Deer Park to Phoenix Lake Hike (3/3) Preview

This is a scenic hike with lunch at Phoenix Lake.  We should see Red Larkspur, Gypsum Spring Beauty, Baby Blue Eyes, and Ground Iris  Maybe we'll hear the first Orange-Crowned Warblers of the season!  (Click here for a recap of our hike in March 2010 or here for photos from past hikes.)

Directions to trailhead:  Go west on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to Fairfax. As you enter Fairfax, turn left at the gas station, and make an immediate right in front of the movie theater. This puts you on Broadway. Make the first left onto Bolinas Avenue. Just after it veers left, turn left on Porteous Avenue. Follow it to the parking lot at Deer Park.

(Click here for a MapQuest map showing the location of Deer Park; click on #1 to get driving directions and estimated driving time from your location.)

15 minutes from College of Marin. Carpoolers can meet at St. Rita's Church at 9:30 a.m.

Restrooms at trailhead.

Weather forecast:  As of Friday, February 27th, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was a slight chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 65. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: Presumably we'll follow the same route as in the past. The Martin's Hiking in Marin trail guide does not have a single map and directions for our hike from Deer Park School to Phoenix Lake and back, but you can use the following two maps and hikes from their book to piece together our path:

Start off using the Martin's Hike "C6 - Deer Park Road - Yolanda Trail." Head up the Deer Park Fire Road to Oak Tree Junction, then turn left (to the south) and hike uphill on the Six Points Trail. When you reach the Six Points junction, switch to Hike "C4 - Hidden Meadow - Yolanda Trail" and hike down the Yolanda South Trail to Phoenix Lake.

Using that same hike and map, follow Shaver Grade uphill, and while doing so, refer back to the C6 hike and map to follow the Grade to Five Corners. Continue straight down Deer Park Fire Road to Boy Scout Junction. Cross the fire road and take the Junction Trail back to its intersection with Deer Park Fire Road (just where you turned off onto Six Points Trail when you were headed toward the lake).

Here's a Google Earth view looking from Deer Park over Bald Hill towards Phoenix Lake.

(Click on the photo to open a larger image in your Web browser).

We'll hike from north to south, following the blue line in this picture to reach the lake, where we'll have lunch. Then we'll head south to north along the red line to return to where we began.

(Click here for a printable map of the MMWD watershed which shows these trails.)

 This trail profile shows that we'll be doing a lot of up and downhill hiking.