A Wet Day At Rock Spring

It was a great day to be a newt, a bad day to be a rattlesnake. And it was a lousy day to be driving, too. Normally, we have bright, sunny, and warm weather for our final "Final Exam" hurrah of the College of Marin hiking year. Last year it rained on the way to the trailhead, but the weather cleared during the hikeThis time it was like hiking in Southeast Alaska in the summer.

Dick Jordan and Wendy got stuck in major traffic backups trying to get past downtown San Anselmo. Halfway up Mount Tam from Mill Valley the visibility dropped to nearly zero as fog, clouds, and rain covered the mountain.

When we reached the intersection of the road up from Pantoll to Ridgecrest, we could not even see the Rock Spring parking lot only a few feet away across the road. It was only after driving into the parking lot that we were aware that other foolish folk had made the mistake of getting out of a warm comfortable bed to hike in Marin-Winter conditions.

The strong wind coming up the south flank of the mountain blew raindrops off the trees hanging over our parked cars, drenching us as we pulled our gear out of the trunks and back seats. We could tell right then that no matter how much the weather moderated during the course of the next four hours, the hike was going to be no picnic, and that there would be no final exam luncheon at the picnic area once our soggy slog was over.

But the news wasn't all bad for the eight of us who braved the elements to join Wendy. Much of the route is through the forest and while the trees were dripping like leaky faucets, they formed an excellent windbreak to keep us from getting chilled. And once we did a quick "round table discussion" of our last week's activities and actually set out on the trail, we quickly warmed up and forgot about the inclement weather.

Much of the area from the edge of Potrero Meadows to Laurel Dell is unforested and open to the north. But by the time we arrived there an hour or so into the hike, the rain had most stopped and the wind only gusted intermittently.

A small group of hikers that Stan happened to know passed us headed in the other direction at Potrero Meadows, followed by a solo-hiker. The sound of chain saws and axes echoed off the mountain as work crews cleared area near Potrero Camp where trees had blown down during earlier months.

At Laurel Dell we found a newt taking a swim in a small puddle. We met up with one of his cousins and a banana slug on the Cataract Trail after quickly tip-toeing over rocks stretching across the creek, trying to keep and our balance so our feet would remain dry. A little farther on we had the highlight of the day: A baby Winter Wren hopping back and forth across a fallen tree trunk, occasionally testing out his new flight feathers with a quick burst into the air before settling back down to his big, round perch.

After three-plus hours, we had finished our six-mile loop and were back to the still fog-bound parking lot. We doffed our packs and wet gear, and headed down the mountain to the Mill Valley Library where we met up with Meanderers who had not gone on the hike.  From there we carpooled up the hill to Al and Sonia's lovely home for a leisurely lunch, helping make this one of our more memorable "Final Exams."

(The wet weather prompted Dick to leave his still camera safely tucked away in his parka pocket.  But from time to time he pulled out his mini camcorder, protected from the rain with a rubberized case, to shoot video clips which he later used to produce the YouTube movie shown above in this blog post and also available on on the Meandering in Marin YouTube Channel.  Unfortunately, the brief segment he shot at lunch did not turn out --- there is audio, but no video for that clip.  The photos in this post where shot on previous year’s hikes).