Muir Woods: Bootjack Trail

We've hiked a few times out at Muir Woods lately. I have finally sprung for the yearly pass because there are a lot of trails around there, and we like hiking in the redwoods. It was only $20, so its a bargain anyway. Either Tim or I can take a carload there anytime for the next year and no one pays. Not sure where we'd get a carload of hikers though! This was a good hike, around 8 miles I think. The uphill portion was mostly at the beginning, so the last half was mostly downhill. A very pretty stream is visible a lot of the time, with a couple of very small waterfalls that would be better in rainy season. The weird thing on this hike was the ladybugs. I had read in one of my guidebooks that sometimes you will see large numbers of ladybugs congregating near trails, but I wasn't quite prepared for seeing it! Tim and I felt like we were in some creepy horror bug movie...you couldn't walk without crunching bunches of them, though we tried not to! They were also flying all over the place in some spots, and they would land on us by the dozens. We just brushed them off once in a while and kept moving until we were out of ladybug territory!

Marin Headlands: Miwok trail through Gerbode Valley

Since the weather here in San Francisco is so often foggy and miserable, and plus the fact that it can change really quickly, I've started keeping a couple of hiking plans in the car all the time. They come in very handy when we head off to the beach and end up in the fog instead! This was one of those days. By the time we ended the hike there was some sun and we still managed to go to the beach for a while. This was a pleasant hike, saw some cool hawks swooping right above us, but couldn't get their picture. the hike up the mountain was a lot steeper than I expected, well that or I'm getting out of practice at this! A good hike, but nothing too spectacular.