In connection with John Muir's The Mountains of California, our reading for this week, we will hike to the most rugged spot on the central campus. This will involve steep clambering where there's no trail, so bring strong shoes for support, preferably boots. Also bring a backpack with water, windbreaker, journal, and camera and binoculars, if you have them. Anyone wishing to hike further after class and/or sleep out, bring sleeping bag and snacks. It would be helpful for you to print out the material on Geology in Poly Canyon Revisited, since this will be a primary focus of the hike.
On the way we'll encounter: the horse unit, Indonesian reservoir--a wetland and lake, riparian community, grasslands, chapparel, serpentinite community. We'll see plenty of birds and wildflowers, get the best view of Stenner and Poly Canyons, encounter traces of sheep pens built in the nineteenth century and some archaeological artifacts.
The hike up should take about 40 minutes up and the way down should take about 30 minutes. If you're not in a huge hurry on this balmy evening, you might want to stay in the higher country for the sunset.
