Mt. Tamalpais

Lori and I headed out to Mt. Tamalpais recently. It is about a two hour drive from where we live and is located just north of San Francisco. The close proximity to 'The City' means that it is very popular and can be very crowded. We went on a cool January day and there was some chance of rain forcasted.

The drive out was a bit tedious and Lori got a little carsick. She took over the driving on the windy road that leads down to Stinson Beach, where the trailhead is.

After parking and finding the beginning of the trail, we hiked up Dipsea trail. There was a small group of girls hiking behind us, they were talking so loudly that we started getting annoyed. After unsuccessfully trying to hike well ahead of them, we finally let them past and enjoyed the relative peace.

Photograph of map at half way point

There were not a lot of people on the trail compared to normal but it was still well used.

Traffic Jam at The Ladder

The rain started around 2pm and came down fairly steady. Lori had brought her rain jacket (smart) and I brought my wind jacket (not as smart). I did eventually get pretty wet on top but surprisingly my REI pants, that I bought for traveling in, were remarkably dry. I think because they are so light, that my body heat was drying them out as they got wet. I really like these pants, they very comfortable, if you want to learn more you can find them here: REI

We finished the 5 mile loop in about 2 hours and made it back to the car wet but happy.

Our belly's were reminding us that we hadn't eaten since breakfast and we were really excited to go to the Indian restaurant in Dixon on our way home. Our friend Rakesh says that this is the closest to Indian home cooking he has had in the US and we all agree that it is very tasty.