Golden Gate Bridge & Battery Spencer

The Marin Headlands is a hilly peninsula located just north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge. The entire area is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is famous for the views of the Bay Area, especially of the Golden Gate Bridge. Even though I don’t live far from there, I haven’t been to this area since I was a child, so I decided to check out the headland and get some of those fabulous shots of the bridge, especially since the weather was perfect.

The Marin Headlands is also the site of a number of historic military settlements fortifications, including Battery Spencer, which back in the early 1900s was one of the main protection points for the San Francisco Bay. It featured multiple 12″ guns that were operated by the military and a few buildings for housing the generators and shells. Today it’s just a piece of history that you can walk around and enjoy, as well as capture those iconic photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco skyline, the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, Farallon Islands, Angel Island, and the East Bay.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California and was initially designed by engineer Joseph Strauss in 1917. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Frommer's travel guide describes it as "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world." At the time of its opening in 1937, it was both the longest and the tallest suspension bridge in the world, with a main span of 4,200 feet (1,280m) and a total height of 746 feet (227m).

See more of the incredible photos I took in my Instagram post!

Rodeo Beach

I decided to check out the Marin Headlands as my last stop on my Highway 1 trip. I never knew about this wonderful beach called Rodeo Beach in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This unique beach is just 2 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge and is largely made up of coarse, pebbly chert grains, both red and green in color. Interesting fact is that its mineral composition sets it apart from every other beach in the state!

Rodeo Beach is characterized by a spit of around 50 meters (164 ft) width at the mouth of a long embayment, known as Rodeo Lagoon. For much of the year the lagoon is cut off from the ocean, making the beach spit a baymouth bar.

There’s a cool bridge one has to walk over to get to the dark, pebbly sand, which gets really hot from the sun. You definitely need to wear shoes to not burn your feet! I strolled from the bridge to the ocean, walked around a bit, and then headed back out because it was very busy with people and really hot out which was amplified by the dark colored sand. I’ve read that it’s a popular surfing spot, although there’s a risk of shark attacks.

Check out more photos in my Instagram post!