For thousands of years, strong winds from the Pacific Ocean blew sand from the ocean onto what is now known as San Francisco. This natural behavior created many sand dunes to multiply and grow on the San Francisco peninsula. Hawk Hill is a massive dune located approximately two miles east of the ocean's shoreline. The hill has a maximum elevation of about 650 feet. Hawk Hill's naturally eroding sand was constantly replenished with sand blown across what is now known as the Sunset District.
The Outside Lands of San Francisco became populated after the earthquake of 1906. Beginning in the early Twentieth Century, the sand dunes of the Outside Lands, now known as the Sunset District and the Richmond District, have been bulldozed, paved with asphalt, and covered in concrete and wooden structures. This new reality left no naturally available source of windblown sand to restore the sand erosion occurring on Hawk Hill.
Hawk Hill is an ecologically sensitive area located on the westerly side of the Forest Hill neighborhood. The shifting sands on the hill support a wide variety of dune plants. There are no trail signs nor entry signs at Hawk Hill; public access to Hawk Hill is discouraged by the City and County of San Francisco.
Click on an image to view the full-size photograph.
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| A view from Hawk Hill, looking west. Buildings in the Sunset District are visible. |
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As I walked through the Forest Hill neighborhood to Hawk Hill, I passed by this house on Magellan Avenue. The house was the childhood home of Jerry Brown, a former governor of the State of California. Jerry Brown's father, Edmund "Pat" Brown, was born in San Francisco in 1905. He attended Lowell High School, as did his wife, Bernice Layne. They had four children, three girls, and a boy; they were all born in San Francisco. Pat Brown was elected District Attorney of the City and County of San Francisco in 1943. He was subsequently elected Attorney General of California in 1950. Pat Brown was then elected governor of California in 1959. He served two terms as governor, from 1959 to 1967.
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown Jr., the only son of Bernice and Pat Brown, was born in 1938. He followed in his father's footsteps and went into politics. He served as Secretary of State of California from 1971-1975. He was elected governor of California in 1974 at age 36. Brown was re-elected governor in 1978. He then ran for the United States Senate in 1982 and lost the election. Brown re-emerged on the political stage after he moved his residence to Oakland, California. Brown served as Mayor of Oakland for two terms, from 1999-2007. He then became the Attorney General of California from 2007 to 2011. Jerry Brown decided to run for another term as governor of California in 2010. Brown won the election and was after that re-elected as governor in 2014.
Cynthia Brown Kelly, Jerry Brown's older sister, considered this house her home for almost her entire life. She was 81 when she died on 29 March 2015.
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| Okay, now on to Hawk Hill. This is the Hawk Hill trail; the view is looking west. |
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| This is another view of the trail, looking west. |
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| This view from the trail looks southwest. The green area in the distance, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, was the site of Fort Funston. The fort became operational in 1900; it was decommissioned in 1963. |
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| This will be the last picture from Hawk Hill; the view is looking south. The mountain ahead on the left, with the antennas on its summit, is San Bruno Mountain. The mountain in the distance on the right is Montara Mountain. |
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| This photo was taken from Grand View Park; the scene looks northeast. Downtown San Francisco is visible in the distance. The hill on the right is Mount Sutro, and the below residential area is Cole Valley, located in the Inner Sunset District. |
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| This picture was taken from 14th Avenue near Ortega Street. Ahead is the western portion of Golden Gate Park. The buildings closest to the camera are located in the Sunset District. The facilities on the far side of Golden Gate Park are located in the Richmond District. The hill on the far side of the Richmond District was the site of both the Fort Miley Military Reservation and Golden Gate Cemetery. The building complex on the high point of the hill is the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Please note that as recently as one hundred and twenty years ago, all of the lands you see in this picture were wild, unpopulated sand dunes. In the distance is the mouth of San Francisco Bay. Marin County and Mount Tamalpais are on the far side of the bay. The view looks northwest. |
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| A part of the frieze created by Sister Justina Niemierski. |
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| Another portion of the frieze was created by Sister Justina Niemierski. |
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| The distance traveled was approximately 5.1 miles (8.2 kilometers). The cumulative elevation gain was about 603 feet (184 meters). Mile markers are displayed on the GPS-generated track. |
"A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera." Dorothea Lange
"Photography has not changed since its origin except in its technical aspects, which for me are not important." Henri Carter-Bresson
"There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer." Ansel Adams
The first volume of the San Francisco Bay Area Photo Blog contains galleries of photographs that were posted on the Internet between 2002 and 2011. Click Here to view these photo galleries.
A Panasonic GX7 camera body mounted with an Olympus 17mm lens was used to take these photographs.
