Fog pours in from the Pacific and swallows the towers until only their tops float above the white. Then it lifts, and the bridge glows red-orange against the blue water of the strait.

The bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge spans the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide strait between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, linking San Francisco to Marin County. Joseph Strauss was chief engineer, with Leon Moisseiff, Irving Morrow and Charles Ellis contributing to the design. It opened on 27 May 1937, when it was both the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world. Its main span is 4,200 feet (1,280 m) and its total height 746 feet (227 m). The American Society of Civil Engineers counts it among the Wonders of the Modern World.

Before the bridge

Before 1937 the only practical way between San Francisco and Marin was by ferry; the crossing from Hyde Street Pier to Sausalito took about 20 minutes. Today the bridge carries US Route 101 and California State Route 1, as well as walkers and cyclists.

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  Walk or cycle Across the strait.
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  Battery East View from the San Francisco side.
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  Marshall's Beach Below the bridge to the south.