Ring Mountain, Tiburon, 3 miles or 6 miles

Ring Mountain is Trip 4 in the Geologic Trips: San Francisco Bay Area (http://www.amazon.com/Geologic-Trips-San-Francisco-Area/dp/0966131649). The trip is subtitled "Exotic Blocks -- Thermometers in the Subduction Zone."

As usual, the first 15 minutes will be a short background talk on the overall geology of the area. We'll start hiking about 15 minutes after the scheduled start time.

We'll start at the Parking lot on Paradise Drive on the far north side of the mountain (see the Google map), then hike up to the two stops on from the Geologic Trips book (Taylor Road and Ring Mountain summit). Ring Mountain is 602', and we're starting at the bay, so we're climbing 600'. After these two stops, we'll hike back past Turtle Rock, and those who want a three mile hike can return down Phyllis Ellman Trail to the parking lot. The rest of us will hike along the Ring Mountain Fire Road, then loop back through the Tiburon neighborhoods (see Google map).

Download a PDF trail map of Ring Mountain (http://www.marincounty.org/depts/pk/divisions/open-space/ring-mountain) and Tiburon Ridge Open Space Reserves (PDF).

• A complete Google map can be found here (https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=37.914037,-122.495112&spn=0.025224,0.051627&t=p&z=15&msid=104378039710734503991.00047e918110c13fda80f).

• Bay Nature article on Ring Mountain Geology. (http://baynature.org/articles/apr-jun-2007/ring-mountain-rocks)

• Prof. Jim Locke's Ring Mountain Geology page. (http://www.marin.edu/%7Ejim/ring/)

• Rock carvings on Ring Mountain. (http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=19244)

• Northern Cal Geologic Society page on Ring Mountain (http://www.ncgeolsoc.org/Field%20Trips/Tiburon%20Peninsula%20FT/TiburonPeninsulaFT.htm) (great photos)

• Great photomicrographs of thin sections (http://mathsci.solano.edu/users/mfeighne/vol1.page2.htm) taken by Howard Day and Warren Gray.

• KMZ map showing geologic map (http://getwx.com/Ring_Mountain_Geo_Map.kmz) (thanks, Brenor). You can read this using Google Earth or other KMZ capable programs.

Our past three trips to Ring Mountain (with photos and reviews): Sept 2012 (https://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Area-Geology-Hiking/events/81275512/), Oct 2010 (https://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Area-Geology-Hiking/events/14912761/), and Feb 2010 (https://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Area-Geology-Hiking/events/12488868/).

On our non-rainy trip, we got to the top at about noon, a bit slower pace than usual but everyone was having a good time. Not sure what our pace will be this year, but no one is left behind (although occasionally individuals realize they need to turn back due to time or fitness).

Kids are welcome, and the shorter version of this hike may be ideal for them. Due to too many bad experiences, dogs are not allowed on my hikes.

Note: The Ring Mountain map listing on Meetup is just a bit west of our meeting place--use the Google map link above to get the correct location.

Don't worry if the sign up number gets large; our hikes tend to end up with 15-25 people (given the number of no-shows). Gather at 10:45, we'll leave at 11:00 promptly. I'll email my cell number to the YES RSVP list the day before the hike. Cell coverage SHOULD be good, in case you get there late and want to try to catch up with us.