Marin Night Trek

We held a training event in the Marin Headlands on the evening of May 6th. Five of us gathered near Rodeo Lagoon at 10pm for some night navigation on the trails. Once again it proved that navigational skills and route selection beat speed almost every time. It rained the entire first hour in true Hypothermiac fashion.

We split into two groups: Ben and Jared versus Geoff, Todd and David. Both Jared and Geoff had GPS watches to track their routes. Todd had the choice of teams and selected Mr. Navigation's team. It also sounded like Ben and Jared were going to go faster and try some cross country shortcuts. We all started running together but Ben/Jared quickly pulled ahead on the uphill section of the Coastal Trail to Slacker Hill. Even with the rain clouds the views of GG bridge were beautiful.

They passed us coming down the hill but got stuck deciding which route to take at the end of the SCA trail so we beat them to the top of Peak 2, despite Todd twisting his ankle on the ridge. They then decided to cut cross country while we took Alta trail around to Miwok. The shortcut would have been faster but they missed the turn and "headed to McDonalds". They were going to have a few trips to McDonalds throughout the night while Geoff's team hit every checkpoint precisely.

It became really foggy at the top of the next peak to the point where we turned off the headlamps. Team Ben/Jared had caught up to us by that time after doubling back and then they waited for us at the next intersection to make sure that Wolf Ridge Trail was the correct route. After dodging salamanders on the trail we all made it to the top of Hill 88 together and once again the McDonald crew piggy backed our decision making to hit the last peak (#5) just off the Coastal Trail.

Now it was just a race back to the cars. You would think that the fast team would have the advantage but once again poor route selection at the bottom of Miwok Trail led team Ben/Jared to the lagoon and team Geoff/Todd/David to a glorious 5 minute victory (and bragging rights). Todd took a spill coming down the hill and got a little muddy but took it in good spirits.

We did just over 3,000 feet of elevation gain in a little over 11 miles. Considering the mud, the rain and the darkness two and a half hours was not a bad time at all for that loop. Ben and Jared promise to look at the map a little more closely next time.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=759...