Up High and Down Low on the Muir Woods Hike (August 19)

It looked like this might turn out to be a chilly day hike since the fog was low and dripping so hard that it was nearly raining during the drive from Tam Junction over the hill and down into Muir Woods. Fleece and jackets were donned during our pre-hike "confab" in the parking lot. But once we started hiking up the nearly vertical Dipsea Trail, layers were being peeled off as perspiration replaced the foggy air as a major source of dampness and the nearly 100% humidity made for a warm trek.

As we climbed towards the ridgeline, we passed first through a forest of bay trees and ferns, then into the open chaparral (with lots of large spider webs flecked with dew-drops), through Douglas firs taking over from the Coyote Bush, through darker groves of Redwoods, and back into a forest of firs. We reached the junction of the Dipsea and Ben Johnson trails after about an hour and a half and took advantage of this relatively level spot for an earlier-than-usual-when-hiking-with-Wendy lunch break.

It was all downhill after lunch as we descended switchbacks on the Ben Johnson leading steeply into Muir Woods National Monument. After about an hour we began to encounter a few tourists, then more, and then many as we reached Redwood Creek at the bottom of the trail. We covered the four miles of this route in about 3 and half hours, arriving back at our cars a little earlier than expected. While the parking lot had been nearly empty (except for our vehicles) at the beginning of the hike, it we nearly overflowing with visitors hunting for a place to park by the time we pulled out and headed for home (or for two of us, to the "Bella Ciao" gelateria in the Corte Madera Town Center).

Pictures from the hike can be viewed on the "Meandering" blog or by clicking here.

Next week: Our "summer quarter" ends with the "Final Exam" hike from Dogtown to Five Brooks on the Olema Valley trail.

What We Saw on The Muir Woods Walk (August 19)

Here's what Wendy lists as the plants and spiders noted during our hike up the Dipsea and down the Ben Johnson trails at Muir Woods on August 19th:

TREES

Bay with nuts, buckeye with small buckeyes, hazel, redwood, Douglas fir

FERNS

Sword, bracken, wood, lady, chain

GALLS

Coyote brush bud gall midge, Baccharis stem gall moth (Baccharis is the genus of coyote bush)

OTHER PLANTS

Elk clover (getting berries, not edible for people), thimbleberry (no berries), huckleberry, elderberry, redwood sorrel (drooping when in the sun), ocean spray (blossoms dried up), bearberry (aka native blackberry, no berries), CA manroot.. Leaves of: Clinonia, Pacific star flower, fairy bells, trillium.

FLOWERS

Sticky monkeyflower, tarweed, Clematis (at entrance)

SPIDER

Araneus (orb weaver that stays in retreat at attachment point of web), labyrinth spider (orb and tangle), spider in retreat in center of tangle.

FUNGI

FIRST OYSTER MUSHROOMS!

LICHEN

Usnea arizonica (old man’s beard with apothecea like a child’s drawing of the sun), Parmotrema (with black “eyelashes” on the margins)

(Click here if you want to view and print a copy of this list. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

Muir Woods "Scouting" Hike (August 19) Preview

After meeting at the Muir Woods Parking lot #2, we’ll go up Dispsea Trail (no racing, just meandering!) and down the Ben Johnson Trail. There will be about a 1000’ elevation gain, sunny on the way up, and shady in the afternoon as we head down. (This is a free "scouting" hike meaning that Wendy doesn't guarantee not to get us lost or that we'll get back on time!).

To get to Muir Woods, exit Highway 101 at the Mill Valley/Stinson Beach exit. Turn left (west) onto Shoreline Highway, then right on Panoramic Highway and left onto Muir Woods Road.

The National Weather Service forecast for Mill Valley on Tuesday is patchy fog before 11 am. Otherwise, cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 72. West wind between 9 and 13 mph. (Click here for an updated forecast).

Tracy Salcedo-Chourre's book, Exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area proposes hiking this route in the reverse direction (up the Ben Johnson, down the Dipsea) from our plan, but will at least give you an idea of what our hike will be like. Here's the trail map:

Muir Woods Hike Map - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Muir Woods Hike Map

(Click here to view and print out a complete description of the hike and map from Tracy's book. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

Here's a bit of local history from our "It's A Small World" department to go along with the flora (and maybe fauna) that we might see on this hike:

Muir Woods National Monument was created by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 after Congressman William Kent and his wife, Elizabeth Thacher Kent, donated 295 to the federal government and requested that the land be named for conservationist John Muir. Muir, of course, founded the Sierra Club.

Nearly 70 years later, other Sierra Club members and local conservationists Ed Wayburn and Amy Meyer (a long-time friend of Tuesday Meanderer Dick Jordan) formed People for a Golden Gate National Recreation Area (PFGGNRA) to promote the creation of a large, urban federal parkland running north and south of the Golden Gate. The Sierra Club sent a young college student, Mia Monroe, off to work as Amy's secretary at the PFGGNRA "office" (a corner of the kitchen in Amy's San Francisco home).

Today, Muir Woods National Monument is part of the GGNRA and is celebrating its 100th anniversary. And 30 years after she worked for the establishment and expansion of the park as a secretary at PFGGNRA, Mia Monroe is the park supervisor for Muir Woods. (To learn more about the creation of the GGNRA, read Amy Meyer's recent book, New Guardians for the Golden Gate: How America Got a Great National Park, available through Book Passage in Corte Madera. You'll even find Dick Jordan mentioned at page 227!).

12th Annual Black Mountain Hike (October 25th)

If "meandering" on Tuesdays isn't enough aerobic exercise for you, plan on joining the Marin Agricultural Land Trust on Saturday, October 25th, for its 12th annual hike up Black Mountain (between Nicasio reservoir and Point Reyes Station; shown here in a photo Dick Jordan took during on May 27th hike from Bear Valley to Five Brooks). The hike is free and no pre-registration (normally required for MALT-sponsored hikes and events) is necessary.

MALT's Fall 2008 newsletter describes the hike as "Difficult" (steep terrain and/or over five miles) with a 1200' elevation gain, but with spectacular views that will make it worth the effort. Carpooling is required. Meet at the West Marin School, 11550 Highway One (1/4 mile north of Point Reyes Station) by 10 a.m., and bring lunch, water, and wear your hiking boots. The hike is scheduled to end around 2 p.m.