Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Indian Tree Open Space Hike (2/9) Preview

This week we head north and east to the Novato area to hike in the Indian Tree Open Space Preserve.
  
Here's Wendy's hike description:  "We hike a pretty loop trail with views and then lunch in a redwood grove. We should see early wildflowers like California Saxifrage, Indian Warriors, and Hound's Tongue. We have also found many mushrooms there in February, including Cedar Waxy Caps, Jelly Leaf, and Golden Waxy Caps.  This hike is often muddy so waterproof your boots!"

(Click here to read the recap of our hike in this area on February 3, 2009. You can view photos from past hikes in this area by clicking here.)

Directions: Take Highway 101 north. Exit at San Marin Drive and go west. San Marin becomes Sutro Avenue after if crosses Novato Boulevard. Turn right (west) onto Vineyard Road. The trail starts where the paved road turns into a dirt road.

Time: 35 minutes from College of Marin. No restrooms at trailhead, but you could stop at Starbucks in the small shopping center at the intersection of San Marin Drive and San Andreas Drive, just before the Kaiser Permanente clinic.

Carpoolers meet at 9:15 am at the Park & Ride lot on the east side of Highway 101 at Smith Ranch Road in the Terra Linda area north of the Marin Civic Center and downtown San Rafael.

Weather forecast: As of Wednesday, February 3rd, the National Weather Service forecast for Tuesday's hike was sunny, with a high near 64. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: The Marin County Open Space District operates the preserve on a portion of this area (the North Marin Water District owns adjacent land) and its Web site provides a viewable/printable trail map and a list of the species of various critters we might encounter.

Barry Spitz's book, Open Spaces (Marin County Open Space District, 2000) describes the area and contains a map similar to that found on the MCOSD Web site.

The "E9 Deer Camp - Big Trees Trails hike in the Martin's book, Hiking Marin, is much longer (7.2 miles) than the one we'll actually take, but shows the general area where we'll be hiking.

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