Reminder – No Hike On July 6th

Just a reminder to the Tuesday Meanderers that there will be no hike on Tuesday, July 6th.  We’ll resume our summer hike schedule the next week on July 13th.

Happy Fourth of July from the Meandering Blog!

July-August Hike Details Now On-Line!

Click here for a complete schedule of both Monday and Tuesday hikes for July and August.

 (If you mislay the list you can always find it under “Upcoming Hikes” on the Meandering blog).

CORRECTION: Tomales Bay Hike (6/29/10)

Good news, bad news.

Good news:  Dick Jordan’s hand is out of the cast.

Bad news: Even with two hands he put the wrong description in for next weeks’ Tomales Bay State Park “Final Exam” hike. It should have read:

“Bishop pine forest, beach, and a favorite scenic picnic spot over-looking Tomales Bay.”

All of the other information (directions to trailhead, weather forecast, etc.) is correct.

Tomales Bay State Park “Final Exam” Hike (6/29/10) Preview

It's the end of the first session of "summer school" this coming week when we head to Tomales Bay State Park for our hike. Here's Wendy's description of the outing: "Bishop pine forest, beach, and a favorite scenic picnic spot over-looking Tomales Bay.”
 
Bring something to share for our gourmet potluck lunch, and utensils, plate, and cup.

Directions to the trailhead: Take Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Turn right at Olema and make an immediate left onto Bear Valley Road. (Stop at the Bear Valley Visitor Center to use the restrooms as there are none at the trailhead).

Continue until you pick up Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Go through Inverness and over the ridge. At the "Y" where the road veers left to Drake's Beach and the Lighthouse go straight. This puts you on Pierce Point Road.
Just BEFORE the right turn that takes you down to Heart's Desire Beach there is a dirt parking lot on the right. If you don't know it you may need to go to the road to Heart's Desire and then turn around. We'll take the Jepson/Johnson loop.

Driving time one hour from College of Marin. Restrooms before lunch. Carpool leaves St. Rita at 9:00 am.

Weather forecast: As of Wednesday, June 23, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was mostly sunny, with a high near 64. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: "G14 Johnstone - Jepson Trails" in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, shows the area in which we'll be hiking. The trails are also shown on page 4 of the Tomales Bay State Park brochure. The Google Earth image below shows this part of the state park. (Click on the image to open a larger version in your Web browser).

Bull Point Trail (6/22) Hike Preview

This week we head through Inverness to hike on the ocean side of the Point Reyes National Seashore. Here's Wendy's description for this hike: "A beautiful level walk. This is the only site in Marin for the rare coast lily.  Some other flowers we see here that we don't see elsewhere are Dwarf Brodiaea, yellow eyed grass, tinker's penny, Hooker’s evening primrose, brine locoweed, white-flowered bog orchid, Horkelia, bistort, Small Flowered Linanthus." (Click here for the recap of our last Bull Point hike on July 7, 2009.9).

Directions to the trailhead: Take Sir Francis Drake Boulevard west to Olema. Turn right on Highway 1, then make an immediate left onto Bear Valley Road. Continue past the road to Park Headquarters (stop here for a restroom break; there are no porta-potties at the trailhead) and go left when you hit Sir Francis Drake again.

Go through Inverness. Go left at the "Y" (right takes you out to Pierce Point) and pass MCI and RCA stations on your right. The Bull Point parking lot will be on your left.  Carpool leaves St. Rita at 9:00 am.

Weather forecast: As of Wednesday, June 16, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was virtually the same as last year: Patchy fog before 11am, otherwise mostly sunny with a high near 58. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: Hike "H11 Bull Point and South Beach Trails" in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, shows this as 4.0 mile out and back hike. Tracy Salcedo-Chourre's book, Exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area, pegs it at 3.6 miles as does the park's North District Hiking Map. The Google Earth image below shows the area where we'll be hiking. (Click on the image to open a larger version in your Web browser).

Where In The World Is Dick Jordan?

While you’ve been hiking over hill and dale with Wendy since “school let out” Dick Jordan (with one hand figuratively tied behind his back) has been busy creating his new (and improved) Tales Told From The Road travel blog.
 
(The cast on Dick’s left hand is scheduled to be removed next week.  Look for him to return to meandering at the end of June).

Bear Valley to Five Brooks Hike (6/15/10) Preview

We continue our "Summer at the Seashore" series of hikes this week by starting at the Bear Valley Visitor Center in Point Reyes National Seashore and hiking south to Five Brooks. (We last did this hike on June 23, 2009). Here's Wendy's description of the outing: "We’ll start by checking out dragonflies and birds on the pond at Five Brooks, then carpool to Bear Valley. This level hike takes us through Vedanta Retreat and Stewart Ranch back to Five Brooks."  THIS IS A SHUTTLE HIKE (CALL OR E-MAIL WENDY IF YOU'RE COMING: Home: 415 457-3949 E-mail: bdreskin@comcast.net).

Directions to trailhead:  We'll meet at Five Brooks at 9:30 am. Take Sir Francis Drake to Olema, turn left onto Highway 1, and continue south until you see the right hand turn off the highway to Five Brooks. We'll leave some cars at Five Brooks, so we'll need some drivers not in a hurry to head home after the hike to drive those who left their cars at the trailhead back to Five Brooks.
Restrooms (porta-potties) at Five Brooks and (real-deal flush toilets) at Bear Valley. Carpool from St. Rita at 9:00 am.

Weather forecast: As of Thursday evening, June 10th, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was sunny with a high near 66. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: Hike "F8 Five Brooks Trailhead to Bear Valley" in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, does this 4.4 mile hike in the reverse direction from our trek. Our route will roughly parallel the San Andreas Fault which splits the Olema Valley down its middle.

After about a mile and a half we'll begin to cross the 2,000 acre parcel owned by the Vedanta Society of Northern California. Later we'll skirt the the historic Stewart Ranch. This trail is popular with equestrians, and we're likely to encounter horses and cattle along the way.

The elevation change is only 350' over the length of the trail, and many sections are quite flat or downhill. (Click here to view the Rift Zone Trail on the park's South District Trail Map).

The Google Earth image below gives you a bird's eye view of the route will follow; the Bear Valley parking lot is at the far right, and "Mill Pond" at the far left is at Five Brooks. The yellow line marked "Shoreline Highway" is Highway 1. (Click on the image to enlarge it in your Web browser).


at 10:44 PM

Abbott's Lagoon Hike (6/8) Preview

This week we continue our summer hiking strategy of staying near the coast with another trip to Point Reyes National Seashore. Here's Wendy's description for this outing: "Last year at this time we saw the endangered Point Reyes Blue and the Coast Green as well as endangered tiger beetles and bumblebee scarab beetles. A bonus was two weasels! Some plants we don't see elsewhere include heliotrope and the endangered Point Reyes Checkerbloom. We often manage to spot the endangered snowy plovers, and sometimes have a muskrat. Lunch on the beach."  (Click here for a recap of last June’s hike).

Directions to the trailhead: Take Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Turn right at Olema and make an immediate left onto Bear Valley Road. (Stop at the park visitor center at Bear Valley to use the restrooms if you don't want to wait to use the pit toilet at the trailhead).

Continue until you pick up Sir Francis Drake again. Go through Inverness. After you top Inverness Ridge and head down the other side, the road splits: Going left takes you the wrong way and you'll head out to Drake's Beach and the lighthouse. You want to bear to the right (Wendy says "Go straight") onto Pierce Point Road. Pass Tomales Bay State Park. The parking area for Abbott's Lagoon will be on your left.

Carpool from St. Rita at 8:50 am. Restrooms at trailhead.

Weather forecast: As of Friday, June 4, the National Weather Service forecast was sunny with a high near 54. (Click here for an updated NWS forecast. For real time weather conditions, updated every 10 minutes, at the RCA field just south of Abbott's Lagoon, click here).

More on this hike: "G16 -Beach and Lagoon Trails" from the Martin's book, Hiking Marin, shows the trails in this part of the seashore, as does Tracy Salcedo-Chourre's Exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Both books have a 3.0 mile hike at Abbott's Lagoon, although our route could be different since you can roam off-trail rather far and wide, up and down the beach, and around the upland areas. (Click here to view and print the seashore's North District Hiking Map which shows the location of the roads, trailhead, and trails).

The following Google Earth image shows the area where we'll be hiking. (Click on the image to open a larger version in your Web browser).

NEW! Changes to the Meandering Blog

While you've been hiking these past two weeks Dick Jordan has made two minor changes to the blog:

• The Latest Hike Photos slideshow is now at the top of the right column sidebar
• The Four Seasons Meandering in Marin slideshow is now at the top of the "Photo Albums" page