If you are going to ask the weather gods to smile and frown on you during a single day of winter hiking in Marin, make your entreaties when you plan to do the Steep Ravine-Dipsea loop from Highway 1 up the side of Mount Tam and back again. Pray for rain on the way up when the forest canopy provides maximum shelter from the worst weather, and streams endlessly cascade down Steep Ravine. Pray for sunshine on the way down when there is a glorious panorama that sweeps all the way from Mount Diablo near Walnut Creek, across the Marin Headlands to the northern side of San Francisco, south along the coast, westward to the Farallon Islands, and back toward Stinson Beach and Bolinas.
One of the more bizarre ideas for filling in San Francisco Bay would no doubt have wreaked immeasurable and irreversible damage to the Bay’s ecosystems: Scraping off the top of San Bruno Mountain and depositing it into the shallow waters of the Bay. Not a bad idea of you wanted to create more buildable flat land at the foot of the mountains and hills that descend, steeply in places, into the largest estuary on the West Coast of United States. Not a bad idea if you are willing to turn a vibrant body of water teeming with life into a “River That Runs Through It”, the “It” being a man-made world of dubious value to man and beast alike.
Last week we went up Steep Ravine and down the Dipsea Trail on the western slopes of Mount Tamalpais. This week we head to the the eastern side of Southern Marin near Mill Valley.
Here's Wendy's description of the hike: "A loop with great views of Mt. Tamalpais! We should see the beautiful mist maidens, mission bells, and huckleberry and tree poppies in bloom. Probably a 9 fern day!"
Directions to trailhead: Take East Blithedale exit from Highway 101. Where you cross Throckmorton it becomes West Blithedale. Go 0.9 miles and look for parking at Marsh Drive and West Blithedale on both the left and the right sides of the street. (Click here for a map and driving directions).
Time: 30 minutes from COM. Carpoolers can meet at the Greenbrae Parking & Ride lot at 9:10 a.m. No restrooms at trailhead.
Weather forecast: As of Tuesday evening, February 22nd, the National Weather Service forecast for Tuesday's hike was a mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and a high near 53. (Click here for an updated forecast).
More on this hike: Hike "B1 Blithedale Ridge - Corte Madera Trails" in the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, shows the area we will be hiking in although our route may differ slightly from the one they set out for their hike. (This area is also shown on the mapa of the Marin County Open Space District's Baltimore Canyon Preserve and Blithedale Summit Preserve).
This Google Earth image shows Marsh Drive and West Blithedale Avenue in Mill Valley where we'll meet to start our hike. We'll head up to the ridge at the top of the picture (which looks east over Corte Madera and Larkspur to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge), hike along it, then double back to our starting point. (Click on the photo to open a larger image in your Web browser).
An inquiry to AFAR magazine readers about dog-friendly trails in the San Francisco Bay Area led Dick Jordan (who is owned by a cat) to research “Dog On The Trail” rules in Marin County.
Here are the links to agency Websites with “Hiking With Fido” regs:
On this favorite February hike we should see giant wake robin, redwood evergreen violets, star lilies, Smith’s fairy bells, fetid adder’s tongue and calypso orchids! We’ll go up Steep Ravine since some of us find the ladder is easier to go up than down. Lunch at Pantoll. (Click here for a recap of last year's hike).
Directions to the trailhead: Take the Stinson Beach/Highway 1 exit off Highway 101. Go through Tam Junction, stay on Route 1, and follow signs to Muir Beach. Pass the road that goes to Muir Beach staying on Route 1 (towards Stinson Beach), pass Slide Ranch, and keep going until you see the locked gate for the Steep Ravine cabins on the west (left) side of the road. There is parking is on the east (right) sideof Highway 1.
Time: 1 hour 5 minutes from COM. No restrooms at trailhead (but you can turn in at Muir Beach en route and use the ones in the parking lot). Carpoolers can meet at the Greenbrae Park & Ride lot at 8:50 a.m.
Weather forecast: When we did this hike in mid-February in 2008 and 2009, strong storms buffeted the coast, and it rained heavily enough to discourage several of our group from making the trek. As of Wednesday evening, February 16th, the forecast for the hike was partly sunny, with a chance of showers, and a high near 49. . (Click here for an updated forecast).
More on this hike: If you have the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, look at their hike "B14 Dipsea - Steep Ravine Trails" which starts at Pantoll, goes down the Dipsea, up Steep Ravine, and ends back at Pantoll. Since we're beginning and ending our outing down on Highway 1, our hike will be slightly longer, but basically the reverse of the Martins' hike. (Page 6 of the Mt. Tam State Park brochure has a park map that you can "zoom in" on to see these trails).
Out string of good-weather, winter hikes continued as we returned to hike at Audubon Canyon Ranch for the third year in a row. Although the thermometer on Dick Jordan’s car said the air temperature was a chilly 37 degrees as he drove through Samuel P. Taylor State Park on the way to the trailhead, we had plenty of sunshine and shirt-sleeve weather by hike’s end.
About twenty of us showed up for the second hike of the College of Marin Winter term. Our reward was the first appearance of the year for Indian Paintbrush, Calypso Orchids, Suncups, Douglas Iris, Star Lillies, Mission Bells, and Stick Monkey Flowers.
The first leg of this hike was a long, slow uphill trek on Zumie’s Loop Trail that took us about three-quarters of the way from sea level to the crest of Bolinas Ridge. During the lower stretches of the trail was had great views across Bolinas Lagoon over to the Mesa and south past San Francisco. Low tide left small rivulets running through the mudflats where egrets and herons will soon be plucking food for their hatchlings in nests in the canyon just east of the ranch buildings.
A Pacific Wren (aka “Winter Wren”) was singing his spring song and hoping to mind a mate. Butterflies flitted by and we spotted a Seven-Spot Ladybug.
As we reached the highest spot on Zumie’s Loop we left the chaparral lands behind and entered a mixed fir-bay-redwood forest. While we stopped here, Wendy and Neil took a break and went for a ride on a large swing that we had not seen on previous hikes in this area.
Ferns lined the often narrow trail that led us on a traverse southward crossing the small canyons that descend from the ridge to Bolinas Lagoon as Zumie’s Loop merged with the Griffin Loop Trail that begins behind the ranch buildings and passes by the birding overlook above and just north of the egret and heron nesting area.
About 12:45 pm we reached the intersection of the Griffin Loop Trail and the Bourne Trail which comes down from the ridge, emerged from the forest, and sat in a sunny clearing to enjoy our long-awaited lunch.
It was all downhill from there, and within a half-hour after finishing out meal we were back at the ranch parking lot. A large bird perched up in a tree above the ranch defied identification: Was it a hawk or an owl? The answer: Neither. The final verdict: Peregrine falcon.
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 three 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).
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. (Carpoolers meet about 9:15-9:20 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 Saturday evening, February 12, the National Weather Service forecast for Tuesday's hike was rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 54. Chance of precipitation is 70%. (Click here for an updated National Weather Service 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.
Dick Jordan has added ten more photos taken during last week's Sky Trail to Mount Wittenberg hike to those by Theresa Fisher in the on-line photo album.
Susan Alcorn, one of Dick Jordan’s fellow members of Bay Area Travel Writers, writes about hiking in the Bay Area and elsewhere around the world for the on-line site examiner.com. One of the photos Dick took during a Meandering hike at Olompali State Park was used to illustrate Susan’s examiner.com story about hiking there.
Directions to trailhead:Coming from North or Central Marin: Take Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to Olema. Turn south (left) on Highway 1 and follow for about 10 miles to Bolinas Lagoon. Preserve will be on the left approximately 1 mile further.Carpoolers can meet at St. Rita's Church in Fairfax at 8:45 am.
Coming from Southern Marin: From Highway 101 take the Stinson Beach exit. Follow approximately 12 miles to Stinson Beach. Continue 3 1/2 miles north to the preserve gate on right hand side of the highway.
Time: 1 hour from College of Marin. Restrooms at trailhead.
Weather forecast: As of Wednesday, February 2nd, the National Weather Service forecast for this hike was sunny with a high near 66. . (Click here for an updated forecast).
More on this hike: If you have the Martins' book, Hiking Marin, go to hike "F18 Griffin Loop - Bird Overlook Trails" for a map of trails within the preserve. There are two major loop trails (probably about 3 miles long each) going uphill and down, and a shorter 0.8 mile loop nearer to the bottom of the hill. On our 2009 hike we went up the Zumie's Loop Trail, then through Junction 2 on the Martin's map, and continued south to where the Griffin Loop and Bourne trails meet, descended the Griffin Loop trail to the bottom of the hill, and then looped back to the parking area.
single day of winter hiking in Marin, make your entreaties when you plan to do the Steep Ravine-Dipsea loop from Highway 1 up the side of Mount Tam and back again. Pray for rain on the way up when the forest canopy provides maximum shelter from the worst weather, and streams endlessly cascade down Steep Ravine. Pray for sunshine on the way down when there is a glorious panorama that sweeps all the way from Mount Diablo near Walnut Creek, across the Marin Headlands to the northern side of San Francisco, south along the coast, westward to the Farallon Islands, and back toward Stinson Beach and Bolinas.
