Started in the fog at Stinson Beach after a quick breakfast burrito from the coffee stand at The Parkside Cafe. The trail was in great shape with a gentle incline and the weather was cool. Perfect way to start a hike!

We caught the Steep Ravine trail and went into the cool moist forest. The ladder was a fun and unique obstacle along the way. We eventually made it to the Pantoll Campground where we heard a Pileated Woodpecker repeatedly calling. This was a good spot for a bathroom break. We had a nice conversation with a campground worker and got back on the trail which was actually the easy grade of the the Old Stage Road. We were in and out of the trees. By this time the sun had come out for beautiful sunny views. We crossed several  outcrops of beautiful greenish serpentine rock formations. Eventually we came to the West Point Inn. From there we took the Old Railroad Grade trail (also a gentle incline) to the Mt Tam Visitor Center and finally the Plank trail to the summit. The views were clear and beautiful in all directions. We ate lunch near the entrance to the fire lookout tower.

We retraced our steps to Pantoll and then branched off North to follow the Matt Davis Trail. It was about this time that we started to smell smoke. As it got worse and worse we imagined there was a fire on the mountain and felt we should get down as soon as possible. Smoke was drifting through the trees and we began to get sore throats. We saw several hikers coming up and when we asked about “the fire” they didn't know what we were talking about  and didn't even smell the smoke!

We continued down through a beautiful, but smoky forest. Here the trail was not as good. The trail was eroded and there were many roots sticking up that were a tripping hazard and there were many more long steps down which were hard on tired legs. But not so bad I would skip this scenic part of the trail.

Eventually we reached Stinson Beach and it was very smoky. We couldn't see even a quarter mile! We saw another group of hikers and finally one of them admitted to smelling smoke! Weird!

A beautiful hike, well worth doing. Almost the same distance and elevation gain as Mount Diablo but much easier on the body. Maybe the temperature played a part in the Diablo difficulties?