Review: Billingham Hadley Digital camera bag
01 September, 2008:
On a sunny and uncharacteristically warm Labor Day, Sarah & I decided to brave the hordes and go hiking from Muir Beach. As expected for 11am on a beautiful holiday, traffic was very slow getting from 101 through Mill Valley, but we eventually pulled into the lot at Muir Beach. Full, drat. We found parking at the end of Muir Woods Rd., which added about a half mile of highway-side walking to our excursion, but so it goes.
We passed the Pelican Inn, walked a short ways down the Muir Beach road, then turned left onto the Coastal Trail. The beach was full of families enjoying the weather, and we could hear the sounds of frolicking through the stand of trees separating the trail from the beach itself.
Coastal Trail
We soon came to a junction with the Middle Green Gulch Trail and turned left, heading towards Green Gulch Farm, a retreat operated by the San Francisco Zen Center.
Middle Green Gulch Trail
Rows of greens at Green Gulch Farm
This working farm is open to the public, and we enjoyed walking along the rows of crops, some newly-planted, some ripe and tasty-looking.
Gardening Shed
We followed the signs for the Middle Green Gulch Trail, and soon left the farm, climbing up toward Coyote Ridge.
Muir Beach
As we climbed on the single-track trail, views of tiny Muir Beach began to open up. Despite it being a holiday and beautiful weather, we saw very few people on the trail at this point. A lone mountain biker huffed and puffed his way up the at-times-steep hillside, his neon jersey giving us a good idea of where the trail went ahead.
Middle Green Gulch Trail
I soon regretted not wearing a brimmed hat, as shade was nowhere to be found and the midday sun beat down on us.
Looking down on Green Gulch Farm
View north towards Mt. Tamalpais
We climbed and then climbed some more, enjoying the quickly-improving views. Unsurprisingly for a hot midday, little wildlife showed itself other than the usual myriad Turkey Vultures and a pair of noisy Red-tailed Hawks.
Middle Green Gulch Trail
View north to Point Reyes
Finally as we neared the top of Coyote Ridge, we got a great view 30 miles north to Point Reyes. The Farallones Islands, 30 miles west, were also visible, but hazy.
Turkey Vulture
Hazy downtown SF
We met up with the Coyote Ridge Trail, and got a nice peek at downtown San Francisco, although the heat and haze made such a long-distance photo rather smudgy.
Coyote Ridge Trail
The uphill portion of our hike completed, we now hiked down, down down in a northwesterly direction. There were many more people on this trail, which is wider, and connects to various other trails in the Marin Headlands.
Western San Francisco
Marin Headlands
After less than a mile, the Coyote Ridge Trail met another trail, and we turned right to continue on Coyote Ridge, which descended steeply for a while more. The Coyote Ridge Trail ends at the Coastal Trail, and we took a short use path to a lookout point and declared it lunch-time.
Lunch view
Marin Headlands
We had great views of the rocky Marin Headlands shoreline to the south, and sat down to enjoy our sandwiches, chips, and the scenery.
Muir Beach
Lunch finished, we walked back to the intersection of Coyote Ridge & the Coastal Trail and hiked north towards Muir Beach.
more Muir Beach
The trail was rather steep and totally exposed, making us happy that we’d chosen to ascend on the Middle Green Gulch Trail, which although also exposed and a bit steep in places, was generally quite a bit mellower.
Almost finished!
We got back to the road at right about 3:00 and headed to the Pelican Inn, our favorite post-hike watering hole, where we enjoyed a cold beer and an excellent cheese plate. All told, a near-perfect Labor Day!
Hike stats:
Distance: ~5 miles
Climbing: ~800ft
Time: 2.75 hours
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Perfect way to spend a holiday. Lovely photos.
Adam – Great photos all around, thanks for sharing them with all of us.
Adam-
What a fantastic looking beach, it appears so isolated from your high vantage point. I’ve been thinking that Ohio looks dry this summer, but everything looks extremely parched there. Is that normal?
Tom
You couldn’t have picked a more perfect day (weather-wise). Your photos are so crystal clear (except for San Francisco). And it is surprising to see days like this that are fog-free for that area. I’m glad you both enjoyed your Labor Day, and thanks for sharing it with us.
BTW, Adam, are you planning to watch for migrating hawks in San Francisco area? If so, when is the best time to go? Late September? Early or late October? I’m curious since I want to go and I’ve never gone hawk watching in that area before. Thanks in advance for whatever advice you can give me.
Cool – nice to read you again!
Cheers, Klaus
Louise: Thanks!
Paul: Welcome, and thanks for visiting!
Tom: Yes, it’s pretty normal. We have virtually no rain at all most years from May-September, hence the “golden hills” of much of California in the summer/fall. I can’t remember the last time it rained, but the summer fog along the coast does supply a good bit of moisture.
Mary: I may drop in on Hawk Hill at some point this fall, although it’s not my favorite type of birding (too stationary!). The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO), who conducts the annual raptor watch on Hawk Hill, has an excellent website: http://www.ggro.org/ . On the same site they have a chart with species frequencies, and it looks like mid-late Sept. is the best viewing. If you visit, definitely plan around attending one of their “Hawk Talks.” We went to one two years ago (see http://adampaul.wordpress.com/2006/10/21/hawk-hill-birding/), and it was informative, and they usually have a banded bird to show & then release (a Sharp-shinned Hawk on our visit).
Klaus: Thanks!
Wonderful photos. It looks like a nice hike.
What a beautiful landscape, must have been wonderful hike, these are all great shots Adam !!
ScienceGuy: That it was!
Bernie: Thanks!
really lovely I especially love the spot for lunch… again I’m really impressed mastering landscapes for me has been frustrating (to say the least) it’s nice to see you can do it so flawlessly. (give me hope!!)
Lori: Well thanks, although I don’t agree that I do it flawlessly! The horizon in the lunch view photos isn’t straight 🙂 Landscape photography is difficult, as our eyes tend to “edit out” clutter, and cameras do not, so many wide-angle landscape photos are not sufficiently simple to make a good photograph.
cool shots, the turkey vulture in flight in particular
Ankush: Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed them.