San Pablo Dam

Walking on a ridge in Tilden Park I can look to my left for a panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay and Mt. Tamalpias rising above a white blanket of fog. To my right is the San Pablo Dam and behind me is Mt. Diablo wearing cloud like a necklace, head and feet free. Looking further down the length of the dam the wispy grey fog is quickly disappearing to reveal the fluffy white clouds further away. On a really clear day I can see all the way to the Sierra Nevada.

From the top of Mt.Diablo, the view is so vast that one can see the curvature of the earth. It is home to blazing hot summers, occasional snow on its slopes in winter, wildflowers at its feet in spring, including a rare orchid, and tarantulas, which come and sit in the middle of the road on warm days. The early Indian tribes considered it sacred, and the Mexicans gave it its name. which means "Devil". Different points of view, for sure.

Mt. Tamalpias has it's feet in the Pacific. It has an amphitheater, a rustic Craftsman era lodge and is home to the Dipsea, a notoriously difficult footrace along narrow hiking trails to the sea. One is amply rewarded for walking down this famous trail next to seasonal creeks and waterfalls and emerging at the sea and, best of all, a cafe. After coffee and cake, or a hamburger and a beer, the ambitious can hike back up again, and the less motivated can take the bus.

The light and the camera were both wrong for properly capturing these sacred peaks properly, so I chose the San Pablo Dam watershed which runs between them.