The Trails Challenge November 24, 2012

As part of a yearlong celebration of its 50^th Anniversary, the Point Reyes National Seashore fostered the 2012 Trails Challenge.  I signed up for the “Five Habitats Challenge” which involved hiking at least one trail in each habitat:  Coastal Scrub, Coniferous Forest, Estuarine Wetlands and Waterways, Grasslands/Pastoral Zone, and Ocean Shoreline.  I was late in committing to this project, so I had to make good in just a few weekends in October.  I set myself a personal challenge, to hike not only one new trail in each habitat, but also all the bits of each category that I hadn't encountered before.  This would take some doing, so I lined up a few wonderfully willing friends to walk with me.

First stop (Saturday, October 6):  McClure’s beach part of the Coastal Scrub series.  How is it possible that I had never walked here before?  This little jewel of a trail took us out to the ocean just west of Pierce Point Ranch.  In the late afternoon of high tide and perfect clarity, my faithful walking buddy and I headed south along the coastal cliffs and through a little gap that allowed us to view Elephant Rock.  The sea held pockets of deep emerald and sapphire, and the rocks sizzled with the gold and orange hues of the setting sun.

The next day, I dragged my companion, now somewhat weary from a bad cold but game nevertheless, out for a hike that covered two habitats: Grasslands/Pastoral Zone and Coniferous Forest.  We chose a 10-mile loop from Randall spur trail, south along the Olema Trail with its bay trees and berries, a hop over a bend in the Olema Creek, up the Teixeira Trail, whose steepness was softened by switchbacks and a bed of leaves underfoot, north through a cathedral of Douglas Fir on the Ridge Trail, down the Bolema Trail, hard-packed, rutted and dusty from horses, then back south along the Olema Trail, and returning to the car via the Randall spur.  Though well-maintained, the trails were flanked by quite a lot of red poison oak, so we headed home straight-away for de-tox, augmented by wine on the deck.

The following weekend, I enlisted a fresh recruit.  We chose a flat and easy jaunt for the morning of Saturday, October 13: the Rift Trail (another in the Grasslands Habitat series).  We left a car at the Five Brooks Ranch and drove to Bear Valley where, just a few steps beyond the visitor center, the Rift Trail began.  The only downside of this lovely and geologically exhilarating hike was the profusion of dung along the way, both cow and horse, the latter of which were particularly difficult to avoid on some of the narrowly grooved paths.  We took turns at the lead, interjecting the word “Poop” into the conversation to warn the next in line, until finally my friend stopped short, turned to me, and said, “General poop warning.”

Sunday (October 14) was the day for the Estuarine Wetlands and Waterways habitat, and we chose a 9.2-mile loop (designed to close the gaps I had in this category) formed by the upper part of the Muddy Hollow Road Trail to White Gate (which is neither white nor a gate) and to a 5.2-mile stretch of the Estero Trail.  We ambled along bishop pine, cypress, coyote bush, a few glistening ponds and estuaries, even spied some elk (we surmised) in the distance, and rested once on a bench overlooking Drakes Beach and Chimney Rock.  Ah, what beauty!

I lured yet another buddy into doing the Inverness Ridge Trail with me on Sunday October 21, after having walked with her on the annual MALT hike up Black Mountain the day before.  This trail is not to be confused with the Ridge Trail – a more southern route, completed on October 7 – but a gently canopied route accessed by Mt. Vision Road from the North.  The road’s gate is often locked in days of high fire danger, so I was happy to grab the opportunity to take it with her by car shuttle, thereby both traversing it in the downhill direction and completing the Coniferous Forest category.  

By the end of October, I was running out of both trails and weekends to complete them when the Trails Challenge was extended for another month.  With early November clogged by work commitments, I was counting on a convergence of clear weather and my daughter’s appearance for the Thanksgiving holiday to check off the final entry of the Ocean Shoreline series: Sculptured Beach.

Both came through!  Annie and I arrived at Point Reyes on Thanksgiving night, sleepy, stuffed, and yes, thankful.  The sky was clear and the moon was brilliant, signaling good weather for a hike.  On Friday (November 23), we donned shorts and T-shirts for our trek.  Listed as only 0.2 miles in length, Sculptured Beach is so remote that it requires a minimum of 6.2 miles, round-trip, in any direction to access it.  We approached from the Hostel off Limantour Road, taking the Laguna Trail to the Fire Lane and joining up with a part of the Coastal Trail that was new to me.  We charged along so quickly and were so deep in conversation, that we missed the beach trail’s turnoff. When Annie noted that we had been walking for quite a while, I consulted my iPhone’s newly downloaded “topo” App, and voila!  Indeed we had gone too far.  We retraced our steps and discovered a deeply recessed sign for Sculptured Beach leading us onto a well-padded path to its aptly named beach.  It was low tide.  We scrambled about the tide-pools and marveled at the rock arches and masses of purple-black mussels that clung to the outcroppings.  Annie, who had just spent two-months in cold, rain-swept Seattle, lay on the beach to thaw and dry out.

And now, my Challenge complete, a nod to the friends and family who have blessed me with their support, both with “boots on the ground” as well as by financially contributing to the Point Reyes National Seashore.  See you in another 50!