Led by Tom Molloy and Jen Dooley
Photo above: Stopping to take pictures of the poppies and phacelia blooming by the trail.
By Tom Molloy
April 8th was an auspicious day as this same hike scheduled months earlier was cancelled due to Santa Ana winds. This time around we had an opposite hazard. Alltrails was reporting our stream crossing at the lunch and halfway point to be impassable just a few days earlier.
We set off on time at 9:00 am Saturday morning, a brilliant sunny cool day. Our perfect ten hiking group had all remembered to pre-fill out their medical forms, so no delays! At the last minute, Jen filled in for Alan as the co-lead as he was recovering from an injury. Thank you Jen. Nancy was there to drum up enthusiasm for folks to attend and lead hikes! We had many people on the hike new to our group. Overall a delightful crew who all got along smashingly.
A light marine layer obscured many island views, but the ocean, mountain and canyon views were spectacular for this 11 mile loop hike. We stopped at many points on our ascent, pondering the relative merits of Boney Ridge vs. Mount Tamalpais, often a heated discussion. We took a vote, happily local Boney Ridge won. The mountains were ablaze with wildflower blooms, and we were grateful that Nancy had her trusty printouts to identify them for inquiring minds.
At the halfway point, to our delight, the creek was indeed passable. Carlos made our group proud by laying an addition walking slab in the creek for us and future hikers. Our plan “B”, hiking back the way we came was averted, and we marched on after lunch.
On the second half of the loop, in addition to wildflowers, we encountered an unhappy rattlesnake who happily made his presence well known to us. At the bottom of Zuma Canyon, we encountered our creek once again, but now much wider with the flow of the whole canyon behind it. Jen and Carlos walked right through the creek to sooth their tired feet. The rest of us easily maneuvered the stepping stones. We marveled at the strong flow of the creek into April, something not seen for many years. We scrambled the last mile up the west wall of the canyon and back to our cars all well worked out but no worse for the wear.
Some Spring wildflowers seen by the trail
