Day 1 - Sausalito to Muir Beach

It started with a bang as we climbed out of Sausalito (810 feet elevation gain) and continued up and down for a total elevation gain of 3100 feet. But, the weather and views were amazing and after all, it IS only Day 1. Tune in tomorrow or maybe Day 3 and see if we're this chipper. Today ended up being 12.2 miles.





This is heading up Wolf Ridge. We're heading up to the peak in the distance, where on the other side is the beach and where we picked up the Coastal Trail.










This is heading down the Coastal Trail toward Muir Beach. That's me off to the right. The next picture is where we ended before descending to Muir Beach.







Peak before descent.









We've arrived! Muir Beach.









Pelican Inn. This was supposed to be our lodging for tonight, but there were no rooms at the Inn so we went for two nights in Mill Valley at the Mountain Home Inn. Interesting hitchhiking from one to the other. We no sooner stepped onto the highway after leaving this inn when we were picked up by the Friendly Idahoans. She was a kick butt ultra marathon gal in from Boise with her husband to do the Dipsea Race. What this race lacks in distance, it totally makes up for in hills. Go "Boise". They dropped us in Mill Valley proper because we knew we'd be needing to shower with Technu after the amount of poison oak we saw and I'm sure came into contact with. Hitching out of Mill Valley (think all Mercedes and BMW's) wasn't so easy. Just when we thought it was going to be an ugly hike to the Inn (they don't call it "Mountain Home Inn" for no reason), this great surfer guy who just graduated from Santa Cruz (and is heading to Berkeley next year for a Masters degree) comes by and takes us to Mecca. Thank you, Man!

We've Technu'd and the lower extremities are beginning to stiffen up. We're supposed to start in Muir Beach tomorrow and end here, but I'm thinking maybe we run it backwards? Mark's still getting his head around the idea and since he's our official map dude, he's calling the shots on this one.

One side bar - If you have to choose between the Garmin Forerunner 405 (new version just came out, I think) and the Polar kick butt model, go with the former. I've about had it with my foot pod which is constantly running through batteries. They made it 1/3 the size of the last one, but it sucks the batteries just when you need them. This time, I had a fresh battery (smart, right?) and it plain didn't work. Grrrrr.......I can tell you they don't sell lithium batteries in the mountains.