The continuing drought here in Northern California has been really hard–we are saving every bit of water we can, to the point of saving even the water we “run” while waiting for the hot water to come through, and the rinse water from washing dishes. We collect this in buckets (there’s a row of them in the kitchen and the bathroom), carry them outside, and use the “saved” water for our winter vege garden, which right now consists of snow peas, different kinds of lettuce, kale and leeks.

BUT, on the bright side, there is a trail we love to hike, but avoid in the winter because it is so awfully muddy–the Bolinas Ridge Trail. So today we decided “Let’s go for it!”

The trail begins with a steady climb up through cow pastures. We have to “squiggle” through a gate to start the trail, and say “Hi!” to the cows and calves as we pass by. (Sadly, their grass is barely growing).

The higher we get, the more awesome the views, all the way back to Tomales Bay, where the San Andreas Fault makes its way into the sea. We call this part of the trail, “The Sound of Music” because that’s what it looks like–the opening scene in the movie where Julie Andrews is singing about “The hills are alive with the sound of music….”

Eventually we reach “The Big Eucalyptus Patch” where several huge “euc’s” are growing by a spring. Finally we get to the top of the ridge and we are into the forest, full of ferns, and a wildlife camera (I always stop there and wave!)

From that point on, it’s a moderate rollercoaster of beautiful trail through redwood forest and Douglas fir forest, with glimpses of San Francisco Bay to the east.

Lunch was in the redwoods, leaning against a huge tree. All these redwoods are second growth (originals were logged in the late 1800’s) but you would never know it–these 120ish year old trees are magnificent.

Then we headed back to the car, muttering “One of the best things about long distance hiking is NOT being ‘on a leash’ of having to ‘get back’. We can just GO!” Pretty soon we will be starting to count down the days till we CAN “go”!

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