JMT3: Tenderfoot River 2.0

Part 1

Today was a good day out there.

To start off the first “real” day of my project, I woke up late, inhaled a breakfast of eggs and bacon, and hit the trails with JMT’s first official guest star, my fellow classmate, cross country teammate and good friend Max Sarosi. Not to worry - of course, we made sure to maintain a six foot distance in compliance with shelter-in-place guidelines.

From my house, we headed up Summit, past the top of Old Railroad Grade, and continued up Fern Canyon to the Railroad Grade trailhead. As I mentioned yesterday, there are two sections of Railroad Grade, the old and the not-so-old, separated by ~0.7 miles of road that once connected the two. Before we could even make it to Mounnow, the skies made it clear that the rain was not going to hold off for much longer.

Our time on Railroad Grade was short lived, as we continued past Double Bowknot, another key feature of “The Crookedest Railroad in the World,” and onto Gravity Car Road - the fire road once used to take gravity cars to their home for the night. Today, it leads to the scenic Panoramic Highway and the overlooking Mountain Home Inn, yet another one of the mountain’s historical remains from the days of the railroad. With the majority of our uphill climb complete - Double Bowknot marks the highest point of our run - we cruised down the gradual incline towards the Inn as the more than welcome rain started to come down.

From the Inn’s perch on the ridge between the valley and the sea, we descended back towards the familiar streets of our hometown. We headed down the windy Edgewood Avenue towards the top of the steep Tenderfoot Trail descent. If you thought that Mill Valley’s streets were steep, windy and narrow, just wait until you get a crack at this single track. The rocky, mile long Tenderfoot descent whips you back and forth all the way to the valley floor. With my surgically repaired left ankle, it is actually one of a few trails that I’ve been banned from running because of its “ankle roll potential” (sorry, Dr. Park). If you’re lucky, you might get to see a Mill Valley mountain biker in their natural habitat as they travel towards you in the opposite direction.

On a day like today, Tenderfoot acts less like a trail and more like a river, and it is really, really fun to run down, so long as you’re careful. Today’s run got the “2.0” distinction in its name from a run I did a while back in similar conditions with my neighbor and running mate James. The lesson is, Tenderfoot in the rain is certainly a memorable experience.

Some of today’s best banter came on our journey down Tenderfoot. Max, who isn’t much of a reader, was explaining to me the book he’s got his nose stuck in right now, Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, a Pulitzer Prize winning memoir by William Finnegan. Barbarian Days sees a young Finnegan leave his life in California behind to go chase waves all over the world, all while adamantly maintaining his stance that surfing is not a sport, but a lifestyle - at least according to Max. I haven’t read the book.

Anyway, after hearing all about this guy’s wild life - seriously, it sounds awesome - I asked Max: “Has he surfed Mavericks?” Max told me no, that this guy doesn’t believe in that sort of thing. He doesn’t hunt waves at the same spots as everybody else, he goes and finds his own. I hope my own project, my own exploration over these next few weeks, finds me searching for my own avenues of adrenaline like this guy does. I like that.

Tenderfoot spit us out deep in the valley onto Cascade Drive, where we ran past Cascade Falls, down Throckmorton Avenue, and back up to my house, absolutely drenched from the iconic Tenderfoot River.

“See you in a few hours, man.”

👊✌️

Jonathan