Back To The Future (Sky Trail to Mt. Wittenberg, January 27th)

Last week eight of us left some of our cars at the trailhead for Sky Trail and trekked nearly 7 miles across and down Inverness Ridge to Bear Valley. This week nineteen of us rendezvoused at the same trailhead for a shorter loop hike up to Mount Wittenberg.

Despite it being officially "Winter", we had bright, sunny days for both hikes. This time it was a bit cooler (in the mid-50's at Bear Valley toward the end of the hike) than last week when the temperature almost reached 70 degrees by the time we sat down for our "Final Exam" lunch at Bear Valley. Like last week, the shady trailhead was frigid at the start of the hike, so everyone donned jackets, wool hats, and gloves, and our "roundtable" discussion was kept brief so we could hit the uphill trail, get our muscles moving, and warm up.

Just as on the last hike, we stopped to view a lone, blooming Douglas Iris along the first section of the hike leading from the trailhead to the junction with the Horse Trail. On this week's outing we could again see through the trees north and west towards Chimney Rock, and east over Tomales Bay and the hills bordering it, all the way to Mount St. Helena at the head of the Napa Valley. After an hour we reached Sky Camp and gazed across the sea to the Farallones. We took a rest break while Wendy recounted the history of the ranchers who once held this part of the Point Reyes National Seashore in private ownership.

Less than twenty minutes later we reached the junction of the Sky, Meadow, and Mt. Wittenberg trails. Last week, we continued southward along the Sky Trail; this time, we doubled back to the north on our way to Mt. Wittenberg. Along the way we could see Drake's Bay and Chimney Rock in the distance. In less than another half hour. we reached a sunny meadow surrounded by a ring of Douglas Firs, and plopped down for a pleasant lunch (or a nap).

After our repast, we continued upwards through a "tunnel" in the forest. Instead of retracing our steps down the mountain, we opted to follow a sometimes faint trail (not shown in the Martin's book, Hiking Marin, nor on the Park's South District trail map down from the summit until we reached the Horse Trail. (Tracy Salcedo's hiking guidebook to Point Reyes aptly labels this route as "Unmaintained Trail", but doesn't discuss taking it). Along the way we could see through the trees toward Point Reyes Station and Black Mountain to the east, and north along Inverness Ridge to homes built across the Limantour Road along the Park boundary.

By 1 pm, we were back on the Sky Trail, retracing our steps back to our waiting cars. A half hour later, and about five miles after we started out, we had looped back to the beginning and the end of the first hike of the College of Marin Winter session. (Click here for Wendy's list of flora and fauna seen on this hike).

(Pictures of this hike taken 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).