Starting Off The New Year On (The Right) Foot - Pine Mt. to Elliot Preserve Hike (January 6)

Weather-wise, we started off 2009 about the same as we ended 2008 --- on a cool, damp day, with temperatures well below 50 degrees at the outset with clouds and fog hanging over our heads during most of the hike. Six of us rendezvoused near the end of Cascade Canyon in Fairfax, left three cars behind, and drove up the Bolinas-Fairfax Road past the Meadowclub to where the road crests before diving down to Alpine Lake. There we met up with two more hardy souls and set off to the west up the Pine Mountain Road just before 10 am.

One advantage to the dense fog and limited visibility --- not being able to see very far ahead on the trail meant weren't faced (except by past experience) with the discouraging view of the fire road climbing rather steeply for a mile until it hits the junction with the Oat Hill Road coursing to the south. Unfortunately, this also meant that the sweeping panorama from White's Hill to Bolinas Ridge to Mt. Tam and back towards San Francisco Bay was non-existent.

After this first uphill slog, we took a little side trip and turned left on to Oat Hill and wandered about a mile down a muddy trail for a look at Little Carson Falls --- a nifty waterfall in a rocky cleft in the hillside. We retraced our steps back to Pine Mountain Road, then headed west again for another four-tenths of a mile before veering off to the northwest on the San Geronimo Ridge Road. About twenty minutes later we reached the junction with the Repack Road (called the Cascade Fire Road on the map in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin) and picked out some handy rocks to serve as "chairs" during our lunch break.

Up to this point, we'd been hiking mostly on fire roads that were more akin to creek beds --- lots of rocks to step around and over. But the Repack Road was smoothly graded and not too muddy, descending steeply here and there, but also running in long, flat stretches from hill to hill. A couple of hours after we began our descent into Cascade Canyon, we crossed the confluence of Cascade Creek and San Anselmo Creek. We then alternated between the wide path that crossed the dry bed of San Anselmo Creek in places, and the appropriately named "High Water Trail" that skirts the edge of the stream valley (allowing you to keep your feet dry when the creek is full of water). About a half hour earlier than expected we made it back to the end of Cascade Drive where we'd left our cars in the morning and stomped our boots on the pavement to knock off the accumulated mud, bringing a successful end to the first hike of 2009. (Click here to view and print Wendy's list of flora and fauna spotted on this hike).

(Pictures of this hike 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).