Let’s Eat! (12/7/10 “Final Exam” Hike)

The weekend’s storm blew through and left the Bay Area on Monday setting the stage for a perfect day for finishing up “Fall 2” of the College of Marin term.  But the wet weather brought during the preceding days brought forth a bounty of mushrooms including sulfur tufts, Jack-o-lanterns, garlic mushrooms and apricot jelly.

We saw a common merganser and pied billed grebes paddling around Lake Lagunitas while a Great Egret swooped across the water from the south shore to the north.  We found both California and rough-skinned newts enjoying the damp habit above the lake.

By the time we turned east and headed up the Lakeview Fire Road the sun was shining brightly and we doffed our outer layers.  We had great views out to San Francisco  Bay over San Anselmo and past Terra Linda as we descended the Filter Plant Road.  A lone Coulter Pine stood as a reminder a a failed tree farming project started by the water district many years back.

After nearly five miles of up (1,588’ per the “Every Trail” app on Dick’s iPhone) and down (1,345’) hiking we looped our way back to the parking lot in just under three hours and set up our “Final Exam” feast in the nearby picnic area.  Wendy recited a special poem to honor Stan for filing in for her while she recovered from breaking her leg, and she and Ted presented Stan with bottles of Scotch to mark his “retirement” as hike leader.

Here’s a bird’s-eye-view of the route we took:


and the changes in elevation:

“Final Exam” Hike Photos Now On-Line!

Photos taken by Theresa Fisher during this week’s “Final Exam” Hike at Lake Lagunitas are now on-line.

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

Sky Trail To Bear Valley Hike (12/14) Preview

We return to Point Reyes National Seashore this week for our last outing of 2010.

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. 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.

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 drive people back to Sky Trail.

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 Wednesday evening, December 8, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was mostly sunny with a high near 56 and a chance of rain.  (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:

Bahia Hike Photos Now On-Line!

Photos taken by Theresa Fisher during last week’s Bahia Hike are now on-line.

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