marin

Near the top of the list of dreamy, bosky local rambles is the 2.5 mile loop around Bon Tempe reservoir on the northwestern slope of Mt.Tamalpais. It is encircled by a deep, cool forest of fir, madrones, redwoods with dense patches of ferns and irises. The lake itself is home to swooping families of mallards, […]

Let’s imagine the rain stops, the sun reappears and you are ready to finally start summer. It’s hard to think of a more perfect spot than the Inkwells, a series of small, deep, dark, swimmable pools cascading into each other amid redwood groves in West Marin. Head out Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to Lagunitas. Just before […]

The soil may be slipping, the underground liquefying from the biblical drenching we’ve gotten so far this winter but the Bay Area slopes are now a thousand dazzling shades of green. I doubt even Ireland can match our verdant visuals. A lovely place to check out this retinal feast is along Lucas Valley Road in […]

Not everyone flees south to the sun this season. Some of us appreciate a chilly, fog swept day on the coast with storms making their way from Canada. I cannot think of a better place to enjoy pure winter than Muir Beach’s Pelican Inn. Set in a pine grove it is an uncanny replica of […]

Celebrate this week’s desperately needed drenching by hiking the almost mile-long Cataract Falls on the north slope of Mt. Tam. The trail starts at Alpine Dam with stone and wooden stairs leading down you past more than a dozen foaming, fiercely crashing falls, each about 20-30 feet high.

Bay seniors, even ones well versed in local landmarks, might not know that Mount Tamalpais originally had another summit. West Peak was 2,600 feet high until it was flattened for a radar station. Today all that’s left are the gutted remains of military structures and eye-popping views of Alpine Lake, the Bay and the Pacific. […]