Before there was the bridge there was the strait. Its name was chosen in 1846 by Captain John C. Frémont in analogy to the Golden Horn of the Bosporus (Turkey) when he hoped for rich cargoes from the Orient arriving through the strait.

The treacherous water channel connects the Pacific ocean with San Francisco Bay, and the Sacramento-San Joaquin river system. From 1 to 3 miles wide, it is frequently shrouded in fog. Humid air from the Pacific Ocean floats over the cool California wind current flowing parallel to the coast. The fog stays low to the ground and then the warm, moist air condenses as it moves across the San Francisco Bay or nearby land.

The fog was probably the reason for a relatively late European discovery of the strait – it was first seen by a land party of Spanish colonialists in 1769, and first sailed by a Spanish ship in 1775, giving the native Ohlone tribes a bit more time before death and destruction descended upon them.

The fog has not been kind to sailors. Estimates claim that between 100 and 300 shipwrecks are buried in and around San Francisco, some truly deadly. A fascinating map of the buried ships (some under the city itself) can be inspected here. These days there are fog horns, situated mid-span and on the Southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge – the most photographed bridge in the world, they say – that guide maritime traffic to safety.

On the other hand, the fog is kind to the coastal red woods who get half of their moisture from the fog during the summer.

The history of the the bridge itself can be found here. No longer the longest suspension bridge in the world, it is still a thing of beauty and technological magic, considering it was opened in 1937.

Photographs of the strait and the bridge today were taken along the Lands End Coastal Trail, which was close to my apartment, sometimes foggy, and sometimes in full sun.

It is a beautiful, well maintained path, but too crowded for my spoiled taste groomed by Oregon’s empty spaces. Homesick, that’s what I am.

Music in honor of 75 years of the bridge (2012-competition.) Something different from our usual fare.