Donna and I ascended San Francisco's Mount Sutro from the west side of the 909 foot (277 meters) mountain.
The western portion of the mountain was enveloped in morning fog; a cold wind was blowing, and the rain was falling. The west part of San Francisco is the foggiest area of San Francisco, especially in the summer. Fog from the Pacific Ocean barrels into the Sunset District and then hits the western flank of Mount Sutro. On this hike, the eastern side of the mountain was not only less foggy, but there was also no wind nor rain.
After we had descended the mountain's eastern flank, we went to La Boulangerie de San Francisco on Cole Street for some java and pastries. We then walked through the Cole Valley and Corona Heights neighborhoods and took a Muni Metro F-Market & Wharves streetcar from Castro Street/Market Street to Fisherman's Wharf. After which, we took a little stroll in Fisherman's Wharf and proceeded to walk on Columbus Avenue through North Beach. We finished the hike in the Financial District.
Click on an image to view the full-size photograph.
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The map shows an overview of the location of the combined hiking route & streetcar route. The distance traveled by foot was approximately 7.5 miles (12.1 kilometers). The distance traveled by streetcar was about 5.5 miles. The total distance traveled was approximately 13 miles. The cumulative elevation gain was 1,155 feet (352 meters). The map shows a GPS-generated route track which includes walking and streetcar data plus mile markers.
This graph shows the elevation changes encountered during the hike.
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Cranking up Oakhurst Lane during the ascent of Mount Sutro. The view is looking east.
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The summit of Mount Sutro is at an elevation of 909 feet. From the late 1950s through the 1960s, this was Nike Missile Radar Acquisition site SF-89C. This radar site was the eyes for Nike Missile Launching site SF-89L, located at the Presidio Army Base. The missile launching and radar acquisition sites were approximately 2.5 miles apart. They had a line-of-sight view of one another. Donna took this picture as I was looking at location information on a Garmin GPS device. A GPS has proven to be indispensable when I am traversing terrain. It is the difference between knowing where you are and where you are going and getting lost.
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The intersection of Market Street and Castro Street. We will board an F-Market Streetcar at this location and take the streetcar to Fisherman's Wharf. The view is looking south.
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This map shows the route we took on the ascent and descent of Mount Sutro.
"A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera." Dorothea Lange
"Photography has not changed since its origin except in its technical aspects, which for me are not important." Henri Carter-Bresson "There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer." Ansel Adams
The first volume of the San Francisco Bay Area Photo Blog contains galleries of photographs posted on the Internet between 2002 and 2011. Click Here to view those photos.
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