"Summer" Hike Along The Bahia (November 18)

It was just over a week until Thanksgiving and here we were, walking in our shirtsleeves through a mixed Bay/Oak forest west of the Petaluma River at Bahia, some of us thinking about what flavor ice cream we'd order from "The Scoop" after the hike. Summer's over, but it isn't.

We began the day with a bit of hummingbird spotting, thanks to a friend of Lee Skutch who kindly allowed us to linger in her backyard watching these minute avians flit back and forth to the many nectar-filled feeders hanging there. There were fewer "hummers" than expected --- perhaps the warm morning had left them more in the mood for napping than flying, but we did spot some Blackchinned ones sipping away at the sugar-water.

After hauling ourselves up and down the Marin headlands, Mt. Tam, and the flanks of Inverness Ridge over the past several weeks, we enjoyed an almost level walk on paths just above the high tide line as we meandered from east to west. We strolled by many large manzanita (red bark) and madrone (orange bark) trees as we made our way towards the tidal areas along Rush Creek. Along the way we were rewarded with views eastward to Cougar Mountain near Sears Point, up north toward Lakeville, and finally northwest to Mount Burdell.

Small planes practicing take offs and landings at Gnoss Field soared overhead as we trekked to our lunch spot under an ancient oak tree along Cemetery Marsh where we spotted shorebirds and ducks. The oak provided ample shade for us to laze away our lunch break, munching on brownies that Barbara had brought along for us to snack on in celebration of her "Reverse Birthday" (she's now worked her way back from 50 to 31) while Silvia honored Barbara with a song.

While we usually hike a looping route back to our starting place, the more interesting views in this area are close to the wetlands so we retraced our route back to the cars after lunch in more or less non-stop fashion. We passed a few other hikers and mountain bikers, and one mother pushing a sleeping child along in a stroller (not a bad way to be transported back to the trailhead after lunch on a warm day), but had the area mostly to ourselves.

(Pictures of this hike shot by Theresa Fisher and Dick Jordan are now on-line. You can view them in the mini-slideshow window in the "Meandering In Marin On Tuesdays" blog, or by clicking here to go directly to the Picasa Web album of photos from the latest hike).