February 26, 2010

Fairfax-to-Bolinas Road, Marin County


click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Just out of town to the west of me is Fairfax-to-Bolinas Road, about which I'm going to go out on a limb here and proclaim to be one of the most beautiful roads in the world.   And not a whole lot of people know about it's beauty -- it's not heavily travelled -- often it's just me and some bicyclists.

But a delightful spot along the Fairfax-to-Bolinas Road is Alpine Dam, which is the third in a chain of four man-made lakes on Mount Tamalpais that supply our drinking and washing water.   You get to drive right across the rim of the dam, and right now water is cascading out of the spillway with a thunderous roar...   This is more or less the start of the Lagunitas Creek that I photograph so often.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

That's a Madrone Tree, which is sort of the "signature" tree of Mount Tamalpais.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

And I've been having more trippy fun recently with the ripples on the surface of Alpine Lake.   Late afternoon seems to be the best time to get the best reflections.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

From Alpine Dam, and after possibly exploring the fabulous Cataract Falls area, you drive (((or pedal))) up a very steep canyon -- you are on the shaded side of the canyon.   There is an abundance of ferns and moss and other soggy and moist things.

We've just had a lot of rain, mixed in with a few days of warm sunshine -- the earth is growing all sorts of things...


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Your comments are invited and welcome.

3 comments:

shane tjia said...

gosh...these pictures are great...!!! wonderful scene...love it!!

Tomate Farcie said...

ooooooooooooo! Love the upside down pics!

As to the Fairfax to Bolinas Rd., I'm tempted to jump in my car and head that way right now. Love the scenery back there.

Anonymous said...

Don .... you've done it again ..... nailing that reflection at Alpine Lake. I remember taking the Fairfax to Bolinas Road when I was there last ... I throughly enjoyed it.

This is off subject, but I just read in our local paper that the Civic Center is for sale in San Fran, as well as 10 other government buildings in California .... the state is $20 billion in debt. Our political leadership is sooooo messed up.

Me, in Ohio

 
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