Marin Headlands

Today, J and I checked another "Bay Area Must" off our list of things to do. Although we've lived right along the bus route to the Marin Headlands for the better part of the last decade, it wasn't until today that we hopped on the 76 and found ourselves in the Marin Headlands no more than half an hour later. Now that we know how easy it is to get there, I think sunny Sundays will find us heading there more often for picnics, hiking, or just lying on the beach.

The Visitors Center is the natural first stop, but we bypassed it today because we knew we only had time for one activity. For those who have all day to explore, the Visitors Center is where you can get trail maps for anything from easy 1.5 mile walks to strenuous half day hikes. 

Today, we ended up strolling Rodeo Beach, which is a roughly mile-long stretch of dark sandy beach which sits next to a lagoon between two impressive sets of cliffs. Above is a shot of the lagoon and inland hills from the beach.

Whoosh! There go the waves of the Pacific Ocean. There were plenty of surfers out today, as well as families and dogs. 

We set up camp near these cool rocks. The rocks along the sand and in the water were large and fairly craggy, perfect for climbing!

I love how rocky seaside cliffs turn into grassy hills as soon as the hills crests. This type of terrain is uniquely Californian to me. 

After an hour on the beach we took a stroll along a dirt path. In Southern California, a day at the beach is a day at the beach. In Northern California, greenery takes over just beyond the sand, making for nice strolling. I saw a lot of new wild flowers, and these very interesting berries.

The surprise of the day was the lighter green plants in this photo. J kept saying how pretty they were because the leaves were really soft and almost fluffy looking from a distance. When we finally went near them, I smelled the unmistakable scent of fennel!! We thought about taking a few handfuls of fennel leaves home, but I was afraid of being wrong. Later, we saw a family picking entire baskets full of fennel greens. I don't know what they're planning to do with that many fennel leaves, but it made us regret not taking a stem!

Finally, some pussy willow along the lagoon. I know they're not particularly unique, but there's something about them that makes me nostalgic for the rural childhood I never had. I think there's a part of everyone that just wants to spend sunny afternoons strolling along a dirt path with a poking stick--don't you?