The North Slope
A delirious descent from Mount Tam to the lakes of the Watershed.
Laurel Dell wasn't as I remembered. It wasn't the gentle descent to Portrero Meadows
that I was expecting-- perhaps an easy mistake to make considering Kenny and I had started out fresh the first time having
driven out to the trailhead.
This time I rode from San Francisco (taking Tenderfoot and Old Railroad Grade to the summit, then
heading west along Ridgecrest),
and by now every little rise in the trail-- and there were plenty-- became a memorable, painful
ordeal. I figure blood flow by now was mainly distributed in the legs and intestines, drawing every little calorie
from the late lunch I bought at the East Peak, which left precious little for my brain.
It was all a weary, dizzy ride out to Portrero Meadows, then down the Lagunitas fireroad.
The plan for today was to check out the Rocky Ridge fireroad that leads north to the Bon Tempe dam.
Photos
Click to expand
Passing down the shady trail toward Laurel Dell, which was nor far down the trail from here, just beyond the next
stream crossing.
After Laurel Dell there were a series of climbs
and descents, mainly climbs, east to Portrero Meadows (check out the
photo of it in the Mount Tam section).
The first shot is just beyond Portero Meadows,
starting the descent down the Lagunitas fireroad toward the lakes of the watershed.
About two-thirds of the way down, a left fork doubles back to begin the northward
descent along Rocky Ridge. This part, on the second shot, takes on more the character of Pine Mountain--
speaking of which, both picture have Pine Mountain there in the background.
The Rocky Ridge trail maintains a steady contour along the ridge for a little while.
Is Rocky Ridge all that rocky? Put it this way: yes, but not as bad as the fireroads on San Geronimo Ridge,
or even the upper parts of the Eldridge Grade. But there's one really nasty stretch for 50 feet or so.
A picture should have gone here, but I forgot to take it because I was too busy pushing my bike up that section.
Maybe in a later ride I can slip it in.
This is along the final descent from the ridge, and the dam between Bon Tempe Lake and Alpine
lake is the escape route to Sky Oaks Road. By this time, with the
fatigue and trail vibrations, it was taking some effort to hold the camera still.
Not bad lakefront real estate. This is midway along the dam, looking across the lake to the north face of Mount Tam.
And this is from the end of the dam, looking at Alpine Lake extending back into the watershed toward Bolinas Ridge.
Stupid telephone poles.
Hunting season, anyone? Don't think that's going to happen in
Marin, although these guys don't look in any danger of going extinct. This is along Sky Oaks Road cranking up to
Lake Lagunitas.
On the second shot I'm cruising along the banks Lake Lagunitas,
and the water looked nice enough to go for a swim, but had to climb up the lower parts of
Eldridge Grade to get to Blithedale Ridge before sunset.
From there it's a steep and bumpy descent to Mill Valley, then the long straightaway out to Sausalito.
My butt was seriously sore by now, so here I'm resting by the Sausalito ferry docks for a few minutes.
The ferry is arriving with Angel Island in the background.
Is it going back to San Francisco?
Can you drop me off at Baker Beach? Please?
Gotta start shopping for a new seat or something.
I was running quite a bit behind schedule, and darkness had fallen by the time I reached the bridge.
But the nice part of riding the pedestrian side
at night is to see the city lights of San Francisco, the Bay Bridge and the East Bay.
Plus there is hardly anywhere near the usual number of pedestrians.
Earlier I bought a map from the snack bar at the East Peak-- "A Rambler's Guide to the Trails of Mt. Tamalpais
and the Marin Headlands" which if you ride Mount Tam and the Headlands from San Francisco like I do it
has just about all the trail and contour information you could hope for. It was eight bucks, which seemed high
but worth it for the information.
Contact info is: The Olmsted & Bros. Map Co., P.O. Box 5351, Berkeley, CA 94705, (510) 658-6534.
(b. June 15, 2003)
Back to Mount Tamalpais.
Back to Gatetrails.com.
The first shot is just beyond Portero Meadows,
starting the descent down the Lagunitas fireroad toward the lakes of the watershed.
About two-thirds of the way down, a left fork doubles back to begin the northward
descent along Rocky Ridge. This part, on the second shot, takes on more the character of Pine Mountain--
speaking of which, both picture have Pine Mountain there in the background.
The Rocky Ridge trail maintains a steady contour along the ridge for a little while.
This is along the final descent from the ridge, and the dam between Bon Tempe Lake and Alpine
lake is the escape route to Sky Oaks Road. By this time, with the
fatigue and trail vibrations, it was taking some effort to hold the camera still.
Not bad lakefront real estate. This is midway along the dam, looking across the lake to the north face of Mount Tam.
And this is from the end of the dam, looking at Alpine Lake extending back into the watershed toward Bolinas Ridge.
Stupid telephone poles.
Hunting season, anyone? Don't think that's going to happen in
Marin, although these guys don't look in any danger of going extinct. This is along Sky Oaks Road cranking up to
Lake Lagunitas.
On the second shot I'm cruising along the banks Lake Lagunitas,
and the water looked nice enough to go for a swim, but had to climb up the lower parts of
Eldridge Grade to get to Blithedale Ridge before sunset.
From there it's a steep and bumpy descent to Mill Valley, then the long straightaway out to Sausalito.
My butt was seriously sore by now, so here I'm resting by the Sausalito ferry docks for a few minutes.
The ferry is arriving with Angel Island in the background.
Is it going back to San Francisco?
Can you drop me off at Baker Beach? Please?
Gotta start shopping for a new seat or something.