Dodging Rain Bullets (Phoenix Lake, March 3)

A quick look out the window at the rain pouring down from the sky Tuesday morning suggested that crawling back into bed rather than into our hiking duds would be the sensible thing to do. But by 9 am the sun was shining in most of Marin, luring ten of us out the door to meet up with Wendy at Deer Park.

When we arrived at the trailhead, the sun had been obscured by clouds and would only make a brief cameo appearance the rest of the day. But except for a few errant drops of rain at the end of our lunch break and a few minutes of earnest showers during the ensuing thirty minutes, we once again had winter hiking weather karma and finished our outing an hour or so before thunderstorms replete with cannonades of thunder and hail hit Marin in mid-afternoon. (Click here if you're wondering about the effect of the last three weeks of rain on MMWD reservoir levels).

Around 10 am we set off up the Deer Park Fire Road, stopping along the way to ogle a dazzling hillside display of a multitude of different fern species. Within 15-20 minutes we'd reached the junction with the Six Points Trail, turned south, and began a slow, half-hour climb through the forest to the top of the ridge. Mushrooms could still be found, but wildflowers such as Hounds Tongue, Milk Maids, and Blue Dicks, were scattered in profusion under the trees and in the more open meadows. Buckeyes were leafing out. Water rushed down the many streams we crossed. (Click here for Wendy's list of flora and fauna spotted on this hike).

When we reached Six Points, we stopped briefly to discuss the ranching history of the "Worn" family, and to look in vain for six trails (we only found five) trailing off like wagon wheel spokes at this hub. Just before 11 o'clock, we began the traverse across the flank of Bald Mountain that would ultimately lead us down to Phoenix Lake. We were mostly "out of the woods" here and wind gusting up the south-facing slopes blew chill at times. We could see south towards Mount Tam and back west toward White's Hill, but low clouds blocked our view of those peaks.

Almost exactly at the stroke of noon we arrived at Phoenix Lake, and as if on cue, a Great Blue Heron glided from the near to the far side of the lake in greeting. The pale green hills reflected in the khaki-colored water as we sat down along the shore for our mid-day repast. Behind us the dark rustic home of the groundskeeper or foreman of the old Porteous Ranch looked over our shoulders toward the lake. A Black Phoebe flitted about trying to pick a lunch tasty insects out of thin air.

About a half-hour later we finished our meal, packed up our gear, and resumed our loop back to Deer Park passing the grape-stake fence of the ranch on one side of the road and a dried out bed of cattails on the other. Within ten minutes we entered and exited a small grove of redwoods, then began a slow, steady ascent up the wide Shaver Grade to Five Points. As we toiled uphill in brief rain shower, water made its way downhill in the creek next to the road. Here and there was evidence of work being down to reduce the erosion of the hillsides.

Around 1 pm we looked east to patches of blue sky and white, billowy clouds hanging over Bald Hill, and the rain had ceased. We stopped to chat and use "the facilities" at the Five Points junction, then dropped down the other side of the ridge on the Deer Park Fire Road. When we got to the intersection with the Junction Trail, we debated whether to take the somewhat easier, wider path down the fire road, but the promise of spotting Baby Blue Eyes prompted us to descend on the narrow, and occasionally rocky, Junction Trail. Within a couple of minutes we saw the lovely little blue and white flower right next to the trail.

When we reached the bottom of the hill we could have used a boat to get through the muck and water than had piled up where the Junction Trail meets the Deer Park Fire Road, just opposite the spot where we had left the fire road to make our way up to Six Points a little over three hours earlier. In less than a quarter hour we'd returned to our cars and moved that much closer to true Spring weather.

(This Google Earth satellite photo shows the area we hiked in on Tuesday. Click on the photo to open a larger image in your Web browser).


(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).