San Francisco Lands End (# 0545)

I was very lucky in terms of weather in San Francisco. The week before the skies had been filled with smoke from large fires north of the city (across the Golden Gate in this picture) and the temperatures were unusually warm for October. Though the weather was very pleasant for a tourist, that meant there wasn’t much of the fog that keeps the city green!

This is Lands End, a large open space on the northwest edge of San Francisco -- a wonderful place for hiking, though often windy and cold. On the upper right in this picture is a graded flat area that I’ve always assumed was a site for cannons that once defended the entrance to the bay, but I’ve never seen an explanation for the area and unlike other nearby areas there’s no remnants of fortifications, so that might not be reason that area is level. On the left side of the picture is the beach at Lands End which was very popular as a nude beach for many years until the National Park Service took over responsibility for the area.