Bull Point Hike (7/5) 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.).

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 8:45 am.

Weather forecast: As of Thursday, June 30, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was 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).

Palomarin Hike (6/28) Preview

We resume our summer hikes this coming week with another trip to Point Reyes National Seashore, this time beginning at the far southern end of the park at the Palomarin trailhead near Bolinas. Here's Wendy's description of this outing: "This hike is not a loop (and isn't a shuttle hike, either), but has incredible ocean views making it well worth the drive! On years without fog we've had up to 14 species of butterflies! Lunch at Bass Lake." (Click here for a recap of last July’s hike ).

Directions to the trailhead: Take Sir Francis Drake Boulevard west to Olema. Turn left (south) on Route 1. Pass Five Brooks and Dogtown, and take the unmarked right turn (on to Horseshoe Hill Road which merges with the Olema-Bolinas Road) towards the town of Bolinas. (If you find yourself going along the shore of Bolinas Lagoon, you've driven too far south and missed the turn.) Turn right on Mesa Road (which eventually becomes a dirt road) and follow it to the Palomarin trailhead parking lot.

Carpool leaves St. Rita at 8:30 am.

If you're coming from southern Marin you may prefer to take Route 1 north, turning left just past the end of the lagoon onto the unmarked road into the town of Bolinas, then right on to Mesa Road to get to the trailhead.

Toilets at the trailhead (or if you can't wait, use the porta-potties at Five Brooks, a right turn off Highway 1 for those coming south from Olema, or for those heading north from southern Marin, turn left off the highway into Muir Beach or at the ocean overlook just to the north.

Weather forecast:  As of Thursday afternoon, June 23, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 64. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: The "F17 Coast Trail to Wildcat Camp" hike in the Martin's book, Hiking Marin, is 11 miles long, but shows the route that we'll take up to Bass Lake, 2.7 miles from the trailhead. (The 8.5 mile "Alamere Falls and Double Point Overlook" hike in Tracy Salcedo-Chourre's Exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area says the distance to the north shore of the lake is 2.9 miles, while the park's South District Hiking Map pegs it at 2.8 miles).  We’ll retrace our steps back to the trailhead after lunch so our total hiking distance will be around 5.5-6.0 miles.

Wendy Makes The News!

On Tuesday, June 21, the Marin I-J ran a front page story about Wendy and Marin's 24th annual butterfly count.

Click here to read it and see more photos taken at the event.

Update on Tuesday, 6/21 Bolinas Ridge Hike

This is a shuttle hike, so CALL WENDY AT 457-3949 OR EMAIL bdreskin@comcast.net if you are coming!

The hike is lightly longer than usual at 5.3 miles, but lots of it is downhill.  (Hopefully, there will be ripe huckleberries to eat).

At 9:20 a.m. we’ll meet on Route One at the bottom of Randall Trail which is about 3 miles north of Dogtown and about 3 miles south of Five Brooks . Then we’ll carpool up the Bolinas-Fairfax Road to Ridgecrest Boulevard and hike along Bolinas Ridge Fire Road and come down Randall Trail.

Carpool leaves St. Rita at 8:25 a.m. Warning: we may get back later than 1:45 p.m.

Weather forecast: As of Monday afternoon, June 20, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Calm wind becoming west southwest between 6 and 9 mph. (Click here for an updated forecast). Much of the trail is shaded, but there are some sections with full sun exposure, so don't forget your sunscreen and hat.

Bolinas Ridge Shuttle Hike (6/21) Preview

As summer begins we move west in Marin to take one of our hikes in the GGNRA. Slightly longer than usual at 5.3 miles, but lots of downhill.  (Click here for a recap of our hike in August of 2008).

CALL WENDY AT 457-3949 OR EMAIL bdreskin@comcast.net if you are coming!

Directions to trailhead: We’ll meet on Route One at the bottom of Randall Trail which is about 3 miles north of Dogtown and about 3 miles south of Five Brooks. (The Point Reyes National Seashore says to allow 15 minutes for the drive from the Bear Valley Visitor Center, and that it is just under 6 miles from the intersection of Highway 1 and Sir Francis Drake at Olema south to the Randall trailhead).

Park in one of the large dirt pullouts on either side of the road. The Park Service notes that the sign for the Randall Trail is aligned parallel to Highway 1 on the east side of the road and can easily be missed). From the Randall trailhead we’ll carpool up the Bolinas-Fairfax Road to Ridgecrest Boulevard and hike along Bolinas Ridge Fire Road and then down the Randall Trail to Highway 1.

Weather forecast: As of Wednesday morning, June 15, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was patchy fog before 11am, otherwise sunny, with a high near 72. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike:  None of Dick Jordan's hiking books describe this hike, but you can find the Fairfax-Bolinas Road, Bolinas Ridge Fire Road, and the Randall Trail in the bottom right-hand section of the park map shown below in this post on the "Meandering" blog. (Use the plus-sign button under the drop-down arrow button to enlarge the map for easier reading):

(Click here to view and print a copy of the map. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Google Docs" Web site, click on the "Actions" down arrow and then on  "Download" to download the document to your computer).

Abbott's Lagoon Hike (6/14) 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. Some years we've seen otters, weasels or muskrats. Some plants we don't see elsewhere include heliotrope and the endangered Point Reyes Checkerbloom. We often manage to spot the endangered snowy plovers. Lunch on the beach."  (Click here for a recap of the June 2009 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 Thursday morning, June 9, the National Weather Service forecast was patchy fog before 11am, otherwise partly sunny with a high near 62. . (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).

Sky Trail To Bear Valley Video Now Online!

Video Dick Jordan shot during the Sky Trail to Bear Valley hike is on up on the Meandering in Marin YouTube Channel.

Bear Valley to Arch Rock Hike (6/7) Preview

For the third week in a row we head out to Point Reyes National Seashore for our weekly outing.  As far as Dick Jordan can recall, we have not done this particular hike in the last three years, although we have done Bear Valley to Divide Meadow and back and our recent Sky Trail to Bear Valley hike took us from Divide Meadow back to Bear Valley.

Here’s Wendy’s brief description of the trek:  “This is longer than our usual hike (about 8 miles), but it's easy walking with fire road much of the way and not much elevation gain. Be prepared to get back later than 1:45 pm.”

Directions to trailhead: Take Sir Francis Drake Boulevard west from Fairfax. Turn right at Olema and make an immediate left onto Bear Valley Road. From Bear Valley Road. turn left to the Visitor’s Center.
Time: 50 minutes from College of Marin.  Carpoolers can meet at St. Rita’s Church in Fairfax at 9:10 a.m.  Restrooms at trailhead, outhouse at Divide Meadow.

Weather forecast:  As of Friday, June 3, the National Weather Service forecast for Tuesday’s hike was mostly sunny, with a high near 64.  (Click here for an updated forecast; you can also check the real-time weather at the Visitor Center).

More on this hike:  Hike “F4 Bear Valley Trail to Arch Rock” in the Martins’ book, Hiking Marin, shows the route from we’ll take.  (You can find the Bear Valley to Divide Meadow Trail on the park’s South District Trail Map).