One Foggy Saturday

I have been hiking with the SF Bay chapter of the Sierra Club for a few years now. When I first moved to California I hardly knew anyone and didn't have a lot to do on the weekends. I started hiking with the Sierra Singles section of the club and usually still do because I didn't want to spend all day with people talking about their spouses and kids. The Sierra Singles is a nice group of people, not a place to pick up guys is usually the comment made, but a good group to join on a hike for a day. I've been showing up for hikes long enough now that I recognize some of the regular hikers and have become friends with a few. It's nice to arrive for a hike, see a few familiar faces and be able to catch up with people for a few hours and meet new hikers too. So last Saturday morning I woke up at 7:30 and headed out to pick up a friend in Berkeley for a hike through the Marin Headlands. It's nice to have someone to carpool with for Marin hikes, it makes me much more likely to go.

Saturday morning was cold and damp, I called the hike leader to make sure it was still on and he said they were going. When we arrived at the trailhead just on the Marin side of the Golden Gate bridge it was raining a little, and I was surprised to see twenty people showed up. We were to stop at the Marine Mammal Center so I think the proposition of seeing sea lions brought people out. This hike was listed under the Hiking Section of the club which generally means a brisk pace and not a lot of dallying about, unlike Sierra Singles which is more of a ten mile social ambling. A few of the other Sierra Singles regulars were there, and though we're all good hikers and generally at the front we soon fell to the back of the pack. I originally thought going on Sierra Club hikes would be a good way to learn some bay area trails. However, I seem to never pay any attention to where we're going as I follow the leader and forget to read the trail signs. If I ever hope to learn the routes I'll have to go with other people who don't know the way.

I don't have a clear idea of where we went on Saturday but we headed up into the fog and eventually came to Black Sands beach. The whole day was foggy with the occasional sprinkle, but pleasantly warm. The fog created a nice sort of isolation, you wouldn't have known there was a city just a short distance away. We hiked on to Rodeo Lagoon and the Marin Headlands Visitor Center, I always appreciate a hike with a decent bathroom stop. From there we went over to the Marine Mammal Center and had lunch before wandering around the exhibits. The Center does a lot of good work for area marine life, though there weren't very many sea lions there on Saturday. They have treated over 1,300 animals this year alone. We were too early for the tour and feeding so didn't get too good a look at the animals that were there. Still it's an interesting and educational place, and the building is LEED certified. Many of the people I hike with are in fields somehow related to the construction industry.

After about an hour at the Marine Mammal Center we made our way back to the trailhead. I imagine that on a clear day there would have been wonderful vistas of the Golden Gate bridge and the coastline which would have led to more stops to admire the view. Though the rain stopped the fog never cleared. So I was quite surprised from a vantage point overlooking the bridge and the bay to see the sun shining brightly on the clear blue water in the middle of the bay.

I was happy enough to get home late afternoon, take a hot bath and enjoy some soup for dinner. All in all not a bad way to spend an unusually wet day in September.