We hike along a creek with lovely cascades and ferns. This is usually an interesting mushroom hike – in past years we've seen Toothed Jelly Fungus, Rosy Gomphidius, Cowboy's Handkerchief, and The Prince! The start is uphill with some stairs (but we’ll find lots to look at on the way), the end is level - and in between it’s up and down! We end up at the Bon Tempe Dam. (Click here for a recap of the last time we did this hike on December 16, 2008).Directions to trailhead: Take the Fairfax-Bolinas Road. Turn in as you would to go to Lake Lagunitas. After the ranger station at Sky Oaks (but before Shaver Grade) there is an unpaved road to the right. Take this to Lake Bon Tempe and park. MEET HERE AT 9:15 a.m. Porta potties are in the parking lot. (Click here for directions from the MMWD Web site).
From Bon Tempe we’ll carpool to the trailhead (near Alpine Dam). Do not pay the $8 day use fee (up $1 from 2009) at the Sky Oaks entrance kiosk if you plan to take people to the trailhead. (The automated pay station accepts coins, $1, $5 and $10, but not $20 bills and Visa and Master Card credit cards ). We’ll need people who are not in a rush to take the driver’s back to their cars parked near Alpine Dam.
Carpool leaves St. Rita Church in Fairfax at 8:55 a.m.
Weather forecast: As of Thursday, December 31, 2009, the National Weather Service forecast for this area on Tuesday, January 5th, was a for partly cloudy skies, a slight chance of showers, and a high near 59. (Click here for an updated forecast).
More on this hike: There is no comparable hike in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, but we'll begin our hike just past the dam at Alpine Lake and head east on the Helen Markt Trail, eventually pick up one of the fire roads, and wind our way back to Bon Tempe Lake. (Click here to view, zoom in on, or print a map of the MWWD watershed lands).
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