One thing that I’ve always wanted to do was to walk on the Golden Gate Bridge. So for this trip up to San Francisco I insisted that we do that!
Of course before walking across the bridge we did some obligatory tourist pictures in front of the bridge. We also roamed around the area looking at the displays telling the facts and history of the bridge. And then we were ready for our “hike”!
I was a bit worried throughout the day because it had been gloomy all day, but when we reached the Gold Gate Bridge area, the sun came out. Perfect weather to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge…or so I thought…
The Bridge is 1.7 miles in length, meaning a little less than 3 and a half miles round trip. Considering how much we had been walking on this trip, it seemed like a piece of cake to me.
I honestly wanted to walk the whole thing, but we got there in the late afternoon, so it wasn’t as ideal to do that. So we decided to only walk about half way and then turn around. And in the end I was glad we did that.
There was also a good system for those who wanted to cross the bridge without a car. The northbound sidewalk of the bridge was dedicated for pedestrians. And the southbound sidewalk was dedicated for the bikers.
Despite the sun shining on us, it was still quite cold and VERY windy. There were so many times that I felt like the wind was going to blow me away. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.
As we got onto the bridge, there were fences put up that were obstructing our view of the city. But I was okay with that, I felt a little bit safer with them up! Unfortunately, the fences quickly disappeared as we got further onto the bridge.
As we continued on, we got more intimate was the structure. I thought it was pretty cool being able to see and touch the cables that are holding up this famous landmark. I don’t know if it was me feeling woozy or not, but I felt like those cables were also shaking from the gusty winds.
I was probably one of those annoying people who could not decide on what side of the road to stay on. If I stayed on the right side, I would get woozy because I felt like the wind could easily swoop me up and throw me into the water.
If I stayed on the left side, I would jump every time a car zoomed pass me. I ended up making myself comfortable walking straight down the middle and only straying off to avoid any oncoming pedestrian traffic or to try and enjoy the views.
Not to mention, I also walked incredibly slow. I’m usually the type that likes to walk really fast, but I did not feel safe doing that. The wind was seriously no joke here.
Lucky for me Auntie is a stroller, she takes her time when it comes to walking. So I stayed behind to walk with her…slow and steady wins the race!
The sky was so nice as we were crossing. But as opposed to my initial thought that is was good weather to walk across the bridge, I had completely neglected the fact that it was windy.
Another downside of the sky being so clear was there was also no shade as we walked. I usually don’t get along with the sun, but this time it didn’t bother be too much because I was too busy trying to fight its friend, the wind.
We were finally able to get some relief from the sun and the wind when we reached the first tower. It was pretty crowded here, I guess everyone found this area to be a good pit stop. We also took this opportunity to rest a little, and have a mini photo shoot in front of the huge tower.
Since I was walking at super slow speeds, getting to the first tower really felt like forever to me. But in reality I think it took us 10 minutes tops to get there. Mom thought it was already half way but we still had a little ways to go. Our goal was the middle point between the two towers.
Our way of deciding where the middle point was where the main cable hung the lowest. So basically when we were able to touch that cable then we decided that we had hit the half-way point. Ta-da! look at BH’s victory pose. Time to turn around!
Despite my battle with the strong winds, this was one of my more memorable experiences. And I would return someday to try this walk again. Hopefully when that does happen the weather would be a little nicer.
Green After the Rain 
We did this on our first trip to SF, too! What a rush, your photos capture the experience perfectly!
I’ve always wanted to do that too but every disaster movie has the bridge destroyed so it would make me nervous something catastrophic would happen! Lol