Wendy Goes The Distance (Mostly) – Bear Valley (11/9/10)

When we gathered for our hike out the Bear Valley Trail at Point Reyes we had one “new” hiker in our Tuesday Meandering group:  Wendy.  She had recovered well enough from her broken leg to take a go at walking the flat portion of the trail.
 
After just a few minutes stroll from the parking lot we came across a miniature “housing development” just off the trail --- “condominium” spiders had spun little pied-a-terres in the bushes.  As the leafy canopy began to arch over our heads we found various varieties of mushrooms, including oysters and artist conks, attached to tree trunks as well as popping up in the shade along the edge of the trail.

Recent rains had sent water flowing down into the stream paralleling our route.  Ferns and wild ginger sprouted in the damp trailside.  A large hiking group from Novato headed past us as we lingered to check out the plant life.

As the trail became steeper, Wendy paused to consider whether her knee was up to climbing higher, but Bill gave her the “A-Ok” to continue and she accompanied us up to Divide Meadow where we lolled in the sun enjoying an earlier-than-usual lunch break.

Wendy took her leave when we returned to Bear Valley and set off uphill on the Woodpecker Trail.  We passed granary trees pocked with thousands of holes drilled by woodpeckers to store acorns for the winter.  We saw more mushrooms on the upper reaches of the trail before descending to the Morgan Horse Ranch near the visitors center.

The weather was sunny and pleasant during our excursion, but clouds heralding the arrival of rain later in the evening began to cover Bear Valley by the time we returned to our cars at end of our 4.4 mile hike.