Ocean Beach - Western GatewayStop on Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, a free self-guided tour.Just across the Great Highway from the park's western edge, Ocean Beach stretches four miles along the Pacific coast - a wild, windswept expanse where the park meets the open ocean. This is not a swimming beach: the surf is powerful and cold, and dangerous rip currents make it one of the most hazardous beaches in California. But as a place to walk, watch surfers ride enormous winter swells, witness spectacular Pacific sunsets, and feel the raw power of the open ocean, it is extraordinary. Standing here at the end of a walk through Golden Gate Park, you are at the western edge of the North American continent, looking out across 6,000 miles of open Pacific. The contrast between this wild shoreline and the cultivated paradise you have just walked through is one of San Francisco's great experiences.Stops on this tourMcLaren Lodge and Sharon MeadowConservatory of FlowersRhododendron DellMusic Concourse and Spreckels Temple of Musicde Young MuseumCalifornia Academy of SciencesJapanese Tea GardenSan Francisco Botanical GardenStow Lake and Strawberry HillSpreckels Lake and Model Yacht ClubPolo Fields and Speedway MeadowBuffalo Paddock - American Bison HerdRainbow Falls and Chain of LakesDutch Windmill and Queen Wilhelmina Tulip GardenOcean Beach - Western Gateway