The Last Hike of "Summer In Winter"? (Indian Tree, February 3rd)

To reach the trailhead for this hike, we drove well out into the countryside on the west side of Novato, turning right at the junction of Wild Horse Valley Road and Vineyard Road, past gated homes until we reached the last home on the left and the end of the paved road. House Finches and Goldfinches hanging out in the trees on the fence line chirped at us, while a Kestrel swooped down from a telephone pole on the north side of the road in search of a late breakfast.

The National Weather Service had forecast a high temperature of nearly 70 for Novato on Tuesday, but since we had it "made in the shade" for most of the hike in the Indian Tree Open Space Preserve, we had our jackets, sweaters, and fleece tops on during much of the outing. And although it hadn't rained in quite some time, several sections of the trail were fairly muddy, proof that this hillside area must be peppered with springs (one spring-fed pool we passed was roped off to keep dogs and other domestic animals from drinking from it).

Our route was mainly the reverse of the longer, 7.2 mile "E9 Deer Camp - Big Trees Trails" trek in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin. We began with a fairly steady climb, zig-zagging our way 800 feet uphill on the Big Trees Trail. From time to time, we broke out of the trees and looked north and west to the hills near and beyond Stafford Lake and the road leading west towards the Marin French Cheese Company. As in other parts of Marin, the cool, north-facing slopes and the abundance of groundwater give rise to groves of Redwoods interspersed with the forest of Bay and Madrone trees. The imminent arrival of Spring ("officially" still several weeks away) was announced by Milk Maids and Indian Warriors --- the first real wildflowers we've seen this year --- along with the Winter "crop" of wild mushrooms we've been spotting on the last few hikes. (Click here for Wendy's list of flora and fauna seen on this hike).

After about two miles of hiking we reached the junction with the Ships Mast Tree around 11:30 a.m. and encountered three horseback riders that had passed us at the beginning of the hike. We stepped to the side of the trail to let them take the lead and then began our descent on the Deer Camp Trail. Just after noon we plopped down under the large Redwoods at Deer Camp and dug out our lunch bags. Water surging in large spurts from a spring-fed pipe into a water trough for horses played a few "musical" notes during our lunch break. Alas, the Winter Wren we had heard singing its Spring song when we did this hike about a year ago was not in residence this time.

After lunch we continued on a slow descent to the bottom of the hill, then cut east and uphill on the Upper Meadow Trail, traversing the gentle hillsides until we passed the horse barn below and to the west. Forty-five minutes or so of "postprandial" hiking brought us back to our starting point in time to do a little more "Finch watching" before ending the hike about a half-hour earlier than our usual "quitting time." With rain in the forecast for the latter part of the week, this may have been our last "Summer in Winter" 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).