Читать книгу Afoot and Afield: San Francisco Bay Area. A Comprehensive Hiking Guide онлайн

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DIRECTIONS From Highway 101 in Corte Madera, take the Paradise Dr./Tamalpais Dr. exit and go east on Tamalpais Dr., staying in the right lane, which becomes San Clemente Dr. After 0.1 mile, San Clemente Dr. bends right; follow it and go another 0.5 mile to a stoplight at Paradise Dr. Turn left onto Paradise Dr., go 0.9 mile, and park in a turnout on the right, near a gated dirt road.

FACILITIES/TRAILHEAD There are no facilities at the trailhead, which is on the south side of Paradise Dr., at a gated dirt road.

Head south on a dirt trail, with a seasonal creek in a gully on your right. After about 100 feet, where a faint trail continues straight, you turn right and cross a bridge over the creek. Climb on the Phyllis Ellman Trail past an information board detailing the history of the fight to save Ring Mountain. Shortly after a leftward bend, the trail reaches a junction. Here your route, the Loop Trail, goes straight, and the Phyllis Ellman Trail, which you rejoin later, veers right.

About 75 feet past the junction is marker 2, right, which calls attention to soil differences between the mountain’s upper and lower reaches. Sandstone soil, lower down, is perfect for a wide variety of plants, including wildflowers such as Ithuriel’s spear, blue-eyed grass, false lupine, suncup, wild iris, and miniature lupine. Serpentine soil, higher up, is toxic to most plant species, but tolerated by a few, including the preserve’s rarities.