Journeys›Photograph

Late November Day at China Beach

·San Francisco, California·#coast#bay area#san-francisco#sailing#golden-gate-bridge#november
Green trees in the foreground overlook a city of white buildings on hills, receding into a hazy, overcast sky.

Drove into the city for a late November afternoon at China Beach. The whole town was under haze — from the first stop the downtown blocks just faded out white about halfway back, so we headed for the water instead.

The beach was nearly empty. The tide left a strip of wet sand and gravel below the rocks, and the Golden Gate Bridge sat off to the east with a few sailboats working the strait under it. One came close enough to pass under the south tower right by Fort Point.

The cliffs at the far end of the beach keep sliding — a fresh face of orange rock exposed where the ice plant has peeled away below the houses at the top. The fence up there looks closer to the edge every time. Walked the concrete ramp back up past the palm tree at the top of the stairs, still standing after another year of salt wind.

The Golden Gate Bridge spans across a blue bay, with hills on the left and a rocky cliff on the right.A sandy beach with waves leading to dark rocks, a body of water, and the Golden Gate Bridge in the hazy distance.The Golden Gate Bridge spans calm blue water with sailboats, under a hazy light blue sky.A palm tree on a paved path next to concrete structures, with hazy, rocky cliffs and a bright sky in the background.A white sailboat on sepia-toned water with a distant hilly coastline, a lighthouse, and a bridge.A steep rocky cliff covered in green and brown vegetation, with a distant suspension bridge and building visible.A steep, vegetated hillside with a rocky cliff face on the left and dense green and brown foliage on the right.A sandy beach with waves, the ocean, a rocky shore, the Golden Gate Bridge, and distant hazy hills.

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