Taking The High (and Low) Road (Sky Trail May 19)

After getting our brains fried during the weekend heat wave, the prospect of hiking in cool weather along the coast was very inviting. Unlike last week's "Final Exam" hike, however, only eight of us joined Wendy for this outing. (We last hiked this trail on January 20, 2009; before that we followed the same route on July 15, 2008).

When we reached Bear Valley fog was just edging over the top of Inverness Ridge. We had our jackets on when we left the Sky Trail parking lot at the crest of the Limantour Road and a misty vapor hung low over the trees as we climbed up the ridge. But within half an hour the sun was starting to burn through the marine layer and within 45 minutes of starting out we were peeling over layers of outerwear.

The trail remained damp for most of the hike even though it hadn't rained in over a week. The fir trees lining the route were dripping moisture like faucets with worn out washers and in places the track was quite muddy. The wetness produced at least one more mushroom for the season and a lone Turkey Vulture perched high up in a snag left from the 1995 Mount Vision Fire stared spookily through the fog. A Banana Slug crossing the trail looked right at home in this misty environment.

But Salmonberry blooms and fruit foretold the coming of summer and the last three and half hours of the hike were lit by sun sifting through the firs. At about the midpoint of the hike, both mileage and time wise, we plopped down in the meadow where the Woodward Trail comes up from the ocean and meets Sky Trail winding along the crest of Inverness Ridge. After taking a half-hour break, we gathered up our gear and headed up one of the steeper sections of the Sky Trail until the route began to level out just before we came to the junction with the Old Pine Trail.

Now it was all downhill for nearly two miles until we reached Divide Meadow and took a short rest break. (Last time we saw a bobcat here; this time it was just other hikers and tourists).

The final 1.9 miles of the trek was pretty easy, slowly descending the Bear Valley Trail until we arrived at the parking lot less than 45 minutes later, passing a group of horseback riders just before we finished our near 7 mile ramble.

Three of us lounged around the Bear Valley picnic tables munching on a chocolate bar while the rest returned to the trailhead to retrieve our cars for the ride home. The National Weather Service had only forecast a high temperature of 61 degrees, but it had turned out to be a fine day and just a bit warmer, perfect weather for hiking our just loafing out in the park.

(Theresa Fisher was not on this hike so we don't have the usual post-hike Google Earth map outlining our route or the hike profile. Dick calculates the distance at 6.6 miles based on the park maps; the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, gives the elevation change as 750' up and 1,300' down a "Hike Rating" of "10" --- the highest and meaning "interesting 90-100" of the time and a "Difficulty Rating" of "5" which is deemed "Moderate").