021208 - Today called for a hike into the hills after a brief visit to the Marin History Museum. The old Victorian house once belonged to a wealthy gold heiress and adventurer who preferred excursions to Greenland and the Arctic. What was once her residence is now the museum, and her old backyard is now a public park. It seemed a fitting departure point, as the exhibits described the 1800s era, when the train traveled from San Rafael to the Point at Tiburon, which happens to be my next stop. The ascent up Mount Raffy drew the first sweat of the new season, and the shirt came off for trudging through shaded tunnelway paths near the peak. Glimpsing out at the waterways, from Novato to the pylons of the Bay Bridge, the vantage was superb, becoming even better when two butterflies fluttered and encircled each other, drawing my eyes up into the blue sky right into the deep craters of the waxing crescent moon. Looping back past the telecommunications relay post, the water towers, and the back valley with Mount Tamalpais behind, I descended along the steeper slope to a small reservior held between brick cliffs. The water passed along in adobe-style aqueducts, falling quickly through drainways down to the park. Yes, right back to the museum and old home of one of Marin’s great patrons, who lived on Mission Street, right next to Mission San Rafael. This source of water was probably what caused the missionaries to set up here in the first place, as these agricultural convertors always needed to start with a fresh, available clean source. Right at the bottom of the trench, next to the house, I discovered a drinking fountain and took a refreshing sip.
