Baker Beach is a public beach on the peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

 of San Francisco, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The beach lies on the shore of the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 to the northwest of the city. It is roughly a half mile (800 m) long, beginning just south of Golden Gate Point (where the Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...

 connects with the peninsula), extending southward toward the Seacliff

Sea Cliff, San Francisco

Sea Cliff is a neighborhood located in northwestern San Francisco, California. It is known for its large houses and ocean views.-Location:...

 peninsula, the Palace of the Legion of Honor and the Sutro Baths

Sutro Baths

The Sutro Baths were a large, privately owned swimming pool complex in San Francisco, California, built in the late 19th century. The building housing the baths burned down in 1966 and was abandoned. The ruins may still be visited.- History :...

. The northern section of Baker Beach is "frequented by clothing-optional sunbathers". As such it is considered a nude beach

Nude beach

A nude beach is a beach where users are legally at liberty to be nude. Sometimes the terms clothing-optional beach or free beach are used. Nude bathing is one of the most common forms of nudity in public. As beaches are usually on public lands, any member of the public is entitled to use the...

.

History

Baker Beach is part of the Presidio

Presidio of San Francisco

The Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...

, which was a military base from the founding of San Francisco by the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 in 1812 until 1997.
In 1904, it was fortified with disappearing gun

Disappearing gun

A disappearing gun is a type of heavy artillery for which the gun carriage enabled the gun to rotate backwards and down into a pit protected by a wall or a bunker after it was fired...

 installations known as Battery Chamberlin

Battery Chamberlin

Battery Chamberlin is an artillery battery in the Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States. The battery is named in honor of Captain Lowell A...

, which can still be viewed today.
When the Presidio was decommissioned as a U.S. Army base, it became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service that surrounds the San Francisco Bay area. It is one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States, with over 13 million visitors a year...

, which is administered by the National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

.

From 1986 to 1990, the north end of Baker Beach was the original site of the Burning Man

Burning Man

Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event starts on the Monday before the American Labor Day holiday, and ends on the holiday itself. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening...

 art festival. In 1990, park police allowed participants to raise the traditional large statue but not to set it on fire

Effigy

An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...

, since the beach enforces a limit on the size of any campfires. Subsequent Burning Man events have taken place in Black Rock Desert

Black Rock Desert

The Black Rock Desert is an arid region in the northern Nevada section of the Great Basin with a lakebed that is a dry remnant of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

.

A fatal shark attack

Shark attack

A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year around 60 shark attacks are reported worldwide, although death is quite unusual. Despite the relative rarity of shark attacks, the fear of sharks is a common phenomenon, having been fueled by the occasional instances of serial attacks,...

 occurred on Baker Beach on May 7, 1959 when 18-year old Albert Kogler Jr. was attacked by a great white shark

Great white shark

The great white shark, scientific name Carcharodon carcharias, also known as the great white, white pointer, white shark, or white death, is a large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. It is known for its size, with the largest individuals known to have approached...

 while he was 15 feet deep in water. This was the only shark attack recorded on Baker Beach.

Large outcrops of serpentine cliffs occur along the Pacific coast near Baker Beach. When rising from the land surface, serpentine produces a low-calcium

Calcium

Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...

, high-magnesium

Magnesium

Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, and common oxidation number +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and ninth in the known universe as a whole...

 soil that can allow for rare species of plants to develop in the vicinity. This may explain the presence of Hesperolinon congestum

Hesperolinon congestum

Hesperolinon congestum, or Marin Dwarf Flax, is an annual herb, which is known to occur only in San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin County, California, USA. This plant occurs chiefly on serpentine soils, especially in dry native bunch grasses, chaparral or other grasslands at elevations less than...

(the Marin Dwarf Flax, a threatened plant) in surrounding areas.

External links

• Presidio of San Francisco - Baker Beach (U.S. National Park Service) at http://www.nps.gov/prsf/planyourvisit/baker-beach.htm
• Photo of the Seacliff and lower Baker Beach
• BlooSee Infopoint