JMT16: Spiderman

I slept through my alarm.

Yesterday ending up being the hottest May 25 in the history of the Bay Area. Today is supposed to get just as hot, if not hotter, and I refused to run in the torturous heat again today, instead deciding to hit the trails early. I set a 6:00 alarm, but somehow woke up at 6:38, scrambled into some running clothes, and hit the trail exactly one minute before 7:00. The breeze, if I may, was extremely pleasant.

Today’s objective was to cover the rest of the trails around Crown Road that I intended to run yesterday. In hindsight, I probably should have planned these as two runs in the first place, with plenty of trail-age and mileage to go around between the two.

Anyways, I started off with the usual: Tamalpa to Hoo-Koo-e-Koo, but instead of taking it all the way over to Blithedale Ridge, I cut over on the Hoo-Koo-e-Trail just before the base of the Extra Point. It’s confusing, but this single track is different from the fire road, even though it feeds right into it.

I was the only one on this brief single track, except for an ungodly amount of spiderwebs that made me think about Spiderman for some reason. I think this trail, which is very Matt Davis-esque, is one of the very best on the mountain. Besides the general peace it has to offer, it’s mainly a personal preference. I just always enjoy my time on this trail.

Hoo-Koo-e-Koo Trail spits out onto Blithedale Ridge, where the trail continues on the other side of the fire road. It stays narrow and technical as it descends slowly towards the Crown Road end of the Southern Marin Line. Until the last few steps of the trail, I had seen just as many golden retrievers as I had people - three of each.

Anytime I make the trek down to Crown Road, I reflect on how interconnected the mountain really is. I discovered the Crown Road gate run when we drove to it from San Rafael in cross country practice, but it’s not something close enough to my house in Mill Valley that I would ever go out of my way to drive over there. After all, the trailhead is a solid two towns over from me. But as the crow flies, my room is only a few miles from where I ran today, and it took me just three miles to get from the top of my street to the Crown Road gate. Just some food for thought.

After arriving at the Crown Road gate, I covered the half of the fire road that I missed yesterday, running ~1.2 miles to the water fountain that so recently saved my life. All in all, the Southern Marin Line is ~2.7 miles of seemingly identical twists and turns that have earned it the nickname “House of Mirrors” from some running buddies and myself. That name felt especially true today, as my stomach started to grumble for breakfast as I slithered towards the water fountain.

From the fountain, I carried H Line over the hill and back down to Railroad Grade before climbing up Magee for my return home. At 8:06, it was already getting hot. I’m grateful that this heat forced me to wake up early, because I don’t spend enough mornings on the mountain as I should. See you tomorrow.

👊✌️

Jonathan