Mt. Home to Bootjack Photos Now Online!

Photos taken by Theresa Fisher during this week's Mountain Home to Bootjack hike are now online!

View them on the Meandering blog or click here for the on-line album.

Mountain Home to Boojack (9/16) Hike Preview

This week we go back "over the hill" to East Marin to hike on Mount Tamalpais.

Per Wendy, "this hike takes us through redwood forest, over Fern Creek, into chaparral, and finally to lunch at Bootjack. The return is fairly level and shady."  (Click here for a recap of our October 2008 hike and click here for the photo album for this hike.)

Directions to trailhead: Take the Stinson Beach/Highway 1 exit off Highway 101. Go west through Tam Valley and up onto the ridge. Turn right onto Panoramic Highway and follow signs to Mt. Tamalpais. Drive about 4 miles.

When you reach Mountain Home Inn on your right, park in the parking lot across the road on your left.

45 minutes from College of Marin.

Carpoolers can meet at the Greenbrae Park & Ride lot at 9:00 am.

Click here for a MapQuest Map showing the trailhead. Click on #1 for directions and driving time from your location.

Restrooms at trailhead and Bootjack.

Weather forecast: As of Thursday, September 11th, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was sunny, with a high near 77. (Click here for an updated forecast.)

More on this hike:  Hike "B9 – Matt Davis – Troop 80 Trails" – in the Martin's book, Hiking Marin, shows the area where we’ll be hiking.

Tomales Point Hike (9/9) Preview

We return to Point Reyes National Seashore this coming week. Wendy says that "on this hike we'll look for the tule elk, once at the brink of extinction and now making a heartening comeback. This Point is also special for its views."  

(Click here for a recap of our September 2008 hike; here is an album of photos taken on past hikes in this area.)

Directions to trailhead: Take Sir Francis Drake Boulevard west from Fairfax. Turn right at Olema and make an immediate left onto Bear Valley Road.

Continue until you pick up Sir Francis Drake again. Go through Inverness.

Where the road veers left to Drake's Beach and the lighthouse, bear right. This puts you on Pierce Point Road. Follow it to the parking lot at the end of the road.

Click here for a MapQuest map showing the trailhead. Click on the number "1" to get driving directions and times from your location.

Restrooms:  Stop at the Bear Valley Visitor Center to use the flush toilets, or pull off Pierce Point Road at the parking lots for the trails to Abbott’s Lagoon or Kehoe Beach to use the porta-potties.

When you reach the parking lot for the Tomales Point Trail you can drive downhill toward McClure's Beach to use the pit toilet there before returning to the trailhead parking lot to meet the group.

Click here to view and print a map of the Seashore showing these roads and locations.

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes from College of Marin.  Carpoolers can meet at St. Rita’s at 8:35 a.m.

Weather forecast: As of Wednesday, September 3rd, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 62. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: Hike "G18 – Tomales Point Trai"l in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, is 9.4 mile roundtrip hike to Tomales Point and back.  We’ll only do about half of that route, stopping well short of the Point.

This Google Earth image created by Theresa Fisher shows the path we'll follow out and back.

Half A Hike Is Better Than None At All!

Unfortunately, Theresa Fisher wasn't on today's hike in Samuel P. Taylor State Park and Dick Jordan only hiked the first loop (to the Pioneer Tree) and only took a single photo (this panoramic shot at the Pioneer Tree).

If we could really hike as fast as this video (rendered at 12 x normal speed using the Hyperlapse for iPhone app) shows us doing, we could cover 60 miles in four hours, instead of a measly 5!



(Click here if the video player doesn't appear)
But then we'd have to rename the COM class and the blog "Scampering in Marin"!