Water Tower Hike

Less than a mile up the hill from our apartment is a series of dirt trails for hiking and biking that is part of the Marin Headlands. Evidently, the trails cover 13 miles of hilly terrain toward the Golden Gate Bridge. We haven't attempted that on foot yet--although I've run it a bit, and Mick has biked there solo and with Dane. When the kids and I go up, our big accomplishment is taking in the panormaic view of the bay and Sausalito harbor with all its sailboats, followed by a hike to the water tower and exploring all the little gulches and fields near it.

Here are some pictures of Dane and Aubrey exploring. There are also some that Dane and Aubrey took with the digital camera (yellow plant--should look that up; is it just scotchbroom?) and a pic one of them took of me (that doesn't have the shadow of a finger in it). They really love taking pictures these days; I've got to make a point of letting them do it more to see what they come up with.

The hike is popular with dog businesses. On any given day (many) vans full of dogs arrive to cut loose off trail. The first time we saw them, we were down in a gulch and looked up to see about ten dogs and a caregiver combing the hillside above us. They looked like sheep with a shepherd. We quickly chuffed up out of the gulch to check them out. Now, typically when we're up there, the kids get to play with some of these well-groomed canines, somewhat trepidatiously, and watch them sniff, roll, run and wrestle.