Beth talks fondly about Mt. Tamalpias from the days before we married. She lived and worked for a time in Marin County just north of San Francisco. While climbing Mt Tam has been (and remains) on my list of things to do, I did drive up today and took the short hike around the peak.
The reason I didn’t hike it today was for lack of a trail. For a short few years there existed a tourist train which made the steep ascent via many switch backs up to the peak. It railway started service in 1896 but by 1930 was closed due to a tragic fire that burned down the facility, competition from the new fangled automotive, and the onset of the Great Depression. However, the path of the original tracks exists to be hiked and next time I’ll find them!
From the trail around the peak you can see great distances. In the picture below you can see San Francisco buildings and Sausalito green hills on right; on the left is Tiburon, Angel Island and Berkeley/Oakland beyond. In the middle background is Alcatraz with the Bay Bridge behind it.
Here’s the important Richmond bridge which spans the north of the San Francisco bay with San Quentin Prison in the foreground.
Here you look over the hills of Marin County to Ocean Beach on the western side of the San Francisco peninsula. Across the water an in the middle left is a green wedge of the Presideo compound.
From the above perspective, a slight turn to the east and you’re looking over the Marin hills, across the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco.
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