School has been crazy this semester. In a month I will get my degree, and be done with school for a while, if not forever.
You know how at the beginning of every semester you tell yourself that you will not procrastinate, and you will stop doing homework at the very last minute? Well, after 21 years of telling that to myself, on my very last semester I have managed to do it! it was about time.
About a month ago, Alexei had a weekend day off, and we decided to go for a hike to Mount Tamalpais. We were excited to see how bay area hikes compare to New Mexico hikes.
The first thing we noticed?
We never once felt like we were immersed in nature like we did in New Mexico. At the beginning of the hike you always had the gorgeous view of The Bay, which kind of made you feel like you were so near a huge city. Even once the bay was out of sight, we were never alone. There were a lot of people hiking, so you never went more than 5 minutes without encountering people. In our New Mexico hikes we would go for hours without seeing anybody or anything remotely "urban", which gave our hikes a more wild feeling. I am positive that there are places in the area that are more remote and isolated, but it felt good to hike in a little bit more of a 'crowded' environment for a change.
Halfway through the hike we found the West Point Inn. This goes to show how "urban" this hike. The inn was built in 1904 when there was a railroad that went through the area, but since then the railroads have been removed, and the inn is now stuck in the middle of nowhere. We stopped here to enjoy some falafel and hummus that Alexei had woken up extra early to prepare. There were lots of families, cyclists, and hikers enjoying the view from this spot.
After the short break, we continued on to the top of the West Peak. About half a mile away from the top there was a parking lot. Needless to say, the area was very crowded. But we were still really proud of having hiked the whole thing.
We found a lonely spot on the top, and sat down to eat, again. This time we had sandwiches, made with the same Alexei-made falafel and hummus, and homemade bread from the day before.
At the end of the hike we drove down to Stinson Beach, where we enjoyed the sunset before going home. I really wish we had more time to explore The Bay some more, but it seems like we will be moving again soon :(
Hopefully we will have time to squeeze in a couple more trips!
