The original Meandering blog on Google’s Blogger server (http://meanderingtuesdays.blogspot.com) can now can be viewed on smartphones in either the regular “Web version” or the easier-to-read “Mobile version.”  Scroll to the bottom of the page on your phone’s Web browser to toggle between these to viewing methods.

As of today, Dick Jordan has stopped posting updates to the WordPress.com version of the blog (http://meanderinginmarinontuesdays.wordpress.com) which he set up to mirror the Blogger version of the blogger before it was “optimized” for viewing on mobile devices.

Wendy has just e-mailed the detailed list of hikes for the College of Marin Winter 2011 session (February 1 – March 15).  Click here if you need a copy.

The hike dates and a link to the on-line copy of the hike details can also be found on the “Upcoming Hikes”  page on the Meandering blog.

Downhill and level! Maybe we’ll see the first milkmaids of the season!  (Click here for a recap of the hike we did in October of 2009; last January’s hike in this area was rained out).

Remember to bring plate, utensils, cups, and a delicious dish to share at the post-hike luncheon.

This is a shuttle hike, so CALL WENDY AT 457-3949 or send her an e-mail her at bdreskin@comcast.net if you are coming!

Directions to trailhead: Meet at Deer Park to carpool. Take Bolinas Avenue in Fairfax, turn left on Porteous. (If you see Deer Park Villa you’ve gone a bit too far, turn around.) Go to the parking lot at the end. Drivers leave food in cars at Deer Park.  Shuttle drivers will take us to the parking area just beyond the Sky Oaks pay station and leave their cars there.

The day use fee is $8.  You can use $1, $5, or $10 bills and coins at the automated pay station, or a Visa or Mastercard. Annual entrance passes are normally $60 ($30 for those 62 and older), but after September 1st you can buy one for half of those prices and the pass will be valid through January 31, 2011.  (You can pay the annual pass fee at the automated pay station.  Keep one part of the receipt which is a temporary pass good for two weeks, then: 1) stop at the Sky Oaks Ranger Station on the way out and ask them to send the other half of your receipt to the main office in Corte Madera which will issue the permanent pass and mail it to you, or 2) send or take the receipt to the main office yourself).

Restrooms at Deer Park and portable at Sky Oaks, and porta-potty en route. Carpool from St. Rita Church in Fairfax at 9:25 a.m.

Weather forecast: As of Thursday, January 20, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was mostly sunny with a high near 60.  (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: The Martins’ book, Hiking Marin, does not have a hike that matches this one.  But their hikes “C 12 Taylor-Concrete Pipe-Bullfrog FR” and “C7 Deer Park FR-Canyon-Six Points” shows the the general area where we will be hiking as does the MMWD watershed map.

MMWD has informed Dick Jordan Tuesdays that the Bolinas-Fairfax the road will be closed in both directions between Azalea Hill and Ridgecrest Boulevard from January 24 through 28, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

A map of the closed section is available at:

http://www.marinwater.org/documents/AlpineDamClosure.pdf

For more information, please contact:

Dick Paulson

MMWD Senior Construction Inspector

Tele: 415-945-1569

or go to MMWD > Construction Updates at marinwater.org

We scouted this hike in August of 2009 and it was a winner, but rain cancelled our plan to repeat it last winter. We will pass through a pygmy Sargaent cypress area, grasslands, and redwood habitat. There are muddy spots if it has rained, so wear hiking boots and waterproof them.

There is an elevation gain of about 600’.

This is a shuttle hike, so CALL WENDY AT 457-3949 or send her an e-mail her at bdreskin@comcast.net if you are coming!

Directions to meeting point: Meet 0.2 miles past the Shafter Bridge (and Cronin Fish Viewing Area parking lot) in Samuel P. Taylor State Park. There is some parking along the road here. We’ll leave some cars and carpool to Conifer Way in Woodacre.  No restrooms at trailhead. Carpool from St. Rita Church in Fairfax at 9:20 a.m.

Directions to trailhead from meeting point: For those who will drive to the trailhead from the meeting point, here are directions to Conifer Way: Go east on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Turn right on Railroad Avenue. Set your odometer when you turn right on Carson Road. At the 0.6 mile mark you will see a sign saying Ivy that makes you think the name of the street as changed. Go right and you will still be on Carson. Go 0.2 miles to the junction of Carson and Conifer Way. (There is another junction of Carson and Conifer which you will pass and ignore.) Cars that can do an “unmaintained road” can turn left on Conifer Way and go to the top to park. Others with low clearance (like the Prius!) park at Carson and Conifer and we’ll walk up.

Weather forecast: As of Tuesday, January 11, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was sunny with a high near 65. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: On this outing we’ll be hiking through the County of Marin’s Gary Giacomini Open Space Preserve. After starting up the Conifer Fire Road, then head west along the San Geronimo Ridge Fire Road. (Click here for the MCOS District map which shows these trails). Barry Spitz’ book, Open Spaces: Lands of the Marin County Open Space District, discusses this area.
The following Google Earth image shows the area we’ll be hiking through; click on it to open a larger image in your Web browser: