On one cold and wet December day my friend Susan and I finally embarked on an adventure we had been planning to do for a while.  Leaving our kids with their fathers early in the morning we headed down to Mill Valley to hike the Dipsea trail.  Having both grown up in Marin and neither one of us had hiked it we felt this needed to be rectified. Plus it gave us time to hang out and talk without being interrupted by little people.  

 One of the many sets of stairs...688 in total.  The Dipsea trail is the site of the oldest cross country trail running event in the US and has been run almost every year since 1905.  I am a big trail runner but have yet to run in this event because running along side dozens of people on the narrow paths and stairs does not appeal to me in the least.  My husband has run in a few times and will run it again in June. Susan was toying with the idea of running it too...another reason for us to check it out.

 Going down the stairs this time....the trail is 7.5 miles long and goes over two mountains with a total of 2,200 feet elevation gain and loss.

 Starting up hill again after passing Muir Woods.

 And down again on the softest redwood forest floor ever.

 We stopped at this bridge to take off our jackets.

 At the end, a little group of small people were huddled under a tree for protection from the rain as they waited for their moms to arrive.  After eating lunch and playing in the sand they were ready for a cozy (and hopefully sleepy) ride home.

 At this point the men put on their jackets and waved goodbye as they headed back up the trail we came on.

Thanks for the date Susan!