היומן של xpacifica

Have been beset with severe battery issues with my phone for the past couple months which finally have been resolved!

Today I took a 29.4 mile ride through Tennessee Valley up the Coastal Trail and over Wolf's Ridge and down towards Rodeo Valley/Bunker Rd.

Since the upper reaches of the Coastal Trail along Wolf's Ridge is pretty remote I tried to make a lot of observations.

GGNRA staff have been clearing/widening trails. I previously noted the widening/clearing of the SCA trail from Conzelman up towards the ridge. The lower reaches of the Coastal Trail from Tennessee Valley heading west towards Wolf's Ridge had also been cleared recently, and today I saw that they managed to clear the trail all the way to the top.

This does make traversing up the trail a lot easier, yet I also feel a little sad because the Castelleja wrightii, Monardella, C. douglassi etc. have been cleared. I did observe some C. douglassi that still remained. Sad to see the Monardellas gone.

However I understand the benefit of clearing the trail and it probably outweighs the impact on plants immediately adjacent to the trail. Hopefully within a couple seasons all the species we love will be flourishing along there again.

Climbing the Coastal Trail from Tennessee up to Wolf's Ridge while walking a road bicycle - and descending the other side towards Rodeo - is challenging but worth the effort :-) Such a glorious, breathtaking, and isolated area that is truly inspirational.

I hope the fact that I'm not the most strong person to be out there on the trail gives hope and inspiration to some. Endurance is way more important than strength.

You can see the full route I took along with scenic photos on my RideWithGPS page: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/57625802

I've passed this very large, very old U. californica along the eastern branch of the Bobcat Trail many times and have stopped to wonder at its enormous size. Today I decided to descend down the steep slope to visit this ancient being and made an observation for it: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/62689984

Not only did I see this great tree, but there are Prosartes living underneath it, the only ones I've ever seen in the Marin Headlands, cf. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/62689476.

Oddly, while I was climbing down around the base of the tree, I saw old junk there - some wire mesh and a chunk of some mechanical object which might have been part of a machine or something. No idea how such stuff could have gotten there or what the history of that particular location is.

This tree must not be recognized nor appreciated very much because it's not easily accessible from the trail. You have to descend down a fairly steep slope to get to the trunk. It would be nice if the park would build actual steps that go down there and maybe a nice bench near the base. As it is, I had to crawl on my hands and legs like a monkey to actually get down there and then back up again. I still have pieces of twigs in my hair LOL.

Here is the full route of the ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/57719040