Mt. Tam – From the ocean to summit

It was a full fog day when we set out to summit Mt Tam. I had second thoughts due to fog covering the beautiful views. But still went ahead. Hike started out fully shaded and it was so lovely for the first 3 hours. And then came the open patch. It has gotten very warm by that time and I realized it was going to be a very tough hike due to heat. Still hesitant, but went ahead with uphill hike. It came a point where it was so hot and I needed to break every few steps. Everyone on the trail was struggling due to heat. I saw a dog on the trail who was also struggling. At this point, I was on my own hiking uphill in extreme heat, but kept climbing. After a lot of hard work, we reached summit. And then it was totally different scene at the summit, I only saw how beautiful the city was from the summit. It was suddenly worth the effort.

Mt Tam indeed has the best views of all hikes I had done in Bay Area. SF downtown skyline, golden gate, bay bridge view, 360 degree view of water bodies, it was a hike worth spending all the effort. Though I chose the worst day to summit Tam, it served as a test of my endurance. I realized my hidden stamina. It was indeed an amazing feeling to hike from the ocean to the summit.