Samuel P. Taylor Hike (September 2) Preview

Here's how Wendy says we'll kick off the Fall 2008 "Meandering" hikes: "Today we explore the redwood habitat, visit the Pioneer Tree which is over 500 years old, and learn some history of the area at the mill site. We’ll also see one of Marin’s few 'ghost trees,' a white redwood. We’re doing two separate loops, so you can leave your lunch in the car."

Directions: Take Sir Francis Drake Blvd. to the main entrance of Samuel P. Taylor State Park. 35 minutes from COM. Restrooms at trailhead and at lunch.

Enjoy the cool weather today (Sunday). The National Weather Service is forecast more hot weather for Marin beginning on Monday (Labor Day) and continuing through Thursday. Tuesday's forecast for Forest Knolls, just east of the park, is sunny, with a high near 95, and west northwest wind between 5 and 11 mph. (Click here for a updated forecast). Hopefully, we'll have a lot of shade on these walks.

Martins' book, Hiking Marin, shows the hike to the Pioneer Tree and the trails on both sides of the park:

SP Taylor Pioneer Tree Hike and Map - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: SP Taylor Pioneer Tree 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).

What We Saw on The Dogtown to Five Brooks Hike (August 26)

Here's the list of plants, birds, and bugs spotted on our hike "downhill" from Dogtown to Five Brooks on the Olema Valley trail:

FLOWERS

White: YAMPAH

Purple: giant coastal hedge nettle

Orange: poppies, Crocosmia (not native)

BUTTERFLIES:

Satyr comma (aka satyr anglewings, host plant stinging nettles), buckeye (not netted, one host plant is English plantain), California ringlets, Mylitta crescents (host plant thistles, not netted)

TREES

Bay trees have bay nuts, BOX ELDER (aka ashleaf maple) which is common in the eastern half of the US from Texas to Canada, hazel with catkins, red alder (same family at birch, different genus), English hawthorn with berries

MISC PLANTS

Native blackberry, Armenian blackberry, stinging nettles, horsetails, huckleberries, thimbleberry leaves (no berries), blue elderberry

FERNS

Chain, lady, bracken

SPIDERS

Condominium spiders (aka labyrinth spiders), one with Multi-color Asian Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis) in web

BIRDS

Heard: wrentit, osprey

Saw: winter wren, scrub jays, CA quail, chestnut-back chickadee, song sparrow (only seen by Karen)

(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).

Olema Valley "Final Exam" Shuttle Hike (August 26) Preview

"Summer school" comes to an end Tuesday when we'll be forced to hike miles, and miles before we're allowed to have lunch. This time we'll be starting at the southern end of the Olema Valley and hiking north to Five Brooks. Here's Wendy's description of the hike and directions to the trailhead:

Meet at Five Brooks and we’ll carpool to the bottom of the McCurdy trail near Dogtown. We’ll hike 5.5 miles back to Five Brooks on the Olema Valley trail. Mostly level, less than 500’ elevation gain. SHUTTLE HIKE, so please call or email if you want to do it. Bring a snack as lunch will be on the late side. We’ll head over to Bear Valley to enjoy our gourmet feast.

Meet at St. Rita’s at 8:50 to carpool.

As of Sunday evening, the National Weather Service forecast for Olema on Tuesday is for sunny skies with a high near 71 and northwest winds between 9 and 14 mph. (However, it looks like we're in an overall warming trend this week, so don't be surprised if the temperatures are a bit higher than predicted. As usual when heading toward the coast, bring a warm top and jacket in case the fog rolls in and stays in, but expect to sweat if it doesn't! Click here for an updated forecast).

Here's how the Martin's book, Hiking Marin, describes this hike:

Olema Valley Hike and Map - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Olema Valley Hike and Map

(Click here to view and print the hike description and map. 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).

Up High and Down Low on the Muir Woods Hike (August 19)

It looked like this might turn out to be a chilly day hike since the fog was low and dripping so hard that it was nearly raining during the drive from Tam Junction over the hill and down into Muir Woods. Fleece and jackets were donned during our pre-hike "confab" in the parking lot. But once we started hiking up the nearly vertical Dipsea Trail, layers were being peeled off as perspiration replaced the foggy air as a major source of dampness and the nearly 100% humidity made for a warm trek.

As we climbed towards the ridgeline, we passed first through a forest of bay trees and ferns, then into the open chaparral (with lots of large spider webs flecked with dew-drops), through Douglas firs taking over from the Coyote Bush, through darker groves of Redwoods, and back into a forest of firs. We reached the junction of the Dipsea and Ben Johnson trails after about an hour and a half and took advantage of this relatively level spot for an earlier-than-usual-when-hiking-with-Wendy lunch break.

It was all downhill after lunch as we descended switchbacks on the Ben Johnson leading steeply into Muir Woods National Monument. After about an hour we began to encounter a few tourists, then more, and then many as we reached Redwood Creek at the bottom of the trail. We covered the four miles of this route in about 3 and half hours, arriving back at our cars a little earlier than expected. While the parking lot had been nearly empty (except for our vehicles) at the beginning of the hike, it we nearly overflowing with visitors hunting for a place to park by the time we pulled out and headed for home (or for two of us, to the "Bella Ciao" gelateria in the Corte Madera Town Center).

Pictures from the hike can be viewed on the "Meandering" blog or by clicking here.

Next week: Our "summer quarter" ends with the "Final Exam" hike from Dogtown to Five Brooks on the Olema Valley trail.

What We Saw on The Muir Woods Walk (August 19)

Here's what Wendy lists as the plants and spiders noted during our hike up the Dipsea and down the Ben Johnson trails at Muir Woods on August 19th:

TREES

Bay with nuts, buckeye with small buckeyes, hazel, redwood, Douglas fir

FERNS

Sword, bracken, wood, lady, chain

GALLS

Coyote brush bud gall midge, Baccharis stem gall moth (Baccharis is the genus of coyote bush)

OTHER PLANTS

Elk clover (getting berries, not edible for people), thimbleberry (no berries), huckleberry, elderberry, redwood sorrel (drooping when in the sun), ocean spray (blossoms dried up), bearberry (aka native blackberry, no berries), CA manroot.. Leaves of: Clinonia, Pacific star flower, fairy bells, trillium.

FLOWERS

Sticky monkeyflower, tarweed, Clematis (at entrance)

SPIDER

Araneus (orb weaver that stays in retreat at attachment point of web), labyrinth spider (orb and tangle), spider in retreat in center of tangle.

FUNGI

FIRST OYSTER MUSHROOMS!

LICHEN

Usnea arizonica (old man’s beard with apothecea like a child’s drawing of the sun), Parmotrema (with black “eyelashes” on the margins)

(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).

Muir Woods "Scouting" Hike (August 19) Preview

After meeting at the Muir Woods Parking lot #2, we’ll go up Dispsea Trail (no racing, just meandering!) and down the Ben Johnson Trail. There will be about a 1000’ elevation gain, sunny on the way up, and shady in the afternoon as we head down. (This is a free "scouting" hike meaning that Wendy doesn't guarantee not to get us lost or that we'll get back on time!).

To get to Muir Woods, exit Highway 101 at the Mill Valley/Stinson Beach exit. Turn left (west) onto Shoreline Highway, then right on Panoramic Highway and left onto Muir Woods Road.

The National Weather Service forecast for Mill Valley on Tuesday is patchy fog before 11 am. Otherwise, cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 72. West wind between 9 and 13 mph. (Click here for an updated forecast).

Tracy Salcedo-Chourre's book, Exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area proposes hiking this route in the reverse direction (up the Ben Johnson, down the Dipsea) from our plan, but will at least give you an idea of what our hike will be like. Here's the trail map:

Muir Woods Hike Map - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Muir Woods Hike Map

(Click here to view and print out a complete description of the hike and map from Tracy's 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).

Here's a bit of local history from our "It's A Small World" department to go along with the flora (and maybe fauna) that we might see on this hike:

Muir Woods National Monument was created by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 after Congressman William Kent and his wife, Elizabeth Thacher Kent, donated 295 to the federal government and requested that the land be named for conservationist John Muir. Muir, of course, founded the Sierra Club.

Nearly 70 years later, other Sierra Club members and local conservationists Ed Wayburn and Amy Meyer (a long-time friend of Tuesday Meanderer Dick Jordan) formed People for a Golden Gate National Recreation Area (PFGGNRA) to promote the creation of a large, urban federal parkland running north and south of the Golden Gate. The Sierra Club sent a young college student, Mia Monroe, off to work as Amy's secretary at the PFGGNRA "office" (a corner of the kitchen in Amy's San Francisco home).

Today, Muir Woods National Monument is part of the GGNRA and is celebrating its 100th anniversary. And 30 years after she worked for the establishment and expansion of the park as a secretary at PFGGNRA, Mia Monroe is the park supervisor for Muir Woods. (To learn more about the creation of the GGNRA, read Amy Meyer's recent book, New Guardians for the Golden Gate: How America Got a Great National Park, available through Book Passage in Corte Madera. You'll even find Dick Jordan mentioned at page 227!).

12th Annual Black Mountain Hike (October 25th)

If "meandering" on Tuesdays isn't enough aerobic exercise for you, plan on joining the Marin Agricultural Land Trust on Saturday, October 25th, for its 12th annual hike up Black Mountain (between Nicasio reservoir and Point Reyes Station; shown here in a photo Dick Jordan took during on May 27th hike from Bear Valley to Five Brooks). The hike is free and no pre-registration (normally required for MALT-sponsored hikes and events) is necessary.

MALT's Fall 2008 newsletter describes the hike as "Difficult" (steep terrain and/or over five miles) with a 1200' elevation gain, but with spectacular views that will make it worth the effort. Carpooling is required. Meet at the West Marin School, 11550 Highway One (1/4 mile north of Point Reyes Station) by 10 a.m., and bring lunch, water, and wear your hiking boots. The hike is scheduled to end around 2 p.m.

A Walk In the Woods --- Bolinas Ridge to Randall (August 12th)

It wasn't an auspicious start to the day's hike for the four of us (Susan, Lillian, Silvia, and Dick) who joined Wendy for this hike in the GGNRA. Dick and Wendy missed each other at St. Rita's, Silvia went to St. Rita's instead of waiting to be picked up in the San Geronimo Valley, Dick got sidetracked briefly while giving a lift to a couple whose journey to Inverness was delayed by a flat tire, and all of us drove by the terminus of the Randall trail where we were scheduled to rendezvous and on to Dogtown before reversing course back to the proper meeting point.

Fog hung over the southern half of the Olema Valley as we all piled into Wendy's car for the drive to the Bolinas Ridge trailhead, but we were soon above the marine layer and back into the sun. For most of the first couple of hours of the hike we merely strolled on a level fire road through shady groves of second growth redwoods, occasionally finding ourselves huffing and puffing uphill on a hot, exposed chaparral-lined trail before re-entering the forest. We paused now and and then to stuff our faces with huckleberries growing along the fire road.

By 12:30 we had hiked 3.4 miles to the intersection with the McCurdy trail leading down the ridge into the Olema Valley, and decided to take our lunch break in the shade. National Park Service fire crews engaged in "fuel clearing" along Bolinas Ridge had thoughtfully ground limbs and bark into a nice bed of soft chips for us to rest on bones on while partaking of our midday meal. (About an hour later we passed this crew hard at work).

After meandering along the ridge for a little more than five miles, we passed around the stock gate marking the Randall trail and turned west, slowing snaking our way down the 1.5 miles back to where we'd left the cars parked on Highway 1. Near the end of the trek we encountered a few cattle "hiking" upwards in search of tasty eats.

Except for the fire crew, we saw no other people, one little rodent (spotted by Wendy), a few butterflies, some birds, but no flowers to speak off (although lots of green plants, ferns, and trees).

What We Saw on The Bolinas Ridge/Randall Trail Hike (August 12)

Here's the flora and fauna (and poop) that Wendy cataloged from our August 12th hike along the Bolinas Ridge and down the Randall Trail:

GALLS

Chinquapin Flower Gall, Dryocosmus castanopsidis – red gall on chinquapin flowers, made by a wasp.

FLOWERS

Chapparral pea flower still blooming, sticky monkeyflower, Crocosmia (non-native orange flower in Iris family)

LEAVES OF FLOWERS THAT FINISHED BLOOMING

Clintonia (some with a few blue berries), salal, rattlesnake plantain (an orchid, not a plantain – go figure!), Trillium, thimbleberry, salal, coralroot, trail plant, ground iris, pitcher sage, fairy bells, Pacific star flower, fetid adder’s tongue, California blackberry, redwood evergreen violet

BERRIES

LOTS of huckleberries, coffee berries (some ripe, some red), manzanita berries, unripe (green) honeysuckle, poison oak berries, ripe blue elderberries

FERNS

Lady fern, bracken, sword fern

SHRUBS

SHATTERBERRY (manzanita with hairs on stem), and two species of Ceanothus - INDIGO BUSH, Blue Blosson

TREES

Madrone, tan oak (very light new leaves), redwood, Douglas fir, interior live oak (both toothed and smooth margined leaves on the same tree, acorn shaped like coast live oak, but with cap coming down further on nut)

BUTTERFLIES

California ringlet, American lady (larval food cudweeds)

BIRDS

Saw: Dark-eyed juncos, osprey, brown creeper, glimpse of a Swainson’s thrush (Wendy and Susan), glimpse of a winter wren

Heard: Red-breasted nuthatch, wrentit

POOP

Raccoon tracks and scat.

(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).

Bolinas Ridge To Randall Trail Shuttle Hike (August 12) Preview

Wendy doesn't have to show up for jury duty, so she'll be leading us on this shuttle hike which she says is lightly longer than usual at 5.3 miles, but lots of downhill.

Directions: We’ll meet on Route One at the bottom of Randall Trail which is about 3 miles north of Dogtown and about 3 miles south of Five Brooks. (The Point Reyes National Seashore says to allow 15 minutes for the drive from the Bear Valley Visitor Center, and that it is just under 6 miles from the intersection of Highway 1 and Sir Francis Drake at Olema south to the Randall trailhead. Park in one of the large dirt pullouts on either side of the road. The Park Service notes that the sign for the Randall Trail is aligned parallel to Highway 1 on the east side of the road and can easily be missed). From the Randall trailhead we’ll carpool up the Bolinas-Fairfax Road to Ridgecrest Boulevard and hike along Bolinas Ridge Fire Road and then down the Randall Trail to Highway 1.

The National Weather Service forecast for Tuesday at Olema is patchy fog before 11 am. Otherwise, cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 69. West northwest wind between 5 and 13 mph. Weather higher up on the ridge could be warmer. (Click here for an updated forecast).

None of Dick Jordan's hiking books describe this hike, but you can find the Fairfax-Bolinas Road, Bolinas Ridge Fireroad, and the Randall Trail in the bottom right-hand section of the park map shown below in this post on the "Meandering" blog. (Use the plus-sign button under the drop-down arrow button to enlarge the map for easier reading):

Point Reyes Park Map - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Point Reyes Park Map

(Click here to view and print a copy of the map. 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).

Sign Up Now For Fall 2008 Tuesday "Meandering"!

You can now sign up for the Fall 2008 "Meandering In Marin" hiking series through the College of Marin Adult Ed program. (Click here to jump to the College Web site). Here's the line up of Tuesday hikes:

• September 2nd - Samuel P. Taylor St. Park (hike to the Pioneer Tree)
• September 9 - Tomales Point, Point Reyes National Seashore
• September 16 - Eat Peak, Mount Tamalpais State Park
  
• September 23 - Mount Barnabe, Samuel P. Taylor State Park
• September 30 - Mountain Home, Mt. Tamalpais State Park
• October 7 - Bootjack, Mount Tamalpais State Park
• October 14 - "Final Exam" Hike/Lunch, Tennessee Valley, GGNRA

(Click here to view and print out a complete list of hike descriptions).