Touring Bon Tempe

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Pam hadn't been able to join me for a hike in quite a while, so I figured a relatively mellow trip around Bon Tempe Lake would be a nice way to ease back into things. We were struck by the beauty of this little meadow full of ground iris (Iris macrosiphon) before we'd gone a quarter of a mile along the Sunnyside Trail.

I knew I wouldn't have to rush my photography in this spot when Pam took out her sketch pad.

This old grandfather oak (black oak?) was absolutely coated with lichens, bursting with new leaves, and singing with bird life.

I had time for one last shot before sketching was done and it was time to get back on the trail. I'd brought my whole camera bag, but this meadow, our first stop, turned out to be our only photo stop. Hiking and photography don't really mix, and even though I knew that, it seems like I need a reminder from time to time. The find of the day was a single small patch of striped coral root, one of our native orchids. I didn't photograph it, but I kind of wish I had. That's how it goes sometimes. It was a nice hike, but I don't think I got my ya-ya's out, photography-wise. Might have to return tomorrow.

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Cataract Trail Loop

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Today's route should have been about waterfalls and mushrooms. Instead we found little sign that it was actually the first day of January. It was sunny and warm when we started hiking from Rock Spring at around 9:30, but still a little chilly in the forest shade along Cataract Creek, making me glad we'd started the hike a little later than usual.

There were lots of cars at Rock Spring, even more than you usually find at that hour on a weekend. On our way down to Laurel Dell we even ran into a couple small groups of hikers already heading back to Rock Spring. The weather is weird for the time of year, but it was spectacular for hiking.

In a normal year, this ford would not be possible to make with dry feet.

We passed a few people hanging out at one of Laurel Dell's picnic tables as we continued down to Cataract Falls. I wouldn't have been surprised to find the falls completely dry, but there actually was a tiny bit of water running in the stream -- enough to make a gentle purling sound like one of those Zen waterfalls you can buy. Almost all of the light-colored stuff in the background of this shot is bare serpentine rock, not running water.

I'd brought along a picture I shot in late December 2012 so I could show the difference between then and now.

A large group of hikers began to arrive near Laurel Dell just as we were leaving. Instead of just hiking back up the Cataract Trail, we picked up the Mickey O'Brien, which took us right back to...

...Barth's Retreat, which was a stop along our last hike a few days ago. We were quietly munching on almonds and sunflower seeds, getting hydrated, enjoying the peace, the light, and the slightly bay-scented air, when the big group of hikers showed up. It seemed like they might have been planning to take a longer break there, but we were occupying the picnic table. Many of the hikers took advantage of the rustic pit toilet. One of the two dogs hiking with them was having a ball, obviously a lover of the woods.

As the big group continued to Potrero Camp, we headed back up the Simmons Trail for the return trip.

Enjoying a break in the sun among the Sargent cypress trees at the top....

I was surprised to find a bay laurel in bloom. We'd just been finding bay nuts, or peppernuts -- the seeds of last season's flowers -- on the trails down below.

Hiking through the chaparral on the way back into the forest....

It was about noon when we got back to Rock Spring, and there were cars parked everywhere. It was a great day for a New Year's hike, and it was good to see that so many people were taking advantage of it.

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Rock Spring to Rifle Camp

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It was the last hike of the calendar year -- a year so miserly with rain that it will go down in history as the driest year in the last 160 years. Today was also the seventh "Spare the Air Day" in a row (the 31st of the year, also a record; would you believe that from 1992-2005 there were just five Spare the Air Days?!).

But if the smog was bad in the bottomlands, the air was sparkling on the mountain. It was windy enough to blow the Jeep's doors shut at Rock Spring, and gusts hitting 25mph made temps in the mid-50s seem a bit cooler than I'd have liked since I was wearing shorts. It was nice in the sun, though, as we headed for the Simmons Trail...

...which deposited us directly into the cooler, shaded forest. The wind was howling out of the north and the woods didn't always provide much of a wind-break, but it was still a very pleasant hike. The trail follows a creek, but the creek looked much the way it does in the summer, with just a few static pools here and there. 

On the other side of the woods, the Simmons Trail continues up and over a ridge of Sargent Cypress which are festooned with balls of Mistletoe. The Mistletoe was in fruit, full of small white berries.

We dropped down the other side of the ridge, past a couple of spindly Black Oaks, to Barth's Retreat. From here, the Mickey O'Brien Trail goes off to the left toward Laurel Dell, but we went to the right, crossing the bridge toward Potrero Meadow.

The point-and-shoot doesn't capture the clarity of the view we saw from along the Laurel Dell fire road. We could see details on the flanks of Mount St. Helena, some 60 miles or so to the north.

The low winter sun barely made it to Potrero Camp.

Potrero Meadow was mostly in shade. I'm sure I've never seen the meadow this dry despite a winter diet so low in sunshine. I could probably have crossed the whole meadow without a single squishy step.

Nearing Rifle Camp just a short hike east of Potrero Meadow is a live oak so inviting that it has an unofficial trail leading to its shaded base.

The view back across Rifle Camp meadow.

From Rifle Camp we doubled back along the Rock Spring-Lagunitas fire road and picked up the Benstein Trail for a nice little meander through woods speckled with beautiful madrones, back to our starting point at Rock Spring. We came upon a very birdy area near the intersection with the Simmons Trail where we saw a Townsends Warbler and Hermit Thrush among the many Juncos and Acorn Woodpeckers. Just around the bend we encountered another hotspot jumping with more than a dozen each of Robins and Cedar Waxwings.

It was a surprisingly short loop, which was probably just as well given the colds and allergies we've been fighting over the last week, but it was an exceptionally beautiful day to be on the mountain. Also exceptionally windy, as you can tell by Pam leaning into the offshore winds in this view above Druid Rocks, with Bolinas and Pt. Reyes in the distance.

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Alpine Lake -- Rocky Ridge Loop

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A pair of coyotes greeted us as we parked at the end of Bon Tempe Road. Unfortunately, although I got my point-n-shoot camera out in time to fire off a few frames, my camera was still set in manual exposure mode for a photo of the moon rising after sunset. Not even close for coyotes in daylight. I didn't realize the mistake until I was trying to get a shot of this Great Egret on top of an oak tree, with the East Peak fire look-out in the background.

There'd been frost in all the shaded areas on the way in, but the sun was bright and warm when we set out around 8:15 a.m. to cross Bon Tempe Dam. Once we reached the other side to hike out around the south side of Alpine Lake, it would be quite a while before we'd feel the sun's warmth again. 

Rocky Ridge Road goes up to the left. We went right to pick up the Kent Trail.

There were lots of ducks, coots and mergansers at this side of the reservoir, but we were surprised to spot three river otters. Judging by all the crunching sounds, they were finding plenty to eat.

The pump sits out in what I would guess is the deepest part of the reservoir. It sure seemed low, but the water district's total capacity (from all seven reservoirs) is only a little below average. It was interesting to note that per capita water consumption this year is much higher than in 2012. I guess when there's less water falling from the sky, people draw more from storage.

It's a beautiful hike out along the edge of Alpine Lake, now through meadow, then forest, then chaparral, and back into forest.

This was our first sunny spot since Bon Tempe Dam. I didn't take a picture of the junction of the Kent Trail and the Helen Markt Trail (which we'd already passed by this point), but it is well-signed and easy to see.

This is one of the biggest Douglas fir trees I've seen out here, and it has a crazy secondary trunk that's as big as a regular tree in its own right.

Once you leave the lake, it's pretty much all uphill on the Kent Trail.

This Doug fir was running with sap, not looking long for the world.

On the maps, this spot is named Foul Pool. They might as well have named it Dragon Swamp. It's no more "foul" than it is the lair of dragons. I'd never been here in the dry season before. Often the edge of the pool comes close to the trail, but it's receded so far at this point that there's nothing but deer-tracked mud quite a ways in. Deer have been browsing on the cattail leaves.

The trail ascends into a nice little redwood grove.

Not all the redwoods are "little", like this fire-hollowed champ with multiple shoots.

No, this is not a picture of Pam petting a triffid. I guess it's got to be a young Hericium erinaceus, or lion's mane fungus. It would be great to see this again in a couple of weeks since it will likely have become much bigger, its spines much longer. This was growing on top of a huge, downed bay laurel log. 

Numerous honey mushrooms were also growing on the log and on other decaying wood nearby. 

We left the Kent Trail, which heads up toward High Marsh, to join the Stocking Trail (named for Clayton Stocking, a long-time MMWD employee. (Link to info on other Mt. Tam place names here.)

This is Hidden Lake along the Stocking Trail. This will be a very different scene once the rains get going again.

I'd never hiked the Stocking Trail past Hidden Lake before, so it was interesting to see completely new territory, including the biggest redwood I've seen anywhere on the mountain outside of Muir Woods.

The woods were great, but it was nice to emerge into the sunny chaparral to continue our climb.

The Stocking Trail meets up with the Rocky Ridge Trail. For a shorter loop, you could simply turn left here and end up back down at Bon Tempe Dam.

We took a right turn instead and continued our ascent.

Rocky Ridge meets up with the Lagunitas-Rock Spring fire road which goes all the way down to Lake Lagunitas. That's Bon Tempe lake (and a toyon chockablock with red berries) behind me.

Pam adjusts her shoes where we leave the fire road for the Berry Trail down to Bon Tempe Lake.

Lovin' life on the Shadyside Trail.

Almost back to the dam, we enjoyed a short break at a nice open spot on the edge of the lake. Hiking at a leisurely pace, the 6.6-mile loop took us just under four hours.

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