Saturday, February 24, 2007

Stinson Beach Trailhead Hike


So for President's Day weekend we did a hike over at Stinson beach. It was a 7.3 mile hike that looped around from Stinson Beach to Pantoll on the Matt Davis and Steep Ravine trail in Mount Tamalpais State Park up in Marin. It was an amazing day that wasn't too hot and clear as crystal. I was thinking I'd take my parents up here for a hike but quickly realized it was a bit more strenuous than what my parents would be comfortable with. I'd recommend taking a half-frozen bottle of water/sports drink and a cliff bar in case you get hungry. It took us about 2 hours to finish and we had a nice meal in Stinson Beach sitting outside.

There were a couple signs warning of mountain lions and rattlesnakes but we didn't encounter any.

We did see a lot of banana slugs though. They're heraphroditic (both male and female) and their penises can be almost as long as their body length. One gross trivia is that they sometimes chew off the penis of their partner after mating. That's called apophallation, today's word of the day. Yeah, disgusting. You can see the pneumostome in its side which is the opening for its lung. It looks pretty big on this one because it gets bigger as its exerting itself.This one wasn't as yellow as some of the other ones but it was moving so gave a good stretched out view. There were about three on the trail and we took the time to move 'em so they didn't get squished. Slimy. egh.
Here was a creepy tree that looked really cool with its contorted branches. There were a few trees that had fallen over the trail and the rangers or someone had sawed them through. But I'd hate to have to hike the trail to chop up a tree 'cause it was hard enough without equipment--I'd hate to imagine lugging a chainsaw up with me.

I did this picture bigger since you can see the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge between the hilltop peaks. You can see the San Francisco skyline as well.





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