Limantour Spit Trail, June 3, 2012

Hike 1, June 3, 2012. Habitat: Ocean Shoreline. Representative: Limantour Spit Trail.

We set out on our exploration on the first Sunday in June. On our way to Point Reyes, we stopped off in Corte Madera to look for the rare Tiburon Mariposa Lily, which blooms for about three weeks a year. on Ring Mountain and hasn't been seen anywhere else. We saw them! It's a small, inconspicuous greenish-brown flower, unremarkable until you peer into it and see the purplish tracings and deep fringe.

Ring Mountain has many attractions, including a rock where climbers were practicing free-climbing, another with ancient Miwok petroglyphs, and fine views toward the City, Mount Tam, and the east. By the time we'd finished the two-mile loop, we were overdue for lunch, which we ate in the car. Once we'd reached Point Reyes and poked around the Bear Valley Visitors' Center, we didn't have time for a major hike. We settled on the short and accessible Limantour Spit trail, one mile long (a two-mile walk out and back).

Limantour is a beach beach, as in recreation destination, but the beach day was winding down when we arrived at the parking lot. On our way toward the beach, we observed a phenomenon we'd just read about in naturalist Jules Evens's blog: local "dialects" in the white-crowned sparrows' song, with a "burr" at the end. We heard at least two versions (Tuu-wheee-whit-whit-whit-whit and Tuu-wheee-whit-whit-whit-whit-zhrrr).

The Spit Trail runs inside the dunes, looking in toward Estero de Limantour rather than out at the ocean. Purple bush lupine grew in profusion along the trail. In our zeal to complete our Challenge hike fully and fairly, we found we'd overshot and continued past the end of the maintained trail, accumulating excessive amounts of sand in our shoes.
This was a nice walk, but we feel we still need some quality ocean shoreline time. Limantour Spit could count as a general introduction to the Challenge.

Practical lessons for road and trail:
-Next time, get an earlier start.
-If the most convenient exit from the parking lot has a "Do not enter" sign, there's probably a reason.

Our fundraising page: Foothill Marmots at Trails Challenge