Old St. Hillary's Open Space Preserve in Tiburon, CA

I recently moved to Tiburon in California and am too lazy to start a new blog, so there will be lots of CA related posts on here going forward. Most people access individual articles on here directly from Google anyways, so I don't think this will be a big deal. If it gets too annoying I can hide them down in the archives. John Kester III and I will continue to post articles on Arkansas trails and issues as well.

I have a new favorite park/trail in the Bay Area and it is St. Hilary's Open Space Preserve in Tiburon! This gem of a park has INSANE views of the bay. From the top of the hill, you can see much of the East Bay, San Francisco, and Marin County; including 3 of the major Bay Area bridges (Bay, Golden Gate, and Richmond-San Rafael). From one point, shown in the panorama below you can see Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland, Angel Island, San Francisco, Sausalito, and up to Mt. Tamalpais.

This site has more information on the history and ecology of the area:
http://landmarkssociety.com/landmarks/st-hilarys/

Click to Enlarge. That is Richmond on the left and Mt. Tam area on the right! Angel Island is near the center.

Old St. Hilary's

Iron Ranger Challenge: Get a Move on in Arkansas National Parks!

Iron Ranger Challenge: Mile 0 

My name is John Kester III and you may have seen me mentioned in some of Johnnie's previous posts (see Dogwood Walking Spring Path; Mt. Kessler Greenways; Swimming Holes 2). I am grateful to Johnnie for introducing me to the awesome outdoors of Arkansas. I now have the privilege of posting on the Trails of Arkansas blog in the coming year to document my experience pursuing the Iron Ranger Challenge.

On January 1, 2016, the national parks of Arkansas kicked off the Iron Ranger Challenge (http://www.ironranger2016ar.org/) — a year long program to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and encourage healthy and active lifestyles for park visitors.

Over the course of the year, visitors can choose to hike, bike, paddle, walk, run, or roll 100 miles in any or all of the Arkansas National Parks. Arkansas National Parks include: Arkansas Post National Memorial; Buffalo National River; Central High School National Historic Site; Clinton Birthplace National Historical Site; Fort Smith National Historic Site; Hot Springs National Park; Pea Ridge National Military Park; Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

Visitors who complete 100 miles of activity will receive a special Centennial Iron Ranger Challenge commemorative award. 

As of January 7, over 400 people have signed up for the Iron Ranger Challenge!

To register for the Iron Ranger Challenge, simply enter your first name and email at the following website http://www.ironranger2016ar.org/. Once you confirm your subscription, you'll receive periodic emails with event details, training and wellness tips, and activity suggestions. On the first day of each month -- beginning February 1 -- you'll receive an email form to record your mileage for the previous month.

Buffalo National River Deputy Superintendent Laura Miller encourages visitors of all ages and fitness levels to participate in the Centennial Iron Ranger Challenge. "The National Parks in Arkansas have so much to offer. Visitors can see spectacular views paddling the Buffalo River, take a bicycle tour of President Clinton's hometown at the Clinton Birthplace Home, hike in the Ouachita Mountains and then relax with a thermal bath at Hot Springs National Park, and see places where history was made from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement. There are so many great options in Arkansas, so get out and have fun." Source.

I will be posting at the end of each month to share the miles covered and my experiences during my treks. I have copied below some additional information about the monthly guided hikes in Hot Springs National Park and the social media outlets for the Iron Ranger Challenge. Please share any comments and feel free to share your experience in Arkansas National Parks this year!

John

--

Hot Springs National Park Hike, 1st Saturday of each month through December 2016

Social Media for Iron Ranger Challenge:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Pictured below: Johnnie and I after the annual Mt Kessler Trail Run 

Marin County Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces

I've been exploring the parks, trails, and open spaces of Marin County since moving here in early 2016. I've given some (like Old St. Hilary's) their own posts but am going to cram a lot of them in this one and provide more limited descriptions. If you want more info on any of these, let me know in the comments!


The Hippy Tree - Tiburon

The Hippy Tree is located off Gilmartin Dr. in Tiburon. There is parking available along the street and it is just a few hundred yards to the Hippy Tree from the road. After taking in the views from the tree, you can do a longer stroll up to and along the ridge just uphill from there. The first time I went there was a swing, but it was broken by my next visit. If you go, wear good shoes (and maybe bring a trash bin) because there is a lot of broken glass in the area. Leave a comment if you want to organize a cleanup with me!

View from the Hippy Tree in Tiburon

The Hippy Tree

Hippy Tree Views

The Old Railroad Trail - Tiburon

This trail runs along the coast of Tiburon, has great views, and is fairly flat. Lots of people use it to commute, get to school, and for recreational jogging and biking. The longer Bay Trail overlaps the Old Railroad Trail in places and if you do this section of the Bay Trail consider side-trips to the Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Main Street Tiburon, and Ark Row. I also like taking the scenic route through Belvedere and taking in the views of fancy houses, San Francisco, and the Bay from Beach Rd.

Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary 

Beach Road View

Ring Mountain - Tiburon

Ring Mountain is an open space in NW Tiburon with lots of great trails. While the views may not be quite as amazing as nearby Old St. Hilary's, they are still fantastic and Ring Mountain has interesting rock features and wooded patches to boot.

Rodeo Beach and Lagoon - Marin Headlands, Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Rodeo Beach is one of my favorite spots in the area. I like to take my dog there in the morning when almost no one else is there. The beach is pretty long and nearby trails provide interesting hikes around the lagoon, up to nice viewpoints, and to old military structures. If you are lucky, you might spot an otter in the lagoon.

JK3 and I once hiked from Rodeo Beach to Muir Beach, ate breakfast (and drank a beer) at the Pelican Inn, and hiked back. I'll post a link here once we get that written up.

Make sure you stop by the Marine Mammal Center while you are nearby, but check their schedule first!

Tennessee Valley Trail and Beach - Marin Headlands, Golden Gate National Recreation Area

A lot of great trails intersect the Tennessee Valley Trailhead at the end of Tennessee Valley Rd. One of the easiest and most popular is the fairly flat and wide trail down to the Tennessee Valley Beach. If you get to the beach and have a little extra energy, be sure to head up the steep, but short trail to the overlook.

Mt. Tamalpais

The drive up to Mt. Tam is long but has amazing views (and other great parks and trails) along the way. You can drive most of the way to the top of both summits and there is a nice fairly flat loop trail around the east summit that gives great views without too much work.

Camino Alto Open Space - Mill Valley

Two fire roads crisscross this open space area, providing nice views of Mill Valley, San Francisco, and the Bay Bridge. The Escalon / Lower Summit Fire Road is pretty flat, while the Camino Alto / Del Casa Fire Road is steeper and in rougher shape. There are some smaller trails in here, but I haven't done any of them yet!

California Readers: If you live in CA and want to earn money by turning off some lights or unplugging your laptop for an hour visit: ohmc.co/961916
You get $20 just for joining and by reducing your electricity consumption for an hour when notified by text, email, or the app, you will help protect local air quality, fight climate change, and lower everyone's electric bills by eliminating the need to turn on an expensive and dirty peaker plant.

Buffalo River Trail - Woolum to Margaret White

This past weekend I went on a short backpacking trip on the Buffalo River Trail between Woolum and Margaret White. The roughly 6 mile route had some real elevation change going from river level to the top of the bluff line twice. While we got some amazing views from Dave Manes Bluff, I suspect big views are more frequent (though less colorful) in the winter.

The river was bone dry for most of this section, something that isn't rare this time of year for this part. In fact, the water is there, it is just flowing underground through the karst and it resurfaces downstream in interesting springs. Oddly enough, we had to cross flowing water at Woolum, but then were able to cross the dry bed downstream of there to camp near Dave Mane's Bluff and Ben Branch.

We heard tons of coyotes at night and saw a lot of stars.
Here is a link to more photos of the dry river bed: http://trailsofarkansas.blogspot.com/2012/08/buffalo-river-low.html
There are some interesting trails near here up around Point Peter:
http://trailsofarkansas.blogspot.com/2014/01/point-peter-mountain-trails-buffalo.html

30 Crossing Recap

I've written quite a bit about about why it is worse than a waste of taxpayer money to widen I-630 and I-30 and provided some discussion of better ideas that would save money and have positive impacts on our community and state. Today I want to focus on the I-30 project, now also referred to as "30 Crossing".