Bear Valley to Five Brooks Hike (5/31/10) Preview

We continue our "Summer at the Seashore" series of hikes this week by starting at the Bear Valley Visitor Center in Point Reyes National Seashore and hiking south to Five Brooks. (Dick Jordan was not on our June, 2010 hike, but here's the recap from the June, 2009 trek.)

Here's Wendy's description of the outing: "We’ll start by checking out dragonflies and birds on the pond at Five Brooks, then carpool to Bear Valley. This level hike takes us through Vedanta Retreat and Stewart Ranch back to Five Brooks."  THIS IS A SHUTTLE HIKE (CALL OR E-MAIL WENDY IF YOU'RE COMING: Home: 415 457-3949 E-mail: bdreskin@comcast.net).

Directions to trailhead:  We'll meet at Five Brooks at 9:30 am. Take Sir Francis Drake to Olema, turn left onto Highway 1, and continue south until you see the right hand turn off the highway to Five Brooks. We'll leave some cars at Five Brooks, so we'll need some drivers not in a hurry to head home after the hike to drive those who left their cars at the trailhead back to Five Brooks.

Restrooms (porta-potties) at Five Brooks and (real-deal flush toilets) at Bear Valley. Carpool from St. Rita at 9:00 am.

Weather forecast: As of Wednesday afternoon, May 25th, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was partly sunny, with a high near 62. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: Hike "F8 Five Brooks Trailhead to Bear Valley" in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, does this 4.4 mile hike in the reverse direction from our trek. Our route will roughly parallel the San Andreas Fault which splits the Olema Valley down its middle.

After about a mile and a half we'll begin to cross the 2,000 acre parcel owned by the Vedanta Society of Northern California. Later we'll skirt the the historic Stewart Ranch. This trail is popular with equestrians, and we're likely to encounter horses and cattle along the way.

The elevation change is only 350' over the length of the trail, and many sections are quite flat or downhill. (Click here to view the Rift Zone Trail on the park's South District Trail Map).

The Google Earth image below gives you a bird's eye view of the route will follow; the Bear Valley parking lot is at the far right, and "Mill Pond" at the far left is at Five Brooks. The yellow line marked "Shoreline Highway" is Highway 1. (Click on the image to enlarge it in your Web browser).

A Wet Day At Rock Spring

It was a great day to be a newt, a bad day to be a rattlesnake. And it was a lousy day to be driving, too. Normally, we have bright, sunny, and warm weather for our final "Final Exam" hurrah of the College of Marin hiking year. Last year it rained on the way to the trailhead, but the weather cleared during the hikeThis time it was like hiking in Southeast Alaska in the summer.

Dick Jordan and Wendy got stuck in major traffic backups trying to get past downtown San Anselmo. Halfway up Mount Tam from Mill Valley the visibility dropped to nearly zero as fog, clouds, and rain covered the mountain.

When we reached the intersection of the road up from Pantoll to Ridgecrest, we could not even see the Rock Spring parking lot only a few feet away across the road. It was only after driving into the parking lot that we were aware that other foolish folk had made the mistake of getting out of a warm comfortable bed to hike in Marin-Winter conditions.

The strong wind coming up the south flank of the mountain blew raindrops off the trees hanging over our parked cars, drenching us as we pulled our gear out of the trunks and back seats. We could tell right then that no matter how much the weather moderated during the course of the next four hours, the hike was going to be no picnic, and that there would be no final exam luncheon at the picnic area once our soggy slog was over.

But the news wasn't all bad for the eight of us who braved the elements to join Wendy. Much of the route is through the forest and while the trees were dripping like leaky faucets, they formed an excellent windbreak to keep us from getting chilled. And once we did a quick "round table discussion" of our last week's activities and actually set out on the trail, we quickly warmed up and forgot about the inclement weather.

Much of the area from the edge of Potrero Meadows to Laurel Dell is unforested and open to the north. But by the time we arrived there an hour or so into the hike, the rain had most stopped and the wind only gusted intermittently.

A small group of hikers that Stan happened to know passed us headed in the other direction at Potrero Meadows, followed by a solo-hiker. The sound of chain saws and axes echoed off the mountain as work crews cleared area near Potrero Camp where trees had blown down during earlier months.

At Laurel Dell we found a newt taking a swim in a small puddle. We met up with one of his cousins and a banana slug on the Cataract Trail after quickly tip-toeing over rocks stretching across the creek, trying to keep and our balance so our feet would remain dry. A little farther on we had the highlight of the day: A baby Winter Wren hopping back and forth across a fallen tree trunk, occasionally testing out his new flight feathers with a quick burst into the air before settling back down to his big, round perch.

After three-plus hours, we had finished our six-mile loop and were back to the still fog-bound parking lot. We doffed our packs and wet gear, and headed down the mountain to the Mill Valley Library where we met up with Meanderers who had not gone on the hike.  From there we carpooled up the hill to Al and Sonia's lovely home for a leisurely lunch, helping make this one of our more memorable "Final Exams."

(The wet weather prompted Dick to leave his still camera safely tucked away in his parka pocket.  But from time to time he pulled out his mini camcorder, protected from the rain with a rubberized case, to shoot video clips which he later used to produce the YouTube movie shown above in this blog post and also available on on the Meandering in Marin YouTube Channel.  Unfortunately, the brief segment he shot at lunch did not turn out --- there is audio, but no video for that clip.  The photos in this post where shot on previous year’s hikes).

Summer Hike Schedules Now Available

In case you didn't receive or misplaced Wendy's e-mail list of Monday and Tuesday summer hikes (through mid-July), you can find them on the "Upcoming Hikes" page of the Meandering blog.

There are two separate lists:  One for Monday hikes (5/23-7/18) and another for Tuesday hikes (5/24-7/12).  Dates for mid-July through August are also listed; next month Wendy will send out the detailed descriptions for those hikes.

Registration for the Fall 1 series of hikes through the College of Marin will open on August 1st.  (The first Tuesday hike of that series will be on September 6, the day after Labor Day).

Sky Trail To Bear Valley Hike (5/24) Preview

We return to Point Reyes National Seashore this week to kick off our summer of hiking in West Marin.

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! Note the earlier than usual meeting time at Bear Valley. 

The trail is about 7.3 miles long, but a lot of it is fairly level, so it's a bit easier than the distance implies. We'll go down the Old Pine Trail (which doesn't have any old pines!) to Divide Meadow, then hike back north to the Bear Valley Visitor Center on the Bear Valley Trail.  (We hiked this trail last July, but Dick Jordan wasn't along, so there is no recap; but we also did the trek on January 20, 2009 when President Obama was sworn into office, again on May 19, 2009, and also in July of 2008).

Directions to trailhead: We’ll meet at Bear Valley at 9:20 a.m. and carpool to Sky Trail.  When we get to Mt. Wittenberg we’ll go down Old Pine to the Bear Valley Trail. We'll need some people who are not in a rush to leave after the end of the hike to help us drive hikers back to the Sky Trail trailhead to pick up their cars.

Restrooms at Bear Valley, none at Sky Trail trailhead, but some as we pass Coast Camp.

Carpool leaves St. Rita Church in Fairfax at 8:45 a.m.

Weather forecast: As of Thursday morning, May 19, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was mostly sunny and breezy, with a high near 59.  (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike:  "G3 Sky Trailhead to Bear Valley" in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, is a version of this hike although we usually go straight at Junction #1 shown on their map and continue on to Sky Camp rather than take the detour up to Mt. Wittenberg (which we do on a separate loop hike from the Sky Trail trailhead) and then back down to the Sky Trail before continuing on to the Old Pine Trail, Divide Meadow and on to Bear Valley.  (Click here for the Seashore's South District Hiking Map which shows these trails).

The following Google Earth image gives a bird's eye view of where we'll be hiking: