Photos by Neil Mishalov
Valerie and I started this little jaunt at 7:45 a.m at the Tennessee Valley parking lot of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Tennessee Valley got its name because on 6 March 1853, the S.S. Tennessee, a side-paddle steamer that carried 551 passengers bound for San Francisco and the gold rush, beached at a cove on the Pacific coast, near the valley, one foggy day one hundred and fifty two years ago.
All photographs were taken with a Canon 20D camera
All Images and Text Copyright © by Neil Mishalov
COPYRIGHT NOTICE and DISCLAIMER
Topographic Map of the Area with a GPS Tracked Route Superimposed
Hike data gathered with a Garmin 60C GPS RECEIVER
Topographic mapping program for Macintosh OSX by NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Satellite Photo Map of the Area with a GPS Tracked Route Superimposed
TerraBrowser satellite mapping program for Macintosh OSX by CHIMOOSOFT
GPS track converter by GPSBABEL
Panoramic View of San Francisco and the Golden Gate
Picture taken near Wolfback Ridge at an elevation of 1,111 feet
===============> Scroll to view panoramic image
Click on an image to see the full size picture
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| Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Tennessee Valley entrance | Spanish Moss | Indian Paint Brush |
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| Site of the World War II Marinship Liberty ship construction facility located in Sausalito. 93 Liberty ships were built at this location | Valerie getting ready to take a close-up photograph | |
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| Taking in the beautiful view from a peak above Wolfback Ridge | This area use to be part of an extensive U.S. Army installation. Fort Cronkhite and Fort Baker were connected via this tunnel located on Bunker Road | |
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| Heading up the Miwok Trail | A view of San Francisco from the Miwok Trail | |
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| The Coastal Trail | Heading west on Wolf Ridge Trail | A spider, poised on a lovely Columbine flower, is patiently waiting for its meal to fly on to the flower |
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| A Ceanosis lilac. The fragrance that these flowers radiate is head-spinning and delightful | A grand view of the Mount Tamalpais massif, from the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco Bay | A view of Rodeo Lagoon, and the former site of Fort Cronkhite. This is now the location of the Marine Mammal Center |
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| An additional view of Fort Cronkhite, and in the distance San Francisco | As we climbed up Wolf Ridge Trail we noticed some man-made structures on the top of Wolf Ridge. What could they be? | The site (Site 88C-Wolf Ridge) of a former Nike missile surface to air launching facility. Probably built sometime in the 1950's, during the Cold War, this site, among others across the United States, had liquid fueled Nike missiles poised to defend the United States from an air launched attack. None of the facilities were ever used |
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| Go HERE for more information about Nike Missile sites of the San Francisco Bay Area
Go HERE for a rendering of this particular site when it was active and complete |
The platform on the left was for one of the target-tracking radars. The platform on the right was for an acquistion radar. Both radars were housed in geodesic domes | |
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| A Tiger Lily | California Poppies are hardy, yet delicate plants. |
Index page of additional digital photos GO HERE
This page created on 1 April 2005, and all photographs copyright 2005, by NEIL MISHALOV