Fort McDowell on Angel Island

Sea, sun, and plants reclaim a former military outpost

13 Apr 2025 by AK Krajewska

The remnants of Angel Island's military base buildings have been partly preserved, and partly allowed to gracefully decay. Slowly, water and plants wear them down. Clearly, some kind of work is being put in to keep the structures from becoming so unsafe that they'd need to be completely fenced off. Last week I wrote about the acorn woodpeckers of Angel Island, and this week, I want to share some photos from my favorite ruins there, Fort McDowell East Garrison.

Weed-choked collonade

Weeds grow at the feet of the collonade. It's not exactly inviting, yet it draws me in.

A view up from inside a decaying courtyard. The sky is intensly blue.

Something about this rotting courtyard, and all these rusted and rotting and plant-choked buildings, reminds me of Canaan House in Gideon the Ninth. I get a creepy, uncanny feeling and as a result I want to look at it and photograph it.

Sunlit view inside a decaying courtyard up through balconies and a roof with gaps

The more you look, the more rot you see, like in this view up towards the rotting roof and dangerously rusting balconies.

A missing stairway creates the effect of a comical monster face

There's even a monster under the stairs.

View inside empty building with sunlit patches among the shadow

The stark patches sun make the dark pools of shadow feel deeper.

The red roof of a large empty building with round vents against a blue sky

I think this might have been the mess hall, that is to say the place where the soldiers ate, based on the multiple vents in the roof.

A beautifully curved lamp but with no bulb

An empty lamp still curves gracefully.

Mutiple empty buildings with windows without glass

Each building is lovingly labelled with a sign about how unsafe it is. There are still a few that are maintained enough that you can go in, but none were open for visitors when I was there in late December.

A warning sign on a the corner of a building that says DANGER STRUCTURES AND GROUNDS UNSAFE KEEP OUT

The warning signs affixed to the various buildings around the Fort McDowell East Garrison are fresh and bright. To me they read as signs that someone cares.

A lamp socket without even a lamp shade

Something about these late afternoon shadows draws me.

The inside corner of an abandoned building with stairs that don't connect to anything

I suppose the sea air wears away the paint, leaving these beautiful textures. The stairs, disconnected and leading to nothing, remind me of the dangerous high places Gideon explored in Canaan House.

A photo of an abandoned building with empty windows The glass is gone from the windows, and the metal frames that held it hang open.

A hawk perched on a buildings edge A hawk perches on the corner.

A bunker like outbuilding in a hillside with a road leading down to the ocean next to it

This outbuilding was once used to stow ammunition, I think. It sill has a sign forbidding open flame. The road near it leads down to Quarry Beach.

A brown warning sign, somewhat faded, sits among a field of iceplant. Some of the words are still legible: WARNING RECURRING RIP CURRENTS

The faded sign is nestled in sun-singed iceplant. Enough is left to warn anyone going to the beach that this one, like pretty much all beaches around San Francisco, has dangerous currents.

Black and white photo of a beach with All Empires End written in the sand

Written on the sand, "ALL EMPIRES END." I saw some people on the beach, all having fun in a group, and one of them wrote this in the sand with their toe. I'm sure the tide washed it away, not long after.