Meandering through Sausalito I finally got better at Lucky Drive when I got off. I rode quickly to Ross where I had coffee and a bite to eat. It was very hot. A lady and her dog were in line with me and, ironically, I saw her on the trail as I climbed to Phoenix lake. I made good time climbing Shaver Grade and spoke to some other people on the trail as I climbed. I was doing good time.
At Meadow Club I chatted with a rider while I filled up on water – I knew it would be the last place to get water. I went around the greens to the clubhouse and tweeted because I had coverage. Then I climbed to Pine Mountain Fire Road. I took a couple of breaks once I got there mostly to take pictures and rest. I saw a hiker passed me and I thought I’d catch up to them but the road was too steep and rocky – I had to walk most of the way.
This section was mostly views and when I got to Oak Hill Road I had to descend and then ascend again to Cascade Fire Road. At that point Pine Mountain Road had gone to the left to climb up to Pine Mountain and I had taken San Geronimo Fire Road, which reconnects to Pine Mountain and Green Hill. I noted that this area is mostly the same elevation – rolling with very rocky roads which I had to walk.
I noticed a juniper or cypress growing on my way. I was able to look it up later and learned it is called Sargent's cypress. I noted that I was nearly 1400 feet above sea level near Cascade Canyon Road. Right before getting to White Hill Fire Road, I found a stone covered in red lichen. Most of my pics are of the map or trail markers.
The views are all of the San Geronimo valley. I passed several branches of the Conifer Trail and I could make out Samuel P Taylor Park in the distance. I caught a great picture of Bolinas Ridge and the end of Kent Lake below Big Carson Creek. This is where Pine Mountain Fire Road reconnects to the main branch.
I went around Green Hill – the rolling trail was really hard here. At Manzanita Trail, I knew I was descending into the Lagunitas Canyon near Shafter Bridge. At Boulder Springs I started thinking about the time. I knew I was late but started realizing I could not go swimming at ink wells. I passed Continental Cove and checked out a side trail to go to Lagunitas. Initially, I thought it was cool but near the bottom it basically descended sharply to Mountain View Road and I had to take my panniers off.
Carrying my bike. I went to the Indian restaurant in Lagunitas and then the store. I drank a beer and ate chicken tikka masala and chatted with some Scottish girls who were staying at the Samuel P Taylor cabins.
Later I rode to campsite 61 and site 1 after riding the the Cross Marin Trail into Samual P. Taylor State Park. I knew the path really well so it didn’t take very long. I noticed that there were two girls occupying all the space at site one so I went to site 61 at which I found that there were easily 16 people – there were five people from the East Bay hanging out at the table.
Everyone at 61 was a cyclist so I sat with them for a while, drinking a beer. A little while later they acknowledged that campsite 1 had been monopolized and suggested I set up with them. As I set up my bag, I noticed that one of the people there was a coworker so I felt a little more at home. There were two big groups and a couple of random through bikers. I kept forgetting everyone’s name. They showed a Canadian how to make s’mores. I sat at the fire until late.
In the morning of the day that I wrote this, I woke slowly and then sat at the table with the crew until my snacks were gone. I gave them directions and rode to Ink Wells at the Shafter Bridge to take some photos. Later, at the coffee shop, in Forest Knolls, I chatted with other through bikers.
I wrote to Woodacre – a bunch of cars and cyclist passed, but only one honked – and rode up Fire Road from the fire station. I had to rest at the intersection near the top because it was really steep. There were some fire crews training. After that, I rode to the top and scooted under the fence with my bike to connect with the Porcupine Trail. The experience was too difficult.
I then passed five mountain bikers as I descended to Drake Boulevard and rode quickly to Larkspur nonstop to catch the ferry to the terminal in San Francisco where I got an empanada before riding home.
This is an occasional series chronicling my life.
This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.
