Day Hike: Redwood Regional Park Loop II

Being one of the unemployed masses means I can hike when the gainfully employed world is stuck in their grayish beige cubes. This epiphany motivated me to get off my butt on a Friday afternoon and go on a local hike. Previously, on a rainy gray day I had done the mirror version of this hike, so I wanted to explore the "other side" figuratively and literally and start out at the opposite end of the park on a warm, dry (and windy) November day. Hike Details Date: November 14, 2008 Location: CA, Bay Area, Redwood Regional Park, Oakland Lat/Long: 37.8317, -122.18544 Trailhead: Skyline Gate TH Facilities: restrooms, drinking water, pay phone Trails Hiked: West Ridge, French, Mill, & Stream Mileage: 5.5 Elevation: +/-1,060' ; lo pt 735'; hi pt 1,345' Route Type: Loop Terrain: double track (small rocks); single track (roots); and then more well-maintained double track Why go?: Oak Woodland/Pine, Redwood Forest, & Riparian plant communities; dark forest feel at canyon bottom, spawning trout in Redwood Creek and newts in wet season, dog friendly park. East Bay Regional Parks official website: Redwood Regional Park
	Trailhead at Skyline Gate. Eucalyptus and pine trees, but no redwoods here. (I started on the high road and returned via the low.)
One is Never Alone My hopes of being a solo trail hog were soon dashed as I pulled into the VERY FULL trailhead parking lot. Either the economy is crappier then the government is letting on (which it is) or there are a lot of independently wealthy outdoor enthusiasts (I wish I was) or many people only work a half-day on Friday (I feel robbed for all those years of 8-hour Fridays) or who knows. All I know is I was not going to be alone this weekday. A bonus note is that many of these work truants traveling the trails owned big happy friendly dogs—and I love big happy friendly dogs.
	Pretty trail through the oaks.
Deep Dark Forest Starting out on a ridge at the Skyline Gate staging area, across the street from multi-million dollar bay-view homes, you wouldn't quite understand why this park is called Redwood Regional as you mostly see pine and eucalyptus trees ahead of you. And continuing down West Ridge Trail, you enter oak woodland filled with lots of California hazelnut, bay laurel trees, madrone trees, oak trees, huckleberry bushes, pine (not sure if they are Monterey or knobcone, but definitely pine) and many others. But descend farther, and the oak and madrone trees become older, the underbrush sparser, and the sunlight dimmer. As you get closer to the bottom of the ridge it gets much darker, and suddenly, you are amongst those giant conifer trees—Sequoia sempervirens a.k.a Coast Redwood, hundreds of feet tall, blocking out the majority of light. It feels as if you've entered a fairy-tale forest—moist, dark and cool.
	Oak trees on French Trail as I'm getting closer to the dark canyon floor.
	In the dark forest amongst redwood trees near the intersection of French and Tres Sendas trails.
Diablo Winds Today, due to the warm, dry air, this moist, dark coolness is welcomed, however it is accompanied with danger. The "Diablo Winds"— S.F. Bay Area's version of southern California's Santa Ana winds—are blowing hard. This weather phenomenon, like the Santa Ana's, is a dry, warm wind that comes out of the state's interior usually during the driest season of the year—fall. But when I speak of danger, I'm not talking about what most people think—fire; I'm talking about what loggers like to call "widow makers". Redwood trees have a self-pruning method that employs the help of winds. When their lower branches die and become a heavy burden, they usually get knocked off during a strong wind. Some of these branches are the size of a lesser tree's trunk. Hence, getting knocked in the head by one of these "widow makers" is a good way to get yourself injured or killed. While passing under these swaying giants, I kept an eye on the sky and my fingers crossed.
(Redwood Regional Park loop hike topo map. Click for larger.)

Day hike: Ahhh, the smells...

PB020360 Originally uploaded by bondgurl

I wanted to revisit Muir Woods, Mount Tam and Bootjack trail since it was so lovely a couple weeks before. Luckily it had also rained hard the two days previous so the forest was flush with renewal...and TREE FARTS. Unlike animals, trees (and bushes) smell really good when they release their body odors. Hints of orange, cinnamon, cedar, incense, pine, and other olfactory pleasures filled the air. Dayhike Notes:

• Date: November 2, 2008
• Location: CA - Bay Area - Muir Woods National Monument / Mount Tamalpais State Park
• Lat/Long: 37.8926506, -122.572197 (NAD83 / WGS84)
• Trailhead: Muir Woods Main Entrance
• Trails Hiked: Main Trail, Camp Eastwood, Plevin Cut, Sierra, Troop 80, Bootjack, Main
• Mileage: 5.0
• Elevation: +/-1,000; Lo Pt 150'; Hi Pt 1,050'
• Route Type: lollipop loop
• Trail Terrain(s): some paved; well maint double track; single track; roots, wood / rock steps, bridges
• Nature Notes: Riparian, Redwood Forest, Mixed Evergreen, Chaparral; Fresh good smells from recent rain, Perennial Stream (Redwood Creek), Deciduous Bigleaf Maples, Ladybug Swarms.

Visit my photo album for this hike, click here.

click for larger map

California Indian Pink (Silene californica)

PA190304 Originally uploaded by bondgurl

Yay! I figured out what flower this is. It's California Indian Pink (Silene californica). Today, since the rain caused a traffic freak-out and the bridge was absolutely horrible, I decided to exit the madness and stroll around S.F.s REI (my only shopping addiction). To kill time, I spent an hour browsing their book section. At one point I decided to search the wildflower guides to see if I could find it. I found one that looked similar but didn't have the yellow stamins. After I got home, it was U.C. Berkeley's Calphotos to the rescue! I looked up "indian pink" and VIOLA! I love calphotos.berkeley.edu

Rain!!!

Today we've received the first real rainstorm of the season, YAY! It's supposed to rain throughout the weekend which means a nice, stormy Halloween and a wet hike for me on Sunday...I look forward to it. I've noticed that the leaves of all the trees and bushes, urban and forest alike, are covered in a think layer of dust, soot, and grime giving them a dull gray appearance (whether they be green, gold, or brown leaves). Hopefully it will poor down hard enough to make them sparkle again (and my car too...it needs a bath). (Also of note: I placed a module for the Oakland, CA weather report in the left hand sidebar of this page that includes sun/moon rise and set...I'm such a nerd.)

Day Hike: Muir Woods Mt. Tam Loop

I remember seeing big leaf maple trees turning yellow in Muir Woods National Monument last year, so in my quest for Bay Area fall color, I thought this would make a nice destination for a hike. (Plus, I also remembered that my National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass would cover the admission fee. Excellent!) HIKE STATS: Trailhead: Muir Woods National Monument Length: 6 mile lollipop loop hike Elevation change: 1500 feet gain/loss Trails: Muir Woods Main Trail, Bootjack, TCC, Stapleveldt, Ben Johnson, back to Muir Woods Main. Terrain: Main Trail is mostly paved and wheelchair accessible; the rest is well maintained single track with some roots and wood stairs. Trip date: October 19, 2008 My photo album at flickr (click here).
	Entrance to Muir Woods National Monument
Muir Woods in the Morning I arrived at the parking lot shortly after 9 am wanting to get there early because I knew that Muir Woods can be a people zoo usually consisting of San Francisco tourists that want to whiz through to catch a quick glimpse at big redwood trees. (Personally, I prefer the redwoods of Big Basin and Henry Cowell as far as local old-growth giant specimens are concerned, but I wasn't here just for the redwoods.) Unfortunately about half a dozen cars pulled up at the same time as me. Luckily most were also the quiet types looking for peace in the woods. There was also my desire for "good" light. I wanted to try and get some decent photos of the trees, particularly the maples, with nice, canopy-filtered, morning light.
	Maple leaf in Muir Woods on the main trail
The Secret Life of Ladybugs Along the trail I saw bunches of sleeping ladybugs. (I also saw this the week before in Mt. Diablo S.P.) Ladybugs go dormant during the cold months hanging out en masse on objects such as a nice log or sometimes a house returning to the same spot yearly - bet you didn't know that! Also, when threatened, they literally bleed a toxin out of their exoskeleton joints that apparently tastes bad and smells bad too (At Henry Cowell S.P. I had to dress up in a lady bug costume and tell little kids to smell a box full of live ones. "Here, smell this. It stinks!").
	Cluster of sleeping ladybugs
	Thousands of ladybugs on branches
Bootjack and the Maples Big leaf maples are deciduous and live along the Pacific West Coast mostly from the Bay Area to southwest parts of Alaska, but can be found in Southern California and the Western Slopes of the Sierras. Maple syrup can be made from its sap but has a different flavor than the sugar maple and isn't widely used. Bootjack trail out of Muir Woods is a nice place to see big leaf maples. It follows Redwood Creek, a perennial stream, up to Van Wyck Meadow and eventually to Bootjack picnic area in Mt. Tamalpais State Park. Even though it is all up hill from Muir Woods, the lightly running creek with it's trickling cascades and the yellow foliage of the maples interspersed in the mixed evergreen forest make it a really pleasant fall-season trail.
	Big leaf maple on Bootjack Trail
Van Wyck Meadow At the junction of several trails, the meadow is a fairly unspectacular small flat with a few big boulders strewn about to sit on and eat a trail snack and listen to birds. It's also a good place to listen to the huffing and puffing and posturing of an inexperienced macho out-of-shape tourist complain loudly in a voice of authority to his lady friend about how steep that trail was (voice in my head says, "if you think that's steep buddy, I've got a trail for you…").
	Van Wyck Meadow
TCC and Stapleveldt Trails TCC is a nearly level trail that laterals the contours of several small ridges, that weave in and out of the watershed above Muir Woods on Mt. Tam S.P. property. In the shady deep folds of TCC there are some nice fern grottos, and on the dryer ridges, young oak and bay laurel trees. Eventually I came to a confusing trail junction, but after consulting my topo map, I turned southeast/left after the bridge taking the "low road" and in about 50 feet found the sign for Stapleveldt trail to Ben Johnson trail. Stapleveldt trail is a steep yet well designed and graded set of switchbacks that drop you quickly into the small canyon to eventually join Ben Johnson Trail.
	Wildflower near Van Wyck Meadow (haven’t figured out what it is yet…if you know please share!) UPDATE: California Indian Pink (Silene californica)
Ben Johnson Trail This trail a consistent decline, but not too much of a toe-jammer. It seemed to be more populated with people coming up from Muir Woods than the other trails. Ben Johnson trail descends amongst redwood forest with a couple big leaf maples here and there but in my opinion not as pretty as Bootjack. The unnamed creek that it follows was dry, but it may make this trail much prettier when it is flowing in the spring. It joins up with Muir Woods main trail and Hillside Trail at Bridge 4. Since I had taken Hillside Trail on a previous hike and found it to be crowded and no more "scenic" than the main trail, I took Muir Woods Main Trail back to the trailhead.
	Burnt-out old-growth redwood (with abandoned toilet paper thrown on the ground behind it—not pictured.)
Struggling like a spawning salmon through throngs of tourists with loud children and bulky strollers on the main trail, I had to suppress the urge to lecture them about the evils of abandoning bundles of toilet paper behind rocks and trees and underneath bushes. For their part, they must have thought I was some sort of nutjob with my trekking poles, backpacking boots, nylon cargo pants, GPS, two cameras, and a nalgene hanging off of my backpack for what they assumed was just a stroll on the (mostly paved) main trail. Eventually I made it through the hoards and back to the entrance unscathed and without screaming or lecturing anyone about the vices of T.P.
(click on the map for a larger version.)
If you'd like to go, check out these links: Muir Woods National Monument Mt. Tamalpais State Park