Michael One of our favorite hiking trails runs along the Pacific beach below the former artillery position of Fort Funston. There, military fortifications made of concrete from World War II protrude from the sand. The whole thing gives the area an apocalyptic look, and always reminds me of the first movie in the "Planet of the Apes" series, in which Charlton Heston is one of the few survivors of an atomic war and stumbles upon such a relic protruding from the sand. He realizes that the relic is the Statue of Liberty, and that humanity has actually managed to blow up the planet, and he screams his famous line: "You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you!" What a movie! Nowadays only technically bloated nonsense junk comes out of Hollywood.

If you know me, you're aware that for a few cheap laughs, I'll do just about anything, so I reenacted the scene from the movie where Charlton Heston laughs maniacally. Just as I remembered it, of course, and camerawoman Angelika helped shoot the scene near San Francisco's Ocean Beach. My brain is notoriously porous like a sieve, and so something completely different came out naturally, but as always, it's at least entertaining!

Michael is copying Charlton Heston in 'Planet of the Apes'.

But back to the bunker ruins now found on this beach: The concrete half-circle protruding from the sand in Figure 1 is a segment of a so-called Panama Mount.

It consists of a platform made from concrete in the shape of a circle, on which soldiers can roll around a giant cannon to point it in different directions. In this case, the gunners were firing towards attacking ships at sea, and the position covers a full 180 degrees along the coastline. The weapon enthusiasts among you can find detailed pictures on the Military Museum Website. Look at the black and white pictures of yesteryear to get a feel for how it looked like when the whole thing was still under construction or then in operation.

The fortification, complete with cannon, was undoubtedly once anchored at the top of the dune, and over the years it has tumbled down onto the beach. The Pacific tides change twice a day here, washing huge amounts of sand around, so that the platform sometimes is covered completely and sometimes stands out far from the sand.

At the top of the dune, there is still an old concrete bunker (Figure #2) from the Second World War, and it's hanging there so loosely, that I always wonder when it will fall down next (update: it fell down in July of 2023). The authorities responsible for beaches in California are usually scaredy cats who immediately block off any dangerous areas, but the bunker is still freely accessible and often times you an see overconfident people up there who are playing around on it. Pride comes before the fall!

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	The recall of San Francisco's District Attorney
  	The US Supreme Court and "Roe vs. Wade"
  	Fourth of July
  	Wordle
  	Soda maker with Welder's CO2 Tank
  	The Little Produce Store Around the Corner