The Team Sherpa Blog

Date:   March 8, 2008

Summary:  16.3 mile round trip day hike from Stinson Beach to the East Peak of Mt Tam

Location:  Steep Ravine Campground and Mount Tamalis State Park, within 20 miles north of San Francisco.

Trails:  Steep Ravine Campgrounds, Matt Davis Trail, Nora Trail, Old Railroad Grade, Fern Creek Trail, Temelpa Trail, Old Railroad Grade, Hoo-Koo-E-Koo Trail, Matt Davis Trail

Picture Gallery: Click here.

How would you recover after spending two weeks away from home on a rigorous learning and development business trip requiring 90 hours of death by PowerPoint and endless tours expecting you to comprehend a million square feet of manufacturing operations?  Over the two weeks you have a day job to address and are enrolled in a Calculus course back home.  You also managed time on Austin’s famous 6th Street.  Sleep deprivation was a bit of an issue.

 The Friday night we returned from Austin the whole of my seventeen colleagues couldn’t wait to walk through their threshold, throw down their luggage, embrace their significant other / children / bottle of choice, and begin the process of 48 hour decompression. When I sat down in seat 23C, on a direct flight from Austin to SJC, my body literally shut down.  I awoke an hour later, strangely refreshed, yet in futility tried forcing myself to sleep more.  There was no typical 48 hour decompression awaiting my return, but rather a more personally fitting relaxation scheme. 

The plane touched down at 8:30p PST Friday night in SJC Mineta Airport.  My dad picked me up and took me to his house where I switched the American Tourister luggage set for a Camelback MULE, threw on some REI pants and a dry-wic shirt, grabbed my boots, and was about to head up to the Steep Ravine Campground, one mile south of Stinson Beach.  My sister and her husband came by and it had been awhile since we all had dinner.  So, the drive was put on hold and we grabbed a late dinner.  It was past midnight by the time I rolled into the campground

Matt, Trevor, and Deonne had arrived at the campsite earlier that evening, knowing I would be coming in late.  They were kind enough to have set up the tents and had started a fire in the pit.  We roasted marshmallows, caught up, and Trevor tried identifying the constellations in the heavens.  Even under the glow of headlamps, the twinkling of stars, and ambient lights of San Francisco 20 miles south, the campsite at Steep Ravine appeared to live up to its reputation.  There is a reason this campground books, at times, nine months in advance.  Situated about 500 yards below Highway 1 on a stretch of land that jets out seemingly into and hanging over the ocean.  The foliage was lush, green, and each campsite was isolated from the other.  It was amazing that 20 miles outside of the financial capital of the west coast we could feel so remote.

 Saturday morning revealed the sheer beauty of where we had laid our heads the previous night.  Around 7a I perambulated about the campgrounds to the top of a cliff overlook situated above a cove.  Peering down I reflected how the waves require not rest, but are tireless in consistently crashing on the rocks below.  Yet the land formation my feet were planted upon remained steadfast and strong - having performed its duty of safeguarding us through the night.  How easily I would take for granted the majesty of mother earth on any other day.

 Mike, a good friend and mentor of years, found his wife out of town for the weekend and was able to get a sitter for their beautiful golden retriever Annie.  Even had Mount Tam State Park permitted animals on the trail, Annie’s heart would be strong, but her aging paws would not be able.  Mike arrived at the Steep Ravine Campground about 9a and we caravanned the mile or so up Highway 1 to Belvedere Road, parked and started on the Matt Davis Trail.

Originally we had planned on hiking a 18.5 mile loop that would have taken us from Stinson Beach to the East Peak primarily via the Matt Davis Trail and for the return we would have dropped into Muir Woods and returned to the cars via the famous Dipsea Trail.  However, a couple of hours into the hike we realized our collective pace was less than desirable to attain the original aspiration.  A supply chain mantra from college came to mind:  the performance of a system will never exceed that of the bottleneck.  So, we modified the hike to return, essentially, the same way we came. 

Independent of the 2 mile route reduction, we still arrived at the East Peak.  The weather could not have been more agreeable:  clear, blue skies with temperatures hovering in the 60s and 70s.  Visibility was over twenty miles.  Notice in the picture to the right that you can see the skyline of San Francisco’s financial district from the East Peak of Mount Tam.  And to the right of the frame you can barely make out a portion of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

We arrived at the cars with perfect timing - just at dusk at about 7p.  Perfect timing to drive the hour and change home, shower and pick up the most positively memorable blind date I have yet experienced.  We grabbed some Thai and headed to a jazz lounge in downtown San Jose. 

Now that is the way to decompress.