the railroad extended west. Ferries and steamboats carried people across the bay before cars and bridges were built. Shipping ports emerged along the bay's shores bringing raw materials and practical and exotic goods to support the expanding population. Because of their early prominence the ports themselves became cities, and many of them remain operational today. Among them, the Port of Oakland is prominent internationally. Beyond the estuary's crucial transportation role, the fresh waters of the delta have sustained California's growth. Over 40 percent of California's fresh water drains to the Pacific Ocean through the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary Watershed. The fresh water is intercepted as it enters the delta and rerouted to California homes, businesses, and farms via the State Water Project. This project is a vast system of pumping and power plants, dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts of which the California Aqueduct is the main canal. Through the State Water Project, two-thirds of California's population gets its water. Seventy percent of this water goes to urban uses and 30 percent to agricultural uses. Overall, 80 percent of California's developed water supply is used for irrigated agriculture.
5. GGBNVC_130726_039.JPG: The Bay Transformed: For thousands of years Native Americans lived in the Bay Area harvesting animals, salt, and acorns. The changes they made to the landscape were limited. They used fire to shape oak woodlands and grasslands, cultivated plants, and collected salt in tidal marsh ponds. More recent human activity has dramatically altered the bay ecosystem to its detriment. Efforts to protect and restore the ecosystem have emerged as we have gained understanding of its immeasurable value. The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers carry eroded rock and soil to the bay as sediment. During the last 200 years, humans have greatly accelerated this natural process, shrinking the overall area of tidal marsh. In the 1800s, Gold mining washed over 765 million cubic meters (one billion cubic yards) of the Sierra Nevada into the bay. Early State legislation encouraged the conversion of wetlands to farmlands, while cities filled marshes to expand their boundaries. By 1950, only 25 percent of historic tidal marsh remained. At the same time, inadequate sewage treatment and unregulated dumping of industrial wastes polluted the water. Together these changes seriously compromised the health of California's largest estuary. Attitudes shifted as understanding of wetland's invaluable processes grew. Images of reeds and egrets replaced those of mud and mosquitoes, leading to regulation of bay fill and pollution. However, over threats persist. Water diversions and agriculture and urban uses disrupt fresh water flows, altering the bay's salinity and flow patterns. Contaminants from urban and agricultural run-off are washed into the estuary during winter storms, and pollution from past unregulated dumping remains in its sediment. Non-native species of plants and animals, erosion, and rising sea level are further concerns. These changes present a considerable challenge to the restoration of the estuary's ecological processes. Restoration is a developing science, and much is unknown about the long-term success of these efforts. Coordinated research, planning, and implementation of restoration projects are crucial to find environmental solutions that benefit the diverse community of plants, animals and people that depend on this invaluable ecosystem.
6. GGBNVC_130726_045.JPG: H. Dana Bowers Memorial Vista Point H. Dana Bowers (1903-1977) Supervising Landscape Architect for the California Division of Highways, created and nurtured California's highway beautification program from 1936 to 1964. This vista point, designed by Mr. Bowers, is one of many highway improvements which are the result of his leadership, innovation and lifelong dedication to attractive highway design, landscaping, erosion control and roadside improvements. His work is quietly reflected in the beauty of many California highways.
7. GGBNVC_130726_051.JPG: The Lone Sailor This is a memorial to everyone who ever sailed out the Golden Gate in the service of their Country – in the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, the Merchant Marine. A ship heading for sea passes directly by this spot at the northern end of the Golden Gate. Here the Sailor feels the first long roll of the sea, the beginning of the endless horizon that leads to the far Pacific. There is one last chance to look back at the city of San Francisco, shining on its hills, one last chance to look back at the coastline of the United States, one last chance to look back at home. Thousands and thousands of American seafarers have sailed past this place, in peace and war, to defend this Country and its sea frontiers. Many of them never returned. This monument is dedicated to the ordinary Sailors and Marines who sailed from this place and did their duty.
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AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (North Side) Visitor Center) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2011_CA_GGate_Bridge_NVC: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (North Side) Visitor Center (9 photos from 2011)
- 2004_CA_GGate_Bridge_NVC: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (North Side) Visitor Center (6 photos from 2004)
Generally-Related Pages: Other pages with content (CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (not from Marin Headland side)) somewhat related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2018_CA_GGate_Bridge_SVC: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (South Side) Visitor Center (71 photos from 2018)
- 2013_CA_GGate_Bridge_S: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (South Side) (4 photos from 2013)
- 2004_CA_GGate_Bridge_S: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (South Side) (15 photos from 2004)
- 2000_CA_GGate_Bridge_S: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (South Side) (17 photos from 2000)
- 2018_CA_GGate_Bridge_S: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (South Side) (33 photos from 2018)
- 1968_CA_GGate_Bridge_S: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (South Side) (3 photos from 1968)
- 2013_CA_GGate_Bridge_N: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (North Side) (44 photos from 2013)
- 2004_CA_GGate_Bridge_N: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (North Side) (7 photos from 2004)
- 2000_CA_GGate_Bridge_N: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (North Side) (10 photos from 2000)
- 2011_CA_GGate_Bridge_N: CA -- San Francisco -- Golden Gate Bridge (North Side) (23 photos from 2011)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [(NPS) Golden Gate NRA] [Display ALL (NPS) Golden Gate NRA photos] [Park (Natl Recreation Area)] [Display ALL Park (Natl Recreation Area) photos] [Transportation (Road)]
2013 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000 and Nikon D600. Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Memphis, TN, Jackson, MS [to which I added a week to to visit sites in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee], and Richmond, VA), and my 8th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including sites in Nevada and California). Ego Strokes: Aviva Kempner used my photo of her as her author photo in Larry Ruttman's "American Jews & America's Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball" book. Number of photos taken this year: just over 570,000.
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