Oops! Here's How to Sign Up for Fall Hikes (Part 2)

Due to technological problems......the link to the list of Fall 2008 Hikes Part 2 didn't work. Now it should be fixed.

"Part 2" of the fall hikes runs from October 21st through December 2nd. (Click here for a complete list of those hikes).

If you want to continue hiking with the Tuesday group this fall and haven't already done so, you need to register for Course # 85090 EC with the College of Marin for this second section of hikes. If you want to hike with the Monday group (October 20th through December 1st with no class on November 10th) sign up for Course # 85089 EC. (Click here to access the College's Community Education Web site).

New! Sign Up For Part 2 of the Fall Hikes (Oct 21-Dec 2)

The first section of fall hikes ends on Tuesday, October 14th. "Part 2" of the fall hikes runs from October 21st through December 2nd. (Click here for a complete list of those hikes).

If you want to continue hiking with the Tuesday group this fall and haven't already done so, you need to register for Course # 85090 EC with the College of Marin for this second section of hikes. If you want to hike with the Monday group (October 20th through December 1st with no class on November 10th) sign up for Course # 85089 EC. (Click here to access the College's Community Education Web site).

Mountain Home Hike (September 30) Preview

Here's Wendy's description of this upcoming hike:

"Today we’ll hike down to Muir Woods and learn how it became a National Monument. I’ll point out the albino redwood tree most visitors pass by without noticing. Lunch at Camp Eastwood where you’ll hear the fascinating life story of intrepid botanist Alice Eastwood."

Directions: Take the Stinson Beach/Highway 1 exit off Highway 101. Go west through Tam Valley and up onto the ridge. Turn right onto Panoramic Highway and follow signs to Mt. Tamalpais. Drive about 4 miles. When you reach Mountain Home Inn on your right, park on your left in the parking lot across the road.

Time: 40 minutes from College of Marin. Outhouse at trailhead and restrooms at lunch.

Weather Forecast: As of Sunday morning, the National Weather Service forecast for the Mill Valley area on Tuesday was mostly sunny with a high near 74 and west wind between 6 and 9 mph. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More On This Hike: The Martin's book, Hiking Marin, shows the following hike and map which might differ a bit from our actual route, but shows the area where we'll be hiking:

Mount Home to Camp Eastwood Hike and Map - Upload a Document to Scribd

(Click here to view and print out a complete description of the hike and map from Martins' book. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

Uphill, Downhill at Samuel P. Taylor (September 23)

(Dick was driving down Highway 97 from Oregon when we did this hike, so here's Theresa Fisher's recap of the trek; more of Theresa's photos are in the on-line album and the mini-slide show on the blog):

It was lovely and a perfect temperature when we started the hike. The trail up was nicely shady with a gradual grade and we didn't have to peel layers until about half an hour into the hike.

People in the front of the pack got to see a glimpse of a bobcat! I didn't see it.

After popping out into the sun, we found a shady spot along the the trail about 500' below Mt. Barnabe's peak for lunch. When we started back Wendy said, "The good news is that it's all downhill. The bad news is that it's in the sun." And it was a bit steep.

I got so warm a couple of times that I could feel and hear my heart beating in my ears. Glad that didn't last too long. The short stop we made at Samuel P. Taylor's graveside was a good rest and we all managed to huddle under the trees to benefit from the shade.

When we made it back to the road, lo and behold, Sylvia (who hadn't made it to the hike) met us at the parking lot with a cooler full of ice and some lemonade, served up with a mint sprig in each cup. Lemonade has never tasted so good!!

Here's Wendy's list of the critters and plants we saw:

WHAT WE SAW AT DEVIL'S GULCH, SAMUEL P TAYLOR STATE PARK
September 23, 2008?

[CAPS MEANS FIRST TIME WE’VE SEEN IT THIS SEASON]

BERRIES

GOOSEBERRIES - spiny plant, dark berries.
Native blackberry (aka dewberry), not berries at present, finer thorns than Armenian berry
coffeeberry – some berries black, some still red
honeysuckle berries getting red
elk clover berries now black

TREES
big leaf maple, male and female California torreya tree, buckeye trees with buckeyes, bay trees with nuts, hazel trees with male catkins and nuts, maul oak (AKA canyon live oak, gold cup oak, Canyon Oak, Goldcup Oak, Gold cup Live oak)

FERNS
Lady fern - tapers at both ends to make a diamond shape
Chain fern - likes creeksides, grows 5' tall, not so lacy
Bracken - can grow in drier areas
Wood fern - likes shade, triangular shape overall
Sword fern - look for the "hilt"
maidenhair

OTHER PLANTS
Coyote bush (females are fuzzy), willow herb (in Evening primrose family, pink, 4 2-lobed petals)

BIRDS Seen: RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, hairy woodpecker, CA quail, dark-eyed juncos
Heard: spotted towhee, Stellar’s jay

GALLS
BEAKED SPINDLE GALL made by Cynipid wasp on Canyon live oak (maul oak)
Parthanogenic females emerge in April and May and oviposit on the undersides of leaves. The resulting bisexual generation galls look much different and are usually wine red to purple. Some galls will hatch out males, others females. These will mate in June and make the gall we saw.

MAMMALS/TRACKS
Raccoon tracks (front foot next to back foot), deer tracks, BOBCAT (Stan, Barbara, Wendy) and bobcat tracks, Sonoma chipmunk (2 broods/yr with 3-5 per litter)

(Click here if you want to view and print a copy of this list. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

What We Saw On The East Peak Hike (September 16)

Here's Wendy's list of flora and fauna spotted on this hike:

WHAT WE SAW ON THE EAST PEAK LOOP September 16, 2008

TREES
California torreya (AKA CA nutmeg) with lots of ripe nuts, bay with bay nuts, chinquapin with nuts in spiny pods, hazel with nuts, madrone (bark more orange than manzanita, leaves larger), goldcup oak (AKA maul oak AKA canyon live oak, acorn with “beret”) interior live oak (acorn deep in cap, leaves both toothed and not toothed), toyon with green berries.

FLOWERS/PLANTS THAT AREN’T FLOWERING
Chaparral community plants: Pitcher sage (no longer in flower), golden fleece, chemise, manzanita (“little apple,” edible berry), yerba santa (shiny green leaves)
Also looked at honeysuckle berries, strong fiber on edge of ground iris leaf, huckleberry.
FERNS
Chain, braken, sword
LICHENS
Puff lichen (Hypogymnia), Usnea arizonica, rock tripe (almost black, attaches to rock at one central point)

ARACHNIDS
Turret spider dwellings (that structure no other spider has that can jam the fangs of the female is called an apophysis which is Greek for an off-shoot or out-growth)

GALLS
Stem galls on live oak made by Cynipid wasps
Lilian suggested I suggest some books of interest related to the hikes.
Oaks of California by Bruce Pavlik, Pamela Muick, Sharon Johnson, Marjorie Popper
Beautiful photographs and a chance to finally get those acorns straight, plus wildlife and oaks, fungi associated with oaks, history of oaks, and more.
Conifers of California by Ronald Lanner. Everything you wanted to know about CA torreya and other conifers including distribution maps, great illustrations of cones, etc.

OUR ROUTE

From the East Peak parking lot walk down the parking lot (away from the bathrooms), turned right on Eldrige Grade, ignore first (unmarked) left turn. At a marked bend in the fire road, turn left to Inspiration Point, then take Northside Trail to Collier Springs. Left on International Trail and take it to the paved road. Turn left, go a short ways, and turn left, off the road, onto Lakeview Trail. This will bring you back to the road below where we turned onto Eldridge Grade. Turn left on the road and go back to parking lot.
(Click here if you want to view and print a copy of this list. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

Coastal Clean Up Day (September 20th)

Wendy's latest e-mail invites you to join in on Coastal Cleanup Day on September 20th. Wendy is thinking of working at Kehoe (presumably Kehoe Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore). Coastal Cleanup is a project of the Bay Model Visitor Center where Dick Jordan works as a docent tour guide. Right now, the Bay Model Web site link to Marin County sites for Coastal Cleanup looks to be "out of order", but hopefully will be up and working soon.

Samuel P. Taylor State Park Hike (September 23) Preview

Earlier this month we hiked in Samuel P. Taylor State Park on the south side of Sir Francis Drake. This time we'll cross the road and hike up towards, but not all the way to the summit, of Mount Barnabe. Here's Wendy's description of the hike: "This may be only mountain named for a mule! We’re not going all the way to the lookout on the top, so we’ll keep within our 1000’ elevation gain limit. (Mount Barnabe is 1446’; click here for photos taken from the fire lookout). The way up is longer and more gradual (about 5% grade), but you’ll want your hiking poles for the shorter fire road down. We’ll stop by the Samuel and Sarah Taylor’s grave site."

Directions: Take Sir Francis Drake Boulevard past the main park entrance. As you head west, watch for the sign for Devil’s Gulch on your right and the dirt parking area on your left.

Time: 40 minutes from College of Marin. No restrooms at trailhead. (Use ones at main park entrance as you pass by.) Carpoolers can contact Wendy about the time to meet at St. Rita's Church in Fairfax.

Weather Forecast: Dick will vacationing in Southern Oregon when we do this hike, but you can click here for the National Weather Service forecast for this area.

More On This Hike: The following hike description and map from the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, generally shows the area where we'll be hiking:

Barnaby Hike and Map - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Barnaby Hike and Map

(Click here to view and print out a complete description of the hike and map from Martins' book. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

Blog Gone to Ore-Gon

Not much will appear on the "Meandering" blog during the next two weeks. Dick Jordan will be driving up to Southern Oregon while we're hiking on Mount Tam's East Peak on Tuesday, September 16th. After spending a few days catching plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, he'll head north and east to do a little hiking and sightseeing at Crater Lake National Park.

When we do our trek up the side of Mount Barnabe on September 23rd, Dick will be rolling south down Highway 97 through Klamath Falls, past the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges, and on to the town of McCloud on the south side of Mount Shasta for an overnight stay at the McCloud Hotel before finishing the final leg of the journey back to Marin on the 24th.

Although Dick will be out of town, he has written hike "previews" for the East Peak and Samuel P. Taylor hikes. After he returns, he'll add Wendy's lists of what you saw on those hikes to the blog. (If anyone wants to write a post-hike "post" and e-mail them to Dick, he'll add those to the blog, too). Dick has asked Theresa Fisher to send him any photos she shoots on those treks so they can be added to the blog on-line photo album.

Got Elk?

If you missed our Tomales Point hike on Tuesday, September 9th, or just didn't get in enough Tule Elk viewing that day, head up to Grizzly Island Wildlife Area near Fairfield between now through September 30th. (The area closes to the public on October 1st).

For more information on elk and bird watching at this location, check out Tom Stienstra's article from Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle. (Tom lists what critters you may see in addition to the Elk, provides driving directions to Grizzly Island, and suggests strategies for optimal elk viewing).

East Peak of Mount Tam Hike (September 16) Preview

After spending virtually all summer hiking out in the Point Reyes area, we head to Southern Marin this week to hike on Mount Tamalpais. Wendy says: "This lovely loop takes us by California torreya trees with their nutmeg-like nuts, past scenic Inspiration Point, to beautiful Collier Springs where we lunch under the redwoods. We’ll take Northside Trail to International Trail after lunch.

Directions: Take the Stinson Beach/Highway 1 exit off Highway 101. Go west through Tam Valley and up onto the ridge. Turn right onto Panoramic Highway and follow signs to Mt. Tamalpais. Keep going up the mountain, turn right at Rock Springs, and keep going until the road ends at the East Peak parking lot. 1 hour from COM. Restrooms at trailhead. (If you are traveling from northern or central Marin, meet at 8:55 a.m. at the Greenbrae Park & Ride lot to carpool).

Weather Forecast: As of Wednesday, September 10th, the National Weather Service forecast for this area on Tuesday, September 13th is patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 78. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More On This Hike: The Martin's book, Hiking Marin, describes most of this hike. You'll see that on their hike they head straight south from Collier Springs while we'll be hiking a little farther west than shown our their map until we reach the International Trail before looping back to the East Peak parking lot.

East Peak Mt Tam Hike and Map - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: East Peak Mt Tam Hike and Map

(Click here to view and print out a complete description of the hike and map from Martins' book. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

Oysters, Cows and Wine! (Thursday, September 11)

Attention Tuesday Meanderers!

If you are at a loss for ways to amuse yourself on Thursday afternoon (September 11th), the Marin Agricultural Land Trust has room on its outing to the Tomales Bay Oyster Company to taste those bivalves (bring your own picnic lunch, too, plus water and wear shoes that can get dirty), then visit the Bivalve Dairy at milking time (no, they aren't going to milk oysters, claims, or mussels), and end up tasting wine at Point Reyes Vineyards. The tour begins at noon at the oyster company's location in Marshall (click here for a map and directions), and lasts until 4 pm. Cost is $35 for MALT members, $40 for non-members.

You can sign up via the MALT Web site (http://www.malt.org) under "Hikes & Programs", then go to "Hikes & Tours", click on "September", then scroll down until you find the outing. You can also click here to reach the Web site page for the outing. When you get to the outing description, click on the "Pre-registration required" link for the event. You can also call MALT at 415-663-1158 ext. 0 (if the receptionist answers before the automated phone system asks you for your party's extension, just tell her you want to sign up for that outing).

Dick Jordan will be going on the outing. He hasn't been to this oyster company or dairy before, but can vouch for the excellence of the Point Reyes Vineyards wines.

Winter In Summer (Tomales Point Hike on September 9)

After figuratively living in the Mojave Desert for the last couple of weeks and "cooking" in 90-100 degree temperatures, Mother Nature brought back typical winter-like San Francisco summer weather for our Tomales Point hike --- cold, drippy fog soaking our jackets at times, low clouds that never cleared, and wool hats, fleece and gloves worn all around. (You can't change the weather, but you can sure complain about it --- whine, whine, whine!).

We began at the Pierce Point Ranch, once a premier purveyor of fine butter, now simply a reminder of the importance of dairy ranching to the economy of Marin County and the stomachs of residents of the region's big cities. The ranch buildings remain, some dating from the mid-19th century, but the last ranching family left in the late 1970's after this section of the park was declared a wilderness area and Tule Elk, once native to Tomales Point, but hunted to near extinction throughout California (one male and one female were ultimately found at the southern end of San Joaquin Valley and became the "Adam and Eve" of today's herds), were reintroduced to the seashore park.

As soon as we arrived at the ranch, we began spotting elk. Elk kept popping up on the ridgeline during our hike. An estimated 400-500 roam this part of the park, with another 40-50 "hanging out" down near Limantour. As with Elephant Seals, one big guy gets all of the girls, leaving a lot of "hormone crazed" but unlucky "teenage" male elk to congregate in large groups to ponder something that about half of them will never experience. (Maybe the National Park Service should build an "elk monastery" for these lovelorn guys, a place where they can walk around and do Gregorian elk bugling).

It's nearly five miles from the trailhead to the end of Tomales Point, and almost 10 miles round trip. The trail (mostly following an old ranch road) is fairly level for long stretches, and the complete hike could probably be done in a day if one didn't dilly-dally too much, or just "meander" along as we do.

Around mid-day and after making it to about the halfway point, just uphill from the location of another one-time ranch (marked by a Cypress grove planted as a windbreak), we paused for our lunch break watching a large group of elk munching away on their "vegan" diet a short distance from us. After our repast, we headed back in the direction we can from, slowly moseying our way two and half miles back to our cars under foggy skies, but with what little wind there was at our backs.

The hillsides along the trail are covered with lupine and iris, but alas, there were only a few plants blooming. Here's Wendy's list of critters, birds, and foliage we encountered:

MAMMALS tule elk, black-tailed deer

BIRDS Great blue heron, brown pelicans, double-crested cormorant, mallards, savannah sparrow, white-crowned sparrows (the non-migratory Nutalli, but watch for migratory subspecies returning to your backyard around 9/23), red-tailed hawk

FLOWERS

yellow bush lupine, wild radish (not native, 4 petals as is typical mustard family, yellow, white or lavender flowers, seedpods and flowers good in salad), gum-plant (yellow flower, sticky buds, Native Americans used for cough syrup), California poppies

OTHER PLANTS

spiny sand mat (don’t sit on it!), male and female coyote bushes, English plantain (use for stinging nettle or ant stings)

LICHEN

Niebla

(Click here if you want to view and print a copy of this list. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

Photos from this hike (including several taken by Theresa Fisher) can be viewed in the "mini-slideshow" window on the blog or by clicking here to access the on-line Picasa Web Album.

Tomales Point Hike (September 8) Preview

We return to Point Reyes National Seashore this coming week. Wendy says that "on this hike we'll look for the tule elk, once at the brink of extinction and now making a heartening comeback. This Point is also special for its views."

Directions: Take Sir Francis Drake Boulevard west from Fairfax. Turn right at Olema and make an immediate left onto Bear Valley Road. Continue until you pick up Sir Francis Drake again. Go through Inverness. Where the road veers left to Drake's Beach and the lighthouse, go straight. This puts you on Pierce Point Road. Follow it to the parking lot at the end of the road. Do not turn down to McClure's Beach (unless you want to use the rest rooms there before the hike knowing there are none en route). Click here to view and print a map of the Seashore showing these roads and locations. Time: 1 hour 20 minutes from College of Marin.

Weather forecast: As of Saturday (September 6) morning, the National Weather Service forecast for Inverness on Tuesday is patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 62. (Click here for an updated forecast). The marine forecast is for light northwesterly winds gusting in some places to 25 knots mainly during the afternoons and early evenings.

The Martins' book, Hiking Marin, contains the following 9.4 mile roundtrip hike to Tomales Point and back. Presumably Wendy plans to hike only a portion of this route:

Tomales Point Hike and Map - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Tomales Point Hike and Map

(Click here to view and print out a complete description of the hike and map from Martins' book. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

More Photos From Samuel P. Taylor Hike!

Although the Pioneer Tree "ate" Dick on our last hike, his camera was salvaged and photos he took were posted to the blog. More importantly, we had another photographer with us (who captured this shot of the tree taking Dick "to lunch"), Theresa Fisher (who also contributed photos to the blog earlier this year during the spring "semester").

This, and other photos Theresa took, have been added to the on-line photo album for the Samuel P. Taylor hike and can be viewed either in the mini-slide show window on the blog or by clicking here.

Stop Whining Already!

Was the Olema Valley hike we did in August too hot and dusty for your tastes? Is Steep Ravine just a little too steep? Wouldn't you rather be hiking in Switzerland where there is a nice restaurant along the trail every few miles?

Stop whining --- after all, you could be through-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,650 miles jaunt from Mexico to Canada, rather than just "Meandering in Marin." In the event the lunatic notion of making such a trek should seem appealing to you as you read this "post", pick up a copy of The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind-And Almost Found Myself-On the Pacific Crest Trail". Author Dan White and his girlfriend, Allison, quit their jobs in Connecticut, and hit the trail just south of the Mojave Desert. They made it as far as Ashland, Oregon, far short of the end of the trial. Rheumatoid arthritis forced Allison to forgo a second shot at finishing the entire route, but White returned to the PCT the next year and hiked the rest of it.

The Cactus Eaters is a must-read for anyone who has been a day-hiker or backpacker, especially in the states of the West Coast. It's available through the Marin County Library system, Book Passage in Corte Madera, and Amazon.com.

Uphill, Downhill at Samuel P. Taylor SP (September 2)

Eleven of us met up at Samuel P. Taylor State Park to kick off the first half of the Fall 2008 "Meandering in Marin" hikes. While it was quite cool in the shade during our "Intro" session in the parking lot, it wasn't long after we started the morning hike to the Pioneer Tree that the temperature rose, layers came off, and it was clear this was going to be another hot day in Marin. Fortunately, the elevation gain wasn't that much and we were walking under the shade of Bays and Redwoods nearly all of the time. After a quick stop for several of us to step inside of the burnt-out bottom section of the Pioneer Tree, we ambled down slope to the picnic area and enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the Redwood grove next to the parking area.

Following a "history lesson" from Wendy about Samuel P. Taylor and the evolution of the property from paper mill to state park, we reluctantly got off our duffs and did another loop hike up the Ox Trail and back along with Creek Trail (trees that had fallen across the trail twice forced us to detour back to the park road). After about a mile we reached the site of Taylor's mill, marked by a plaque on a rock, and an old chimney. A little after 2 pm we made it back to the parking lot, tossed our gear into our cars, said our good-byes, and headed for home (with one of us stopping for his usual summertime post-hike ice cream indulgence at the Fairfax Scoop).

Photos from this hike can be viewed in the "mini-slideshow" window on the blog or by clicking here to access the on-line Picasa Web Album.

Next week: Tomales Point, Point Reyes National Seashore

What We Saw at Samuel P. Taylor State Park (September 2nd)

Here's Wendy's list of flora and faunt we saw during our two loop hikes at Samuel P. Taylor State Park:

Trees: redwood (including albino on Ox Trail), Doulgas fir (cones with "mouse tails"), hazel (soft leaves), California torreya (sharp, pointed needles), big leaf maple (winged seeds are samaras), tan oak (toothed leaves), buckeye (5 leaflets), Oregon ash, and alders, willow, madrone (red peely bark).

Ferns: sword fern, bracken, chain fern (AKA Woodwardia), 5 finger-fern, wood fern (and curled up dry goldback ferns)

Other plants: huckleberry, elk clover (with black berries), honeysuckle (vine with red berries), native California blackberry (sometimes called bearberry, spines less vicious than non-native Armenian berry which has leaves in 5s), trail plant (arrow-shaped leaves point in different directions), redwood sorrel (three heart-shaped “clover-like” leaves though it’s not in the pea family as clover is), wood rose (saw bright red rose hips), vinca (AKA live forever, periwinkle; an invasive non-native), poison oak (same genus as cashew, mango, and Japanese laquer tree), umbrella sedges (triangular stems), blue-green rushes (round stems with no nodes), ocean spray (flowers dried up)

Arachnids: filmy dome spiders

Insects: young box elder bug (eats leaves of big leaf maple as well as box elder, same genus)

Butterflies: CA sister, CA ringlets

Galls: Coyote brush midge galls (on buds)

Birds: American robins, dark-eyed juncos, a quick fly-by of a belted kingfisher, Stellar’s jays (named for the German naturalist George Wilhelm Steller who accompanied Vitus Bering on the voyage to discover weather Alaska and Siberia were contiguous), Townsends warbler. Remember how no one is allowed to name a bird for himself? Well, John Kirk Townsend had discovered a new warbler (he thought), when he discovered Nuttall (the guy Nuttall’s woodpecker is named for) was about to write it up and name it for him. So he gave Nuttall’s manuscript priority and “thus, although he is recorded as its describer, Townsend cannot be charged with naming a bird in his own honor, even if he worked the law of priority a bit overti me.” Townsend's warblers are most commonly seen in October and early November as they move south from breeding grounds in Washington, coastal Canada, and SE Alaska. Some will winter in Marin and others will head as far south as Panama.

(Heard: acorn woodpecker, chestnut-backed chickadee)

(Click here if you want to view and print a copy of this list. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

"Downhill" from Dogtown to Five Brooks (August 26th)

Ten of us rendezvoused at Five Brooks, then carpooled south on Highway 1 until we reached a spot opposite from where the McCurdy Trail drops down from the Bolinas Ridge to the highway. This "Final Exam" hike proved to be no "Easy A" --- we trudged "downhill" along the San Andreas Fault for nearly six miles from Dogtown to Five Brooks to earn our spot at the table for the "end of term" luncheon.

It was a warm day and we were mostly out in the open during the the first half of the trek. We saw "Condominium" spiders (apparently not affected by the downturn in housing prices), and a few butterflies as we tromped along. This trail is popular with the "horsey set" and we passed several riders headed in the opposite direction.

About halfway to Five Brooks we met the intersection with the Randall Trail (which we'd hiked down from Bolinas Ridge earlier in August) and began a long uphill climb and then a long descent to Five Brooks. It was a warm and dusty walk, but a nice, cool breeze through the trees at Bear Valley made for a pleasant lunch and we "graduated from summer school" with full stomachs.

Photos from this hike can be viewed on the blog or by clicking here.

Soups On!

Our warm summer weather is set to continue through the week, so here are three cool soups to serve on hot days. (Just click on the link to view and print the recipe):

• Summer Gazpacho with Garlic Croutons & Cumin Creme Fraiche (served by Dick at last week's "Final Exam" hike)
• Chilled Tomatillo-Tequila Soup (Dick has made this in the past; try to put most of the Tequila in the soup, not in the cook!)
• Cumin Carrot Soup with Cilantro Cream (good hot or chilled; a variation on the soup Dick served at last winter's "Final Exam"

Chill out! Summer's not over yet (even though we are going "back to school" tomorrow).