Miwok/Old Springs/Marincello/others GGNRSA

Above: A view of the multi-layered Bay Area ridges surrounding the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This view is from the Bobcat Trail.

And so, this week, Maria and I set off to explore further the trails within the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. I have been there a few times before, so I was anxious to explore some new trails on such a great weather day.



We started off parking at the Rodeo Beach lot, and then we walked past the lagoon and set off down the Miwok Trail (above), a fire road that winds up through the rolling hills of the park. It's a multi-use trail, used by runners, hikers, horses, and bikers. We saw plenty of bikers, a few other hikers and runners but no horses (although plenty of evidence of healthy horse digestive systems).

The trails are a mixture of fire roads and single-track-all of which are exposed with little shade. The hiker-only trails are the least crowded, it seemed, and possibly the most picturesque. They were also single-track--a nice change from the dry dusty fire roads that seemed to be biker-friendly.

Below: The Old Springs Trail offered us a much appreciated break from the dry dusty fire roads of the Miwok Trail. Here you can see an interesting wooden bridge integrated into the trail.



Below: GGNRSA trails are generally well-signed, but it's very helpful to have at least the park map with you (from the Visitor Center). I much prefer to bring the MapAdventures map series for Marin hikes, however; they're more detailed and contain mileage for each section of the trail. You can find these online or at the Visitor Centers in Point Reyes and GGNRSA.

I'm getting the hang of using maps and compasses now that I'm using them more and more on my hikes. Identifying exactly where you are on a map can really add another dimension to any hike.

Below: Some of the trails in the park are part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail--currently 330 miles long or so, but ultimately, the goal will be around 550 miles of interconnected trails. It seems like it could be a great resource for spring or fall trails.


Below: From the Old Springs Trail, we walked up the relatively steep and long Marincello Trail on way to the Alta Trail and ultimately the Rodeo Valley Trail.


Below: we lunched on a granite vista, looking down on the Gerbode Valley, on the Hawk Camp Trail.


Below: The lunch view: In the background, you can just about see the tips of the Golden Gate Bridge peeking out through the hills.


Below: the more we hiked, the more I understood how interconnected (and closely wound) the trails within the GGNRSA really are. As we walked, using the map and the views ahead and around us, we could see and identify trails we had walked earlier in the day.

It was fun to see trails that we were eventually going to walk on the far off hills. The park designers have packed many miles of trails into a relatively compact area.

This area had at some point in the past been designated for development; we're grateful the people back then had the foresight and the fortitude to protect the land for hiking today.

Below: More views of the Bay Area ridges surrounding the north-eastern part of the park. That might be Diablo in the far regions.


Stats:
Weather: stunning--cool breeze on many hills, warm sunshine, blue skies. 80's.

Driving: 90 mins or so from home.

Trails:

• Most trails are well-worn and popular, so expect some company throughout. Not crowded, however, except at the Miwok Livery/Marincello trailhead where it was packed. The crowds weren't on the Marincello trail, however, so they must have chosen other trails to walk on. Perhaps they preferred the paved trail, down to the Tennessee Beach.


• Take water--no water anywhere on the trail or at the trailheads (except for bottle water in the Visitor Center). I took my 3 liter camelback and drank most of its contents on the hike. It's a mostly exposed hot hike on fire roads, so be prepared with more water than you think you'll need.


• The trails are fairly steep in places; many are rolling. Few are flat. Most trails are exposed; take a hat and sunscreen.

Trail Stats:

Miwok to Old Springs Trail: fire road: 2.4
Old Springs Trail to Marincello trailhead: single track 1.3
Marincello to Bobcat: fire road, dry: 1.5

Bobcat to Alta: fire road, dry: 0.5
Alta to Rodeo Valley: eucalyptus trees, fire road: 0.7
Rodeo Valley to Miwok: double single track: 1.9
Miwok: fire road, dry: 1.5

Plus miscellaneous explores: 1.0
Total: 10.5 miles or so.

Below: Google Earth image of Gerbode Valley--the area within GGNRA for our hike.

More info?
Link to MapAdventures site
Link to GGNRA official site
Link to downloadable trail GGNRA Map from National Parks site

Marin Headlands: Point Bonita/Miwok/Wolf Ridge/Coastal Trails

Sept 14 09: I took the afternoon off work and returned to Marin Headlands because I wanted to visit Point Bonita again to take more pix and because I wanted to take a hike in that beautiful area.

Weather: Warm in the valley (mid-80's--cool for this time of year); on the Marin coast, cool, damp, somewhat windy in areas but beautiful throughout, around mid-high 60s , with drifting fog. By the end of the hike, beautiful blue skies peeking through the low clouds. Definitely a good day to try out mist-resistant, wind-proof items such as my REI Mistral jacket. I wore shorts, which were fine, but I wore my wind-proof beanie for some of the early part of the hike, when the fog was particularly thick, and I was still warming up. Layers were an absolute must on this hike.

Below: This time around at Point Bonita, it was pretty foggy and damp--a nice refreshing change from the Valley heat. The fog allowed me to appreciate all the more the import of the fog horn at the lighthouse. The coast was very hard to see beyond 50 yards or so, so I could see easily how ships could have run aground so frequently before the lighthouse was built. Apparently, the current fog horn is computer-run (not too surprisingly), and it goes off whenever a sensitive laser senses moisture in the air.


In the olden days, they used some poor guy who had to light a cannon every thirty minutes. He couldn't find anyone to take over his shift, so he did that for three days straight and then resigned for some reason (!).

Below: Here are some pics of Point Bonita doing its job in the fog. The cables on the bridge are inspected by the coastguard every six weeks, the boards every month. They're expecting to replace this bridge (which is 50 years old or so) with a new historically accurate bridge in about a year or so.

Below:To get to Point Bonita lighthouse, you have to go through a hand-hewn tunnel sinewing its way through the rock. It must have taken forever to dig through.

Below: Once through the tunnel, you come out here:



Below: Once on the bridge, if you peek over, you can see this arch rock. The bridge itself has replaced the original walkway, built on rock that has long since eroded. in this pic, you can see one of the (rather rusty) bridge cables.

Below: This is the route back up from the lighthouse--very civilized:

After Point Bonita, I wandered back down to the Visitor Center and finally found two good hiking maps to buy--one on Mount Tam area and one on the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. They should be good resources.

The Visitor Center itself has an excellent trail map for free, but it doesn't have topographical details on it, which can be useful sometimes in determining which hikes to do. If you get a Visitor Center map, get two--one for reference at home and one to fold up and use for the hike.

Onward to the hike:
I had decided to do a five miler or so, and I didn't have that long to find it, so I chose hikes close to the Visitor Center and which were loop hikes. That meant that I walked the Miwok Trail to Wolf Ridge and finally onto Coastal Trail--a little over five miles roughly.

Below: The Miwok Trail was quite different (of course) to the Echo Lakes trail. Miwok is really a big damp (on this day) fire road which hugs the side of the hills as it winds up to Wolf Ridge.

It's a beautiful trail with likely beautiful views (although not sea views as far as I could tell; remember it was foggy).

It was pretty quiet; I ran into just four other hikers, two bikers (one of whom promptly fell off as soon as they saw me), and a trail runner. Enough people to think that you'd eventually find someone if you needed someone. It gets steeper as you go further into the hike, but it's not unbearably steep.

Below: Guess which way the wind mostly blows at Marin:

Below: After a mile or so on Miwok, you come to Wolf Ridge Trail- a short pretty and steep single-track trail which takes you to the top of Wolf Ridge (surprise!). It's probably got a great view: sigh. Fog.

Below: Up and around this last corner is the top of the Wolf Ridge: it's a nice short climb:

Below: The trails are well signed:

Below: Actually, despite the good signage, I accidentally went to Hill 88: an old military installation; (this area of the GGNRA is riddled with military structures). This place was interesting but spooky with loose pieces of metal clanging in the foggy wind.

I didn't hang around too long in this area. There was a strange-looking (but probably benign) guy looking at the foggy views--another reason to leave.

Below: The Coastal Trail part of the hike ultimately took me down to Rodeo Beach (which was close to Miwok's Trailhead, where I had left my car). Coastal Trail is paved for some areas, it has dirt for much of it, and periodially it has several interesting series of steps:

Below: Marin Trails are well-signed throughout. The signs and the Visitor Center map make it easy to find your way around:

Below: Coastal takes you all the way to Rodeo Beach--the strip of beach popular with surfers:

Below: You see surfers. I see shark food:

And then, finally, no pix for this part, a pleasant little walk on a quiet road-side trail beside the lagoon and back to the Miwok Trailhead. All in all a wonderful little afternoon.

Point Bonita Lighthouse National Park

Below: View to the Golden Gate bridge from the Point Bonita hike to the lighthouse. Below this cliff, you can see the sealions basking on the rocks. You can also see an old boathouse and boatslide down which they used to push out the rescue boats in the early 1900s.

Below: you can see the wooden bridge to the lighthouse.

Great place to visit; it's in the Marin Headlands in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (so it's a National Park). Teaming with hikes I haven't yet done, today we just went to visit the lighthouse. It's a 0.5 mile walk down (past jagged cliffs looking down onto sealions barking and basking) and white-capped waves. At the bottom of the trail, you wind through a hand-hewn tunnel (worth pondering how much work went into the tunnel as you walk through it), and then you find yourself on a tiny headland.

There, you wait in line for your turn to cross the (slightly rickety) wooden bridge to the actual lighthouse. Only two can cross at a time, so it can take a while if you go during a busy weekend, but it's worth the wait. Take the time to review the interpretive signs while you wait; they're always interesting.

Once across the bridge, you can visit the tiny lighthouse, look at the breath-taking views, review the stunningly high number of shipwrecks before the lighthouse was built, and talk to the ranger.

The bridge to the lighthouse (and the tunnel to the bridge) is only open on certain days/times of the week; check here to see the latest times/days:

http://www.nps.gov/goga/pobo.htm