Midway through Nine Lives Last Forever, the narrator follows a mysterious Monty down into the Sutro Baths Ruins. (The Ruins are located next to the Cliff House, to the west of the Golden Gate Bridge.)
From Nine Lives Last Forever, Chpt 24:
"The trail led down a flight of stairs that had been cut into the sandy, eroding soil of the hillside's upper embankment with the use of four-by-four beams. A loose, post and rope fencing structure lined both sides of the path to discourage visitors from trampling the hillside's carpet of freshly painted succulents. Rows and rows of tiny yellow flowers bent toward the rising sun as the plants sucked in a morning drink of dew.
Scattered across the lower roll of the hillside lay the ruins of the Sutro Baths. Occasional piles of crumbling bricks gave hints of the huge complex that had burned to the ground almost half a century earlier. At the bottom of the hill, up against a rocky interface with the ocean, the gutted remnants of Sutro's seawall still retained enough integrity to fill a large stagnant pool with water.
A manicured running path cut off toward the Lands End trail about forty feet down from the parking lot's entrance. I watched as Monty's blue-suited figure bypassed the running route and progressed into the lower portion of the ruins.
A minute later, Monty reached the bottom of the hill, near the spot where the ocean's foaming waves broke against the seawall. He spread his long arms out for balance as his white tennis shoes trod carefully across the crumbling flat edge of the wall. At the opposite end of the wall, he stepped off into the eroded remains of the Baths' lowest foundation..."
The view from the bottom of the ruins
looking south toward the Cliff House.
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