Mount Tamalpais

Think Bank Holiday Monday in the UK.  That's a decent place to start.  We spent almost three hours in the car yesterday on our trip to the Flea Market on Treasure Island and dropping Faye and her buffet back to Sunset.  The traffic in San Francisco has been horrific all weekend so when I saw the sign on the Golden Gate Bridge telling us that Muir Woods carpark was full then I figured we were probably in for a crowded day.  Fortunately for us, everyone did indeed stop at Muir Woods, apparently nobody was keen on Mount Tamalpais (Mount Tam to her friends).

It's pretty big at 2574 feet and the great thing (for us with young children) is that there's a car park 0.3 miles from the East Peak summit which is kind of cheating I know....  After the customary toilet break and quick snack, we set off on the walk / climb to East Peak.  Things didn't start all that well with Isla dragging her feet, collecting stones and walking back down the slope whenever I looked away.  Jo took over the "difficult" one and I tried keeping up with Rose (who now loves real rock climbing apparently) and Owen.  Jo's motivational skills worked a treat and they were not too far behind us, still finding time to collect stones of course.  The trail started as a gently sloping boardwalk, then steps.  Next came the rocky path and the last 30 metres or so was full on rock climbing.

The summit offers truly spectacular views of the bay area: San Francisco, Oakland, Golden Gate (the top of one tower), Bay and Richmond - San Rafael bridges, Larkspur, Angel Island, San Quentin State Penitentiary, Alcatraz, Marin Headlands, Mount Diablo, Point Reyes and the Pacific Ocean - a total 360 degree view.

We stopped for a hearty picnic lunch although persuading Rose to remain seated instead of pursuing her (now) lifelong dream to become an internationally recognised rock climber proved rather challenging.  Jo tried (in vain) to explain the dangers of falling from the rocks.  She just informed us that she wasn't going to fall so all the potential dangers were pretty much irrelevant.

Owen then lead us around the mountain top, following a few small trails and paths.  Rather than descend along the same route we saw what looked like a likely route back to the car park and set off down the "landslide" route (according to Owen - he'd rather we'd have taken the other route).  Fortune favours the brave however and we made it back down safely.

After another toilet stop and a further small snack (it had been at least 20 minutes since lunch), we headed off round the more leisurely Verna Dunshee Trail.  I thought this was pretty amazing.  It's a wheel chair accessible, mile long circular path 100 feet or so below East Peak.  Some of the things we saw included:

- The white radar dome on the West Peak which was originally built be the US Air Force but is now used by the FAA.

- Mount Diablo which rises to 3890 feet and is 35 miles away.

- Plenty of Turkey Vultures flying around and below us.

- Lake Lagunitas and Bon Tempe which are man made lakes created and operated by Marin Municipal Water District which provide 65-75% of the water for the region.

  

At the very top is the Gardner fire lookout which is manned voluntarily during the "fire season".  This site was previously home to an observatory to signal the approach of incoming ships.  The current building was constructed in 1935 and contains maps and appropriate instruments to allow the warden to pin point a fire from many miles away.