A Dry Day At Steep Ravine (Feb. 16)

Steep Ravine.  No rain.  No wind.  Yipeeeeee!

Fog hugged the shoreline on the Bay and Pacific sides of Mount Tam as we set off from home for our annual Steep Ravine hike, but the trailhead was in the sun and we had a warm Spring-in-Winter day for our hike this year.  Last year the bad weather kept all but seven of us (including Wendy and one of her former students) at home.  This time our numbers doubled.

Although the weather was dry there was ample evidence of recent heavy rains.  Plywood covered the trail near the highway, water flowed abundantly down Webb Creek, and most of the moss-covered bridges were in a sorry state of repair.  About halfway to Pantoll a good-sized section of the trail had fallen away and a crew, made up almost entirely of volunteers, was working hard to ensure safe passage for hikers.

But Spring was in the air, and although we encountered any number of mushrooms, including brilliant colored Scarlet Waxy Caps and Red Righteous, wildflowers like Star Lily and Ground Iris were blooming and birds were bursting into song.  The good weather also brought out several groups of hikers, a change from the past two years when we've been the only fools willing to brave the rainstorms.

At exactly high-noon we reached Pantoll, sloughed off our packs, and sat down to enjoy lunch and let our throbbing quadriceps muscles relax.  After a half-hour of lollygagging, we moseyed down the Old Mine Trail (which was closed for repairs last year, but now is in excellent condition) for a half-mile, then broke out of the trees and into the open meadows where the Dipsea Trail runs 7.1 miles over the shoulder of the mountain on its way from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach.  Although the skies were a bit hazy, and a low bank of fog hung back from the coast, we could see south towards Pacific and east to Mount Diablo.

We passed Lone Tree Spring and looked downhill to the left into the Lone Tree Creek watershed that parallels Steep Ravine.  Then we were back into the mixed forest of Douglas Fir, Redwood, and Bay, descending gradually, then steeply over a long set of steps, until we were back at the bridge that crosses Webb Creek and meets the Steep Ravine trail.  By about 2:15 pm we were back at the highway, stomping our feet on the pavement to knock off the mud that we'd picked up on the uphill hike, with our legs feeling a little rubbery from the three-quarters of a mile long downhill section.

Hike "B14" in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, is 3.6 miles long with a 1,100' elevation gain, but doesn't include the leg between the highway and the bridge where the Steep Ravine and Dispea trails meet.  According to Theresa Fisher's GPS, we hiked 5.5 miles with an elevation change of over 1,300', which explains why some of us were complaining of sore muscles the next day!

Here is the Google Earth image showing our route:

 and the hike profile provided by Theresa's GPS:

Most of us turned our cars south and headed back past Muir Beach, but Dick retraced his route home after last year's hike, stopping south of Stinson Beach and along the edge of Bolinas Lagoon to shoot a few last photos before continuing north through the Olema Valley, then east and "over the hill" into Fairfax and to his home in San Anselmo.

(Click here to view photos taken by Dick and Theresa).