You can drive through Fort Baker, past the Bay Area Discovery Museum to a point behind the bridge. If you walk up the road and underneath the bridge you can hike all the way to the top and underneath where it hits the headland, up to the other side for a view of the City and the Pacific.
This bridge is enormous, 6 lanes of traffic and two pedestrian walkways. I walked halfway across and was assaulted with the nose and noise pollution of so many cars.
The Statue of Liberty in New York, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Big Ben in London, the Great Pyramid in Egypt, there are a few man-made things in the world that we all should see. The Golden Gate Bridge is certainly on that list.
Cathy
Off the Grid with Cathy Herman 
Posted by Shigemi on April 7, 2011 at 11:21 am
Brings back memories of our last trip to San Francisco. Was there beneath the Golden Gate bridge, too, and the kids enjoyed the fort with its cannons, etc. Because it was winter time, the ocean looked gray and rough rather than blue and inviting. But there were a few surfers out there in the rough.
Posted by Laura Baxter on April 7, 2011 at 11:47 am
What? Does San Francisco have “blue” skies? Amazing! Don’t see that very often. 🙂
Posted by Richard Michel on April 7, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Nice pictures!
Posted by Peggy Lind on April 7, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Love the pictures. Could do without the smelly exhaust and noise. I have seen the bridge from a distance. Never up close. Now for the Eiffel Tower!!
Posted by offthegridwithcathyherman on April 12, 2011 at 9:42 pm
Peggy, I’ve seen the Eiffel Tower, the traffic around it
is just as smelly and noisy!!
Posted by Peggy Lind on April 7, 2011 at 2:24 pm
I agree. That blue stuff in the sky is pretty scary. What IS that?! We had snow yesterday. Not talking the mountains. Down here!!!
Posted by Rebecca on June 9, 2015 at 6:06 pm
Planning a visit to San Francisco in October and want to walk across Golden Gate Bridge – I am a lung cancer survivor (never smoked) and now some smells bother me – your comment on pollution – do you think I will be able to do walk?
Posted by offthegridwithcathyherman on June 10, 2015 at 12:47 pm
I would stay on the Marin side, the exhaust fumes on the bridge are horrible.