"Long Haul" Hike - Sky Trail to Bear Valley

Martin's Sky Trail to Bear Valley hike is 7.3 miles --- our trek was a little shorter (we didn't follow their plan with a detour up to the top of Mt. Wittenberg) at 6.8 miles (1.8 miles from Limantour Road parking lot to Sky Camp, 3.4 miles from Sky Camp to Divide Meadow, 1.6 miles back to the Bear Valley parking lot trailhead from the meadow). Cool weather (around 60-plus degrees) made the first half of the hike comfortable (most of wearing a jacket or sweater), and shade along the route kept us comfortable once the sun came out around 1 pm.

Blueberries, blackberries, and huckleberries treated us to a fruity "amuse bouche" before lunch around noon-time at the Sky Trail-Meadow Trail junction. While having our repast, three women loaded down with backpacks and headed for Coast Camp stopped to chat. One (with a heavy Russian or Eastern European accent), asked if there were any "burrs" (or maybe it was "brrrs") in the area. Seeing the confused looks on our faces, she pointed at the trail sign and said "Burrs, like in Burr Valley". Ah ha, now we get it! Wendy assured her and her friends that the last black bear in this parts was dispatched from Bear Valley to Bear Heaven around 1914, and that the only grizzly bear to be found "lives" on the California State flag.

We learned about the 1995 "Mt. Vision" fire shortly after we set out, and had later "local history lessons" at Sky Camp (where "Z" ranch was located) and Divide Meadow (site of a one-time hunting lodge). We met up with "official" butterfly counters on the way back to Bear Valley from Divide Meadow, and did our own "unofficial" census, finding a California Tortoise Shell, Wood Nymph, and (injured) swallowtails.

Around 2:30 pm, the brown meadows of Bear Valley came into view and was slowly wound our way down the trail to the parking lot in 70-degree plus sunshine, a fine end to another fine day of hiking in Marin.

(Hike photos can be viewed in the "mini-slideshow" window on the blog or by clicking here to go to the on-line album for this hike).