Stinson Beach to Mount Tamalpais Day Hike

      I will be leading a trip up Mount Whitney (14,505ft) in a couple weeks and in an attempt to prepare ourselves, Sayyed and I hiked up the closest and tallest peak in our area. At a whopping 2,572ft Mount Tamalpais affords some of the best views of the bay area; which most of the time is a thick blanket of fog. Although you can technically drive to the top (it was tempting) we really needed to get our butts into gear.

    We started our hike at Stinson beach in a misty ravine along the Matt Davis Trail, emerged from the woods to golden rolling hills, traipsed along thick chaparral with taunting views of the peak, lunched in the sun about a mile from the top at the West Point Inn, and trudged along an unsightly fire road to finally make it to the windy summit about fours hours from our start time. The view was great but then it was the hard part, the hike down. We zoned out and hobbled back down the mountain only to go from sun and wind to fog and, well, more wind. Gotta love the bay area. Overall we hiked 17 miles in about 9 hours (with lots of breaks of course).

 Most of the tough uphill was during the first two miles.

Our first good view with the peak(to the left) at about 5miles in.

 

 2,571ft, it's a doozy

 The formidable looking ranger station at the top

 Trying not to get blown away

 View looking southwest

View of the bay. The Richmond Bridge is on the left and San Francisco is hiding under the fog to the right. The towns below are where all the rich people live. :)

  Back down into the fog

Although the hike was long there really wasn't much elevation change. Next week we'll really have to hit the trail hard to be prepared. Overall this wasn't my favorite hike but it was really pretty and a great accomplishment. On to the next mountain!!!

Date: 6/10/2014
Location: Mount Tamalpais State Park
Tails: Matt Davis Trail to fireroad