Winter Returns for An Encore at IVC (March 30)

Sun. Good.  Rain. Bad.  Sun. Rain. Sun. Rain. Sun.

Bipolar weather marked our hike in the Indian Valley Open Space.  Sunshine warming us up as we did our pre-hike confab lulled us into believing it was indeed Spring.  All was well, meteorologically speaking, as we walked past the ball field, stopped to check out the new organic produce farm at the edge of the campus, and headed off on the hike.

Puffy white clouds hanging above the Pacheco Pond began to congeal into deep shades of gray as we ascended the trail westward.  Within fifteen minutes jackets that had been doffed in the sun at the bottom the hill were back on, rain hoods had been pulled down to eyebrows, and umbrellas unfurled as a cold rain began to fall in earnest.  But by the time we crested the hill and reached the junction with the Jack Burgi Trail the sun was back out again.

On this Grand-Old-Duke-Of-York (he marched a 1,000 men up the hill, then down again) hike, we went down the Waterfall Trail, hit bottom at the Indian Valley Fire Road and then were climbing back up the Hill Ranch Trail (called the Witzel Trail on the Marin County Open Space District Map).  The on-again-off-again rain washed out our usual lunch stop in a grassy meadow with views of the Bay and we plodded on uphill until we reached the junction with the Wildcat Trail about 12:40 pm and plopped down to eat a quick meal in the suddenly returned sunshine before the next dark cloud could float by and rain on our parade.

Showers continued as we hiked the final downhill leg, but the sun came out and stayed out once we were walking south on the Indian Valley Fire Road again.  We found Pacific tree frog tadpoles in the pools along the fire road and saw hawks circling overhead as we neared the end of the hike.

The farmstand at the organic farm was open when we finished up giving us a chance to do some "grocery shopping" before piling in the cars and heading home.  It was a damp day, but not a washout, and sun at the end left us hopeful that we'd seen the last of Winter heading towards the East Bay and out of our Spring hiking schedule for good.  (Click here to view photos taken by Theresa Fisher and Dick Jordan).

We hiked just under five miles (see the Google Earth image below) in just over four hours.

The vertical profile image for the hike confirms the Grand Old Duke of York attribute.