Have I mentioned how much learning we've done on these hikes? I think this hike that Katelyn and I took on January 15th was the time that I REALLY learned how much you can learn from hiking, and all of it unexpected.
We'll start at the beginning. Katelyn and I had been testing hikes in different areas of the county, and on this day we decided to venture down to Marin County and tackle a hike on Mt. Tam. If you're not local, you might call this mountain by it's full name, Mt. Tamalpais. Mt. Tam, like other mountains on the coastal range, was formed as the result of uplift, buckling, and folding of two tectonic plates near the San Andreas fault zone. If you want to learn more about Mt. Tam, I recommend this excellent resource . Today, I'll tell you the story of how we ended up hiking twice as far as we planned, and learned a ton in the process.
The hike started off on a fire road (Pine Mountain) and then we turned on Oat Hill Fire Road. These roads were in good shape, very rocky so not much mud. In fact, I noticed some interesting looking rocks as part of the road. This purple rock looked like something special. When I researched Mt. Tam, I learned that common rock types are graywacke (sandstone), shale, greenstone, chert, quartz tourmaline and the easily-identified green serpentine, California’s official state rock. This one didn't look like the photos I found of any of these, so I guess more rock research needs to be done!
Along the way, we had several mountain bikers pass us. I think this area is very big for mountain bikers, and we later saw more evidence of this. We hiked and hiked, enjoying the views of the forest, valleys, and this beautiful lake. As near as I can tell, that's "Alpine Lake" we were looking at (this fact is important later when we start looking at maps).
After a long time we started to get suspicious though, and finally decided to stop and check the map. At that point we had come upon this sign:
Learning #1 - bring a copy of the map with you, and refer to it often! For this hike, our goal was Carson Falls, which is the yellow #1 on this map. Instead, we had missed the turn and ended up hiking all the way down the trail to the "Old Vee" trail, which is underneath the "Mt. Tamalpais Watershed" label at the bottom of this map. Instead of a 3.7 mile hike, we ended up going almost 9 miles!
Once we figured out that we had missed a turn, we turned around and started back. Katelyn being the smart girl that she was had a copy of the trail map, and noted that there was a "shortcut" to the falls, with a turn on this map located between "Cliff Peak" and "Liberty Peak". No brainer, right? This trail was called "Nail Trail" but in reality it should have been called "Nail Biter Trail". In this picture Katelyn is tired from our long trek back up the hill, but still smiling, confident that the shortcut will soon get us on the right path.
Learning #2: Beware of shortcuts! We should have noticed the steepness of the hill behind Katelyn, or the "no bicycle" sign should have been another clue. But nope, we confidently started off down the hill. Before this hike the idea of hiking poles hadn't even crossed my mind, but I definitely wished I had some before we got too much further! The trail was practically straight down. While we didn't end up sliding on our butts, it was tempting at times. Good thing I don't have bad knees! I didn't take many photos of the path, mostly because I was focused on navigating it, but this one gives you an idea. This was about a 6 foot drop, which had been well-traveled by mountain bikers. So much for the "no bicycles" sign!
As we arrived at the bottom of the hill, I started noticing the trees around me. Many were fairly young, but there were some very mature redwoods, and they all had fire markings on them.
Given the frequency of wildfires in California these days, we are all getting used to the views of forests that have been burned, but this was the first time I had an opportunity to observe what it looked like MUCH LATER. Clearly, the forest had regrown, but the redwoods still bore the scars of that long-ago fire. Learning #3 - Redwood trees DO survive fires!
How long ago, you ask? Curious minds want to know! This sent me on a journey of researching the history of fires in this area. I think I finally pinpointed the fire that led to these markings on the redwoods, but in the process I came upon some artifacts worth sharing. This video shows fires over time, and is sadly entertaining, but it didn't really help me pinpoint the timing of the fire where we were. The Mill Valley Historical Society did an awesome job of compiling eye-witness accounts of the big fire in 1929. While I found this post in Facebook fascinating (including the snakes fleeing the fire on the train tracks!), as near as I can tell the area was not the same. Sure gives you an appreciation for the value of oral histories, though! Finally, I came upon this article which included a map of the fire. It definitely seems like this map overlaps the area we were hiking in. So I THINK the fire was in 1945, so we were looking at Redwoods that were burned nearly 80 years ago.
You'd think that was the end of our adventure, right? One thing that did cross my mind - how did all those mountain bikers get back UP the hill? As we continued to traverse the trail back up the hill, I figured they would have had a very hard time of it, and I didn't see tracks like we had earlier. I later learned from talking to someone that mountain bikers will have someone pick them up at the bottom. Seems like cheating, doesn't it?
We saw some lovely views, including this Redwood full of ferns, and crossed a creek with a very picturesque bridge. We MUST be getting close now, right?
We sat by the stream and had a snack break, then continued on. We FINALLY found Carson Falls. Disappointingly there wasn't much water, likely due to the lack of rain this year. But I captured the trickle on video for you!
From here on, it was a steep climb up the hill next to the creek. Not for those who are afraid of heights, but it definitely got my heart rate going. I think those 26 minutes of cardio showing on my fitbit were from that part of the hike.
I think the most interesting thing on the return hike was the stairs that were part of the trail. Based on what I know now, I suspect this is green serpentine. Sure was common on this trail!
At the top of the falls, believe it or not, Katelyn is STILL SMILING!
I could imagine if we hadn't already had all the other excitement, we would have spent more time reading the signage and appreciating the scenery, but at this point we were starting to get hungry and just wanted to get back.
One last photo as we came back down the fire road. Learning #4: Take selfies at the beginning of the hike, BEFORE you get all sweaty! (You notice Katelyn doesn't even look like she's broken a sweat!!!)
As we neared the car, the sun was setting. Supposedly they want you off the trail by sunset so we felt like we just made it!
In addition to the 2 hours and 50 minutes of cardio, my fitbit shows that I had 23,602 steps that day, and climbed 170 flights of stairs! I'd say that's a good workout!
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