Hiking Mt. Tamalpais

Remember when we went to the Jelly Belly Factory with LMB and Greg in January as part of our attempt to branch out and try new things in the Bay Area? Well, 10 months later, we branched out again. This time Brian suggested we hike Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Honestly, it's kind of embarrassing that we've never been after living in the Bay Area for 3.5 years and taking numerous visitors to the Marin Headlands for great city views. Not only does Mt. Tam have cool views of SF (look wayyyyy in the background), you can also see much of the North Bay (San Rafael, Richmond, Sausalito), the East Bay (Oakland and Berkeley) and the Pacific Ocean. This is the view from a little over halfway up the climb.

It was a really clear day with only a few clouds in the sky. With the sun shining on us, we both got pretty hot - especially on the steep shortcut/climb we took initially - but we quickly cooled down when in the shade of the forest. I'm pretty sure I'll be sore tomorrow after 3 hours of hiking, but that might be good for me after virtually no exercise in NY this week.

Here's the view from the West Point Inn, a great little place near the top. They have lemonade and granola bars on the honor system (both of which we enjoyed). So Marin County.

This is my artsy attempt at capturing the scenery of the awesome views and a great day. We got lost a couple of times on the poorly marked trails on the way home, but we made it back after not too long thanks to a few helpful bikers. You should definitely check it out if you have the chance.