Things you'll find under the Golden Gate Bridge

Struts, for one. Lots and lots of struts.

And the reason you could get so up close and personal with those struts in the first place, an old military fort:

It's called Fort Point, like the promontory it's built on, and sits right at the Southern end of the bridge:

You can go up to the top level...

...and take pictures of a photogenic seagull if you're lucky:

On the lower floors, you can take pictures of graffiti from the 1700s...

... which will lead to much confusion when you try to make an imgur post about them years later and Google reminds you that the fort was only built in the 1850s...

... so you wish you'd remember if there were any explanatory signs there and what they said, but you don't, so you quickly change the topic by posting a pic of the old military installations of the Presidio...

... which is the name of the entire 2.4 square mile area Fort Point is part of. The Presidio was established as a military fort in 1776 by the Spanish, passed to the Americans in 1846 in the Mexican-American War...

... was home to the Western Defense Command during World War II, was finally transferred to the National Park Service in 1994...

... and contains what is easily the most unexpected of all the things you'll find underneath the Golden Gate Bridge: an old military pet cemetery.

Established some time in the 1950s for the pets of the military families stationed there and later opened to "civilian pets"...

... it's a lovely old ramshackle place with grave markers from the 1950s all the way to the present...

... like these oldtimers...

... and these newer ones:

It's a strange and beautiful spot, fallen out of time, with traffic rushing by on the bridge above...

... but still somehow quiet and surrounded by nature - and with an ocean view, no less:

So if you ever find yourself in San Francisco, take some time to look *under* the bridge, too.

It's worth it.