This week we move south and east of Point Reyes National Seashore to take one of our hikes in the
GGNRA.
Slightly longer than usual at 6.8 miles, but lots of downhill. We usually find naturalized orchid Hellebore on this hike, and in 2013 the fog drip provided some surprise chanterelles. While Wendy can't promise those, lots of ripe huckleberries and some ripe salal berries are a pretty sure bet.
(
Click here for a recap of our hike in August of 2008).
CALL WENDY AT 457-3949 OR EMAIL bdreskin@comcast.net if you are coming!
Directions to trailhead: We’ll meet
on Highway 1 at the bottom of
Randall Trail which is about 3 miles north of Dogtown and about 3
miles south of Five Brooks. (The Point Reyes National Seashore says to
allow 15 minutes for the drive from the Bear Valley Visitor Center, and
that it is just under 6 miles from the intersection of Highway 1 and
Sir Francis Drake at Olema south to the Randall trailhead.)
Click here for a Google Maps map that shows the Randall Trail trailhead. Click where the Randall Trail crosses Highway 1, and then click on the teardrop icon to get directions and driving time from your location.
Park in one of the large dirt pullouts on either side of the road. The
Park Service notes that the sign for the Randall Trail is aligned
parallel to Highway 1 on the east side of the road and can easily be
missed.
From the Randall trailhead we’ll carpool up the Bolinas-Fairfax
Road to Ridgecrest Boulevard and hike along Bolinas Ridge Fire Road
and then down the Randall Trail to Highway 1.
No restrooms at either the Randall Trail or Bolinas Ridge
trailheads. Stop at the Bear Valley Visitor Center or at Five Brooks if you need to “use
the facilities.”
Driving time from the College of Marin is about 40 minutes. Carpool leaves St. Rita's at 9:00 a.m.
Note that while the Bolinas-Fairfax Road is open eastbound from Bolinas to Ridgecrest, it is closed westbound from beyond Fairfax to Ridgecrest so you can't reach our hike's starting point from that direction.
Weather forecast: As of Saturday, August 13th, the National
Weather Service forecast for the hike was patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 74. (
Click here for an updated forecast).
More on this hike: None of Dick Jordan's hiking books describe
this hike, but you can find the Fairfax-Bolinas Road, Bolinas Ridge Fire
Road, and the Randall Trail in the bottom right-hand section of the
Point Reyes National Seashore park map shown below.
Click here to view and print a copy of the map.
Use the
plus-sign button under the drop-down arrow button to enlarge the map for
easier reading If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the
document. Once you see the document on the "Google Docs" Web site, click
on the "Actions" down arrow and then on "Download" to download the
document to your computer).
