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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Straight Outta Squamton
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 9, 2005 - 03:11pm PT
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I grew up in San Francisco. I hear all the time how great the city it is, how beautiful it is.
I agree. I do not take it for granted. I really appreciate all of the really cools things here!
It had been a long time, so I thought it would be cool to do the 1-mile walk across
the bridge from the Marin side and then back again.
If you ever get the chance, you should walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Since many of you won't be able to do that anytime soon, I thought you might like
some photos from the tourist-eye view. We see tons of shots of the bridge, but very
few from the bridge.
Here's looking down at an old fort on the Marin side. This is from a long-forgotten era
when military might and defense was considered a good thing by most San Franciscans.
Looking to the San Francisco side, a ferry boat could be seen returning, while another
approaches from a distance:
Looking to the Marin side, a couple of fishing boats return. Angel Island can be seen in the background:
Here's the view from the most popular jumping point at mid-span.
I don't know how anyone could do it. It's a !@#$%^& long way down and it's gotta hurt like hell!!
A zoomed in view of the ferry with Sutro Tower in the background:
I could see a Red and White ferry approaching, and I wanted a pic looking straight
down above it. So I ran like hell across the span––but was too late. However.
another one approached not too long after:
Here's Fort Point on the San Francisco side. It's a popular surf spot (or at least it was before 9/11)
Back at mid-span, the view of the cable facing the Marin side:
Horizontal perspective with The Headlands view-point in upper left. If you ever get the chance,
definitely drive up there and check out the view!!
A little while later the sun broke through and cast such beautiful light!
I hung out a while longer, and very cool things began to happen.
As the sun began to set, the clouds looked really nice over the San Francisco skyline:
Angel Island:
Finally, a view across the roadway as the sun went down––and the ships sailed into the distance:
I was on the bridge for 3 hours, and it went by in a flash! Be advised that it's a good idea to have a camera
when lingering for long periods of time, and be sure to smile at passing bridge personnel and/or CHP.
Otherwise you might have some explaining to do!
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Northern Mexico
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Dingus, if you are ever in burbank again let me take you out to lunch!
Juanito
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WBraun
climber
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When the passing bridge personnel and/or CHP come by you give them that "look" and prop one leg up on the railing. Then when the sparks start to fly and they ask you WTF are you're doing you say you're stretching.
Good stuff Knott, I love bridges.
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Straight Outta Squamton
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 9, 2005 - 03:54pm PT
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LOL Werner.
I'll have to try that!!
Looks like this guy was knott joking:
The bridge's 4-foot railing didn't deter a potential suicide this spring, but a
California Highway Patrol officer was able to persuade the young man not to jump
Officers help a young man back over the bridge railing.
They persuaded him not to jump just hours after the
bridge directors voted to seek funds to study a barrier.
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David
Trad climber
San Rafael, CA
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Nice shots Dave. I always like seeing your photos. You're developing an eye for it.
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WBraun
climber
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Well I’ve got to be honest that a situation like this (the suicide scene above) creates a double edged sword. On one hand you don’t want the person to jump but at the same time the curiosity of the mind wants to see the person jump. Not that someone has no compassion, but the mind (not the heart) will express this fickle curiosity.
Good thing intelligence is there to override that fickle mind.
No intelligent design?
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spyork
Trad climber
Fremont, CA
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I had a cousin who has since died who was once a member of a very small club:
He jumped off the bridge and survived. He got pulled out by a fishing boat soon after he hit the water.
I dont know the exact number of jumpers who survived, but its not very big. Over 1000 people have commmitted suicide, though.
I used to live in Mill Valley and many times rode my bike across the span and walked across as well.
My favorite view of the span is from below, near the north tower, from a sailboard. You get a real feeling for the massiveness of the bridge.
Steve
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Shack
Big Wall climber
So. Cal.
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Yep...Did that walk once and it was really cool.
HK, nice job of capturing the "feel" of the bridge.
The bridge has quite a bit of "wobble" and "sway" as the cars go by...
Is there still that "freeway to nowhere" up there?
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Nice pictures HK.
Dingus, I my wife and I lived in the City for several years before we moved to the Midwest. I don't much like the Bay Area any more, but I love the City and I always feel like I am home when I am there. We have a good friend whose house in the Berkely Hills that looks across the bay to the Golden Gate--I could waste my life away staring at the that scene.
I think SF is probably the prettiest major city in the world.
Roger
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spyork
Trad climber
Fremont, CA
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Nope, and since he is dead now I guess I can say it.
His name was Jack Hart. He lived many more years and died of natural causes.
My family has a great history of narcissistic behaviour, alcoholism and drug addiction chief among them. The big rule was never to talk about it. I didnt know about his failed suicide attempt until many years later.
I rummaged around in google and could not find the list of 26 names who survived the jump.
Edit - Those pics are Knott from DMT!
Steve
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Josh Higgins
Trad climber
San Diego
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I once talked someone out of jumping off a bridge. I think that I was mentally wrecked for a full day afterwards...
Josh
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David Nelson
climber
San Francisco
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This is an interesting question:
The suspension cables are far too heavy to lift onto the tops of the towers. How did they get them there?
(once an engineer, always an engineer)
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cintune
climber
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Nice pics. But am I the only one who was waiting for the last caption to read:
"And here are the homeland security officers asking me to very slowly, with no sudden moves, hand them my camera."
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Northern Mexico
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The science of winding steel wire for bridges dates back to the Brooklyn Bridge. Maybe before. Steel wire built empires.
Probally a good book out there on the golden gate?
Juanito
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Nice photos Mr.. Knott. Recently we took the Bart from Berkeley to SF. We rode our bikes accross town and then the bridge to Tiburon where we caught the Ferry back to SF. I hadn't rode a bike accross the bridge since I was 16 (1976). We used to ride from San Rafael over to the city for the day. It is great being way up there, with the wind blowing. You may be higher when you're on a climb but you don't get that feeling of empty space below. Z
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Straight Outta Squamton
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 9, 2005 - 09:23pm PT
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Thanks for all the kind words. The bridge really is a !@#$%^& magnet!
Here's some shots I took a couple years ago, but never really did anything with.
From near the top of The Headlands road:
Here you can barely make out Sutro Tower in the middle. All those lights on the right
are the Richmond district and Sunset district; the black horizontal line going down the center is
the 1/2 mile wide, 4 mile long Golden Gate Park dividing the two. Is that cool or knott?
Here's the view from Vista Point. Sutro Tower can be seen on the left:
And in case you didn't know, the Bay Bridge is kinda cool too!
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spyork
Trad climber
Fremont, CA
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David,
They wound the cables in place, one bundle at a time. You can see the individual bundles in the main cable if you look closely.
There are massive piers at each end. The bundles are anchored individually in the piers.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Nov 10, 2005 - 01:25am PT
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age 7 "Golden, then why is it red?"
age seventeen, driving across in my first car, a'64 VW Bus, and geting blown one lane East.
But the coolest crossing was running the '98 SF Marathon. They bused us to the Marin side and closed down the two North bound lanes, rerouting that traffic onto the other side. It was unreal to be on foot where usually only cars go. It seemed to me that there was more 'give,' on the pavement than there is on the pedestrian walkway. I swear that every footfall shook the span, and the odd chronicle or Sourdough truck, felt like ~3.8's or so, truly eerie!
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KarlP
Social climber
Queensland, NorCal, Iceland
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Nov 10, 2005 - 06:27am PT
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Thanks for the Bay Bridge shot, I still reckon it's a cooler bridge. I really reckon they should paint it's spans rainbow colours. (and knock out the side walls on both decks so you can actually get a good view off the sides)
But the GG does have some great lookouts, and a pretty sweet location, so it's understandable I guess.
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