Back from hiking

I have been off the air almost entirely since about June 22.  My children and I took a trip to Phoenix to help my oldest son get his new home in Phoenix lined up. He has taken a job there.  Then we headed for San Francisco and a five-day inn-to-inn hiking trip that included myself and my three children, my sister, her husband, and her daughter (my niece). Here is a quick summary of the trip:

Day One: On June 25, we combined public transportation and walking to get from my sister's home in San Francisco to the tiny town of Inverness, in the northwestern wilds of Marin County. We spent the night in the Tomales Bay Inn. The plan was to travel north to Inverness and then hike south back toward the city, finishing in Muir Woods.

Day Two:  The hike back south began in earnest on June 26, when we hiked from the Tomales Bay Inn in Inverness to the equally tiny town of Olema.  We went through a maze of streets to the Inverness Ridge  Trail to the Sky Trail to the Z Ranch Trail to the Horse Trail, and down to the Bear Valley Park Headquarters, then down Bear Valley Road Highway 1 and into Olema, where we spent the night.  We estimated the distance at between 15 and 16 miles, and we went from sea level up to about 1400 feet and then back down to sea level in Olema.

Day Three: This day, June 27,  was easier. We hiked from Olema down Taylor Park Road to the Bolinas Ridge Trail to Jewell Trail, to the Madrone Campground in Samuel P. Taylor State Park, where we spent the night with other family members in three cabins. Maybe 7 miles.

Day Four:  June 28 was by far the hardest day of hiking. We got dropped off at the Randall Trail head on Highway 1, a few miles from the state park. We hiked up hill to the Bolinas Ridge Trail and stayed on it until it became the Coastal Trail (including a detour onto an abandoned section that cost us at least 45 minutes), and then on that down to the Willow Camp Fire Road, where we made a steep descent (from 2000 feet to sea level in 1.8 miles) down into Stinson Beach. We all ran out of water somewhere on the Coastal Trail. We spent the night in Stinson Beach.

Day Five: Final day, June 29.  We took the Dipsea Trail all the way into Muir Woods to the Information Center, and that was the end of the hike. We caught the 66F shuttle bus to the Sausalito Ferry, rode the ferry to San Francisco Terminal One, walked to the San Francisco Muni, and took the train to Castro Street. From there we walked to my sister's house near Buena Vista Park. We happened to be in the middle of Gay Pride Weekend and the celebration of the Supreme Court's validation of same-sex marriage in California. Quite a conclusion to our trip!