Stanford Stories XVII - Mount Tam

My 17th week at Stanford was less eventful than all the other weeks so far. This was partly due to the fact that (i) I had to work a bit more (a couple of deadlines are approaching) and (ii) the weather was “bad” for Californian standards. We actually got two full days of severe rain which means that (a) “winter” is coming and (b) I had to install fenders on my bike for my daily commute. The rain is definitely not so nice for biking, but much appreciated in terms of water for the region.

Since nothing much interesting happened this week, I will just say a few words about the last day (last Sunday) of our camping adventure from last week. Remember that we went on a 2 night camping trip to Marin County north of San Francisco. After a cold night with freezing temperatures - which we did not expect based on the weather forecast - we got up early from our tents to enjoy the morning sun together with hot tea and some oat meal. After packing our tents and all out equipment into our car, we decided to drive to Mount Tamalpais (Mount Tam) - a 700m high peak north of San Francisco with a spectacular view on the bay. Unfortunately, most of the days the famous fog covers the view. But this time, we have been extremely lucky. From a lookout at the road to the top of Mount Tam, we could a enjoy a moody and mystic view on the bay and the city covered in vanishing morning clouds illuminated by the sun.

While stopping to take some photos, two cyclist passed our car parked at the side and shouted: “Look how much people and stuff you can fit in car”. Apparently, they were surprised that it is possible to fit five people and their belongings into a medium sized SUV - I guess it must have been pretty obvious that nobody in our group was American. After a nice hike around the middle and east peak of Mount Tam, another magical sunset concluded our amazing Thanksgiving camping trip.