Bay Area Guidebooks

GUIDEBOOKS NEWS BLOG FREE DOWNLOADS PARK LINKS

Mount Tamalpais in the Snow

February 20, 2011
I was scheduled to work at the Gravity Car Barn on Mount Tamalpais today, but I heard yesterday that there was seven inches of snow up there and the road was closed beyond Pantoll. I was really excited about seeing the mountain in snow, but was afraid it would be all melted by the time I got up there this morning. I didn't have to worry. As I drove up the mountain just before sunrise, I could see that there was still a lot of snow - much more than I expected. I had to take it slow, because the road winds around a lot of perilous blind curves, but I was still low enough in elevation that there was no ice yet.

The road was still closed beyond Pantoll, so I parked at Bootjack and hiked up the Bootjack Trail. Within minutes I started coming into the first patches of snow. The trail was really rough - a lot downed trees. By the time I got to the Mountain Theater, everything was covered in snow. I continued on the Rock Springs Trail to the West Point Inn, a beautiful stretch of trail lined with manzanita and toyon. At the West Point Inn, I got onto the Old Railroad Grade, a wide fire road that was treacherous with black ice and slush. I now began too see other people - lots of mountain bikers trying to maneuver the slippery passages between drifts of snow.

Once up at the parking lot, I took a look at the road and started to think it was probably not going to open today. I wasn't sure if I wanted to open the Gravity Car Barn if there weren't going to be any visitors. I took a look at the Barn and realized I would not be able to push our replica Gravity Car out onto the 50 feet of track that we have - there was way too much snow. The side door was blocked by a drift that had been falling from the roof all night long. I decided to hike to the Lookout Tower at the summit, have an early lunch, and see if many more people showed up. The quarter mile trail to the summit is always rocky and rough, but covered in snow and ice it was downright deadly. I made my way up extremely slowly and carefully, watching every single step. I was rewarded grandly - the view from the top was stupendous. The snow illuminated the rocky summit, the City was glowing in the distance, and Mount Diablo rose above the eastern horizon with even more snow.

I went back down to the parking lot and hiked the Verna Dunshee Trail, a normally easy trail that makes a loop around the outside of the summit. It is mostly flat and paved, but it was still a challenge with all the snow. The manzanita lining the trail was full of blossoms, interspersed with mounds of fluffy snow - quite a show. I got back to the Gravity Car Barn and decided to open it early, if only to turn the heat on and warm up for a while. A couple of hikers wandered in, and a mountain biker, but it was still not the kind of crowds that come on a normal Sunday. Then a big group of hikers showed up, and they were grateful to come inside and sit down in the Gravity Car. They had a lot of questions about the old railroad and were really excited to see that we had preserved some of its history.

Then a few more people started to trickle in, so I decided to keep the Barn open for a while. A group of skiers came by, and a lot more mountain bikers. It was fairly crowded considering that the road was not open. By early afternoon, the snow was slowly fading away and the crowds began to diminish. I closed the Barn early, since I still had a long hike ahead of me to get back to Bootjack. A spectacular day - the first time I've ever seen the mountain in snow.

February 4, 2011
I spent all day yesterday on Angel Island, part of the time at my volunteer job at the Immigration Station, and the rest of the day hiking. I was reveling in the glorious and unusual weather we have been having these past few weeks. While much of the country is buried under one savage blizzard after another, the Bay Area has been warm, dry, and sunny for most of the year so far. The hills are bright green, the air is clear and crisp, and the first wildflowers are starting to appear. After such a rainy December, we don't even have to worry about a drought yet.

February is very quiet on Angel Island, with few visitors going to the state park, especially on a weekday. Ferryboat service is very limited, but as a volunteer, I was able to take the state boat at 8:30 AM. I arrived on the island 10 minutes later, a world away from traffic and urban congestion. I hiked up the North Ridge Trail to the Fire Road, taking in the euphoric beauty of an enchanted forest of coast live oaks weaving a springtime canopy over the trail. I stopped at a sunny rock outcrop to read, write, and soak in the sun. Looking out over Racoon Strait, I could see Mount Tamalpais on the horizon and hear the barking of sea lions around the Bay.

When I got to the Immigration Station, I found out the only tour I had to lead was at 12:30, so I had some time to wander around the grounds and meet some of the new employees. The tour group was a big one - 32 schoolchildren and nine adults, on a field trip from Chico. The kids were very exhuberant and curious, eager to learn the stories of the Angel Island Immigration Station. I started the tour off by asking for a volunteer from the audience and almost all of their hands shot up. I asked a girl standing next to me to come forward and ring the massive bronze fogbell that graces the waterfront. Her eyes widened in joy at being chosen for this task and it took all her strength to swing the clapper of the bell against the side and get a loud gong to reverberate around the cove. I took the group up into the Detention Barracks and showed them the Chinese poetry on the walls, explaining how this building that had once been a jail was now a major cultural monument. It was amazing to see kids so young understand complex social issues such as racism, discrimination, and bias against immigrants - from their many questions, I could tell they knew that these things were wrong. One boy came up to me after the tour and said "Thank you, I really learned a lot today." That made the whole day a great experience for me.

After the tour, I had three hours until the ferryboat left Ayala Cove, so I made the ambitious ascent to the top of the island, Mount Livermore. At 740 feet above sea level, the summit of the island offers a spectacular 360 degree panorama of much of the Bay Area. The San Francisco skyline is spread out dramatically on the distant shore, just beyone Alcatraz, while the Golden Gate Bridge is glowing in the afternoon sun. Big bushes of coyote brush, with their fuzzy seedpods opening up in the wind, surrounded the picnic table where I sat and took it all in. I took the Sunset Trail back down, and it was lined with some early blooming wildflowers, including the stunning Star Lily, with its clusters of white stars shining on the hillsides. Every time I go to Angel Island, I feel like there is not enough time. I just barely made the 5:00 boat back to the mainland.

Coast Live Oaks Form an Enchanted Forest on the North Ridge Trail

Star Lily in Bloom on Angel Island

Paolo the Sea Lion Heads Back to the Ocean

February 1, 2011
Paolo, a female sea lion, was released back to the ocean at Rodeo Beach this morning. She had been a patient at the Marine Mammal Center for the past month and a half, suffereing from a bacterial infection called leptospirosis. After her admission, it was discovered that she was pregnant, although there were complications and her baby was stillborn. She shared a pen with Joulu, another sea lion who was released a couple of weeks ago. When I went in to clean her pen last Friday, she was very energetic and especially curious about the new sea lion that had just been moved into the pen next to hers. She seemed like she had fully recovered from her trauma. She was supposed to be joined on her release by Fuerte, a male sea lion who also had leptospirosis. Unfortunately, Fuerte did not pass his exam exam and will be held at the Center for another couple of months. It was a cold foggy morning at Rodeo Beach, with few people around to see the spectacle, except for a Belgian film crew, who were there scouting locations for a documentary on the culture of the American West. This story should make a great episode in their film. Watching Paolo return to the sea was a truly gratifying experience, an affirmation that our hard work had paid off.