8/17/11 A great chance for me to run on the famous Dipsea Trail. I ran the race in 2009 but didn't really get to appreciate the trail with 1,500 people cramming the narrow single-track. This time around, I got to really enjoy the amazing scenery.
1 A view down Tamalpais Valley from the very top of Tamalpais Avenue, which is an extremely narrow, winding, little road.
2 Throckmorton street in old downtown Mill Valley. Starting line of the Dipsea. A little bit less crowded than the morning of the race.
3 Old Mill Park, just a couple blocks outside of downtown Mill Valley.
4 First flight of the Dipsea stairs, currently being renovated and closed about halfway up. Brings back memories. A little different than when there are 1,500 people cramming through here on race day.
5 Temporary detour while the first flight is closed.
6 A look down from the top of the first flight, closed for renovation.
7 The second flight of stairs, not yet renovated.
8 The final flight of stairs, renovated in 2007. I got mildly lost a couple times trying to follow the "trail" out of town. It's a lot tougher to find when it's not marked for the race.
9 The 676th step, dedicted to Jack Kirk the Dipsea Demon who finished the race in 58 consecutive years, the last time being when he was 86 years old.
10 Plenty of water still in mid-August.
11 The "Steep Ravine" portion of the trail just outside of town was closed. I'm normally a law abiding citizen, but I'm sorry, if I see a sign like this it may as well read "Really awesome trail, run on it now!".
12 The closed portion of the trail was mildly overgrown and had some freshly fallen trees. Perfect conditions.
13 Pretty cool.
14 The Dipsea trailhead sign at the Muir Woods entrance.
15 Entering Muir Woods. Green, green, green. And it's late summer.
16 Muir Woods. If you saw the recent Planet of the Apes movie, you'll know that there are hundreds of hyper-intelligent chimpanzees living in this forest. And no bikes on the Dipsea Trail. Yes!
17 A big deer posing for the camera. Definitely don't get to see this on race day.
18 The area known as the "rain forest". The fog is so thick for much of the year that it actually rains under the canopy from the heavy moisture in the trees. I definitely didn't appreciate it on race day. Now, there's not a single human around, and I can stop and soak it all in, literally.
19 Turn the volume up and you can hear the "rain" in the rainforest, which is really the trees heavily dripping from the persistent, dense fog.
20 This is why I run trails.
21 Plenty of roots to keep you on your toes.
22 Amazing single-track.
23 The sun is starting to break through the fog making for some amazing lighting.
24 Always hard to tell in the picture, but this is really steep. During the race, you only have to go up this. But today, I have to go up and then back down. Coming down this at full speed is tough, but a blast.
25 Quite possibly the biggest rabbit I have ever seen.
26 A little memorial fountain just off the trail, which off course I never noticed during the race.
27 Another large deer posing for a picture.
28 I turned around just a bit after the Mile 5 marker, which made for almost 11 miles round trip including my unintended detours. The finish line is another 2.5 miles downhill to Stinson Beach. Hopefully I'll have more time on another day to run the full course out and back.