Saturday, June 04, 2011

Saturday scenes and scenery: a hike from mountain to sea

The arrival of out-of-town visitors meant a chance to show off my playgrounds in Marin County.

ghost forest.jpg
First stop, this ghostly forest on the Dipsea Trail, downhill from Pantoll in Mt. Tam State Park, walking towards the ocean. Mount Tam is not one of the 70 state parks that will be closed in September because rich Californians refuse to pay taxes.

tree trunks.jpg
There's a stand of young redwood trees just below that really does look like this.

redwood sprigs.jpg
Close up, the trees are sprouting.

overlooking stinson beach.jpg
Suddenly we break out into light as clouds part and the panorama of Stinson Beach comes in sight.

meadows above the woods.jpg
After lunch, we make the hike up the Matt Davis Trail out into a meadow along the Coastal Trail and back to Pantoll.

3 comments:

Civic Center said...

Wonderful photos. I love that hike though my right knee is probably not going to allow it ever again. And of course I was always a slacker who would take the Golden Gate Transit bus back from Stinson Beach to the Pantoll parking lot.

Went to your church on Thursday for the first time. It's really beautiful.

Sarah Lawton said...

I love this hike! Glad this well-used park will be spared the axe (for now), heartbroken at the effective coup of the anti-tax folks that is undermining the commons.

janinsanfran said...

Hey Mike -- we not only hiked up, but the youngster who is a future US Olympic biathlete contender RAN up and down the Matt Davis just to let off energy. Scary!