Alpine Lake to Bon Tempe Dam Hike (1/14) Preview

We hike along a creek with lovely cascades and ferns. This is usually an interesting mushroom hike – in past years we've seen Toothed Jelly Fungus, Rosy Gomphidius, Cowboy's Handkerchief, and The Prince! The start is uphill with some stairs (but we’ll find lots to look at on the way), the end is level - and in between it’s up and down!

We end up at the Bon Tempe Dam.  (Click here for a recap of our January 2010 hike). We sometimes get back late on this hike. If you must be back at 1:45 pm it's safer to skip this one.

This is a shuttle hike, so CALL WENDY AT 457-3949 or send her an e-mail her at bdreskin@comcast.net if you are coming! 

Directions to trailhead:  Take the Fairfax-Bolinas Road. Turn in as you would to go to Lake Lagunitas. After the ranger station at Sky Oaks (but before Shaver Grade) there is an unpaved road to the right. Take this to Lake Bon Tempe and park.  MEET HERE AT 9:15 a.m. Porta potties are in the parking lot. (Click here for directions from the MMWD Web site.  Or click here to get driving directions and travel time from a MapQuest map.)

From Bon Tempe we’ll carpool to the trailhead (near Alpine Dam). Do not pay the $8 day use fee at the Sky Oaks entrance kiosk if you plan to take people to the trailhead. (You can use $1, $5, or $10 bills and coins at the automated pay station, or a Visa or Mastercard.

Annual MMWD watershed entrance passes for Marin residents are normally $60 ($30 for those 62 and older), but after September 1st you can buy one for half of those prices and the pass will be valid through January 31, 2014.  (You can pay the annual pass fee at the automated pay station.  Keep one part of the receipt which is a temporary pass good for two weeks, then: 1) stop at the Sky Oaks Ranger Station on the way out and ask them to send the other half of your receipt to the main office in Corte Madera which will issue the permanent pass and mail it to you, or 2) send or take the receipt to the main office yourself).

We’ll need people who are not in a rush to take the driver’s back to their cars parked near Alpine Dam.

Driving Time from College of Marin: 25 minutes.

Carpool leaves St. Rita Church in Fairfax at 8:55 a.m.

Weather forecast:  As of Saturday, January 11th, the National Weather Service forecast for this area during the hike was sunny, with a high near 67. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: There is no comparable hike in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, but we'll begin our hike just past the dam at Alpine Lake and head east on the Helen Markt Trail, eventually pick up one of the fire roads, and wind our way back to Bon Tempe Lake. (Click here to view, zoom in on, or print a map of the MWWD watershed lands).