Tips

There are so many trails having a good sense of where you are going beforehand helps. 

Go to the old fire lookout and and eat lunch on the rocks facing south – great views

Since traveling from south San Jose takes almost 2 hours, I wanted to get an early start and do some fishing before the group arrived to hike Mt Tam. As I walked towards Phoenix Lake at 630am, I could hear the forest waking up and hear elk bugling!

At 730 I met up with my group and we made our way up to the peak. One of my favorite parts of this hike is seeing the fog slowly dissipating and revealing the city. We lucked out that day with clear views all the way to Mt Diablo and down the coast.