Rooftopping in San Francisco: Skyscraper Dreams – California, U.S.A
Eyes on the prize
It doesn’t matter if you’re rooftopping in San Francisco or exploring anywhere else.
Your eyes inevitably wander to the challenge that stands tallest. You can analyze the risk, consider the outcomes, but you can’t change your desire. Rooftopping doesn’t require you to be at the highest peaks, but human nature tends to propel you to them.
I’m as human as the rest, and I went after San Francisco, and the surrounding Bay area’s, tallest skyscraper.
Tallest or not, the same principles still apply to transpire a rooftopping plan into success.
- Get in without notice or defacement-
- Leave no traces, and bring no crowds
- As enticing as it is, don’t try to operate the crane at the top
Having scoured my entry point a few hours back, I crept in quickly and things started off well enough.
Any skyscraper under construction has, one if not more, elevators adjoining it to help move the construction workers efficiently. Unfortunately, trying to leave no traces and avoid any attention makes stairs the preferred option.
So I slipped into the staircase and began moving at a steady pace; with 60+ floors to cover, you don’t want to spend all night in a staircase (lol).
Panting and trudging along I took a quick glance at the current floor
Floor 32.
My optimism dipped temporarily as I pushed on upwards . I didn’t actually know then how many floors remained until the top, but I made sure to check far too frequently.
The closed staircase gave way to warning signs and open skies as I entered the final floors not yet fully constructed. As the wind picked up, I did my best not to steal glances at the shimmering lights far below that canvassed seemingly all of San Francisco.
The stairs abruptly ended, and I went to claim my prize.
A view to climb for
The Bay area as seen from the tallest skyscraper in the entire region:
The Bay Bridge seen from San Francisco
SOMA
The Embarcadero and the various piers
North Beach area with the Transamerica Pyramid (now the 2nd tallest skyscraper in the city)
Dogpatch at night
More of SOMA
A Merry Christmas
It’s a peculiar thing; to spend months in awe of a skyscraper, to admire how it pierces through the sky and be drawn to how it centers the city skyline at night. Then you climb to the top, only to look back down on those same streets you walked and gazed wonder struck upwards from. Those streets now dazzle in numbers, with lights on every corner that twinkle together to take your breath away. Maybe it’s about perspective, I’m sure there’s a great bedtime story about being thankful and appreciating what you have in here somewhere.
Anyways, after creaking all over the roof (those metal-like floors don’t install much confidence) I headed to the walkway connecting the crane to the building.
I made sure to look down, and briefly consider the vast space between me and the ground.
It’s cold, but at least not dark; on the crane
The top of the skyscraper in all it’s under construction glory
More of the Bay Bridge with another nearby skyscraper under construction
Looking right on through
Christmas lights
After taking a few more pictures on the crane, and witnessing something that I promised not to publish (let’s just say I met some fun people at the top who took a much faster way down, and I wouldn’t exactly just call them rooftoppers) I left.
2016 was coming to an end, and for 2017 my plans were simple enough…on to the next one.
FM
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