My hill.

From Fairfax

Odd, it doesn't look very hilly from here.

Going around the bend

There are no straight roads on the way up.

It's spring

So many things are blooming, especially at this house.

Blooming horse chestnut

Lots of trees like this one are blooming now all over Marin County. Thanks to artmouse for the ID!

Blooms up close

Stilt deck

Up here, parking decks on stilts are commonplace. There's almost no shoulder to park by the road.

Stilt house

Sometimes houses need stilts too.

Thanks, tree

On this slope, the tree is valiantly holding things together.

Goodbye trees

Just a few steps farther along, I come to where several trees have been cut down. You are looking at the bank in between roadways of a hairpin turn. Without the trees, I can't imagine how the bank will hold together. What was the treecutter thinking??

Hairpin

Yup, this matches the curve I see on my map.

Fairfax view

The views are starting to get nice. This one looks toward Fairfax, the spot from which I took the picture of the hill. In the valley, the nearest building you can see, with the sort of fake windows, is the Fairfax Theater.

Intersection of Scenic and Summit

You can't really tell from this image, but the road that goes uphill is Summit. According to the map, I need to go to the end of Summit and then go as much as possible straight uphill.

The road up

This is almost the last of Summit Road. Around the next bend, I see a man working on a house and ask him how to get to the top. He tells me.

Gate 1

This is a bit intimidating. It looks all exclusive. But I remind myself that the man told me this was a public gate. To the left is the small gate for people to go through.

trompe l'oeuil

The figure looking up is a metal silhouette. My path lies beyond him, to the right and uphill some more.

Big gate and little gate #2

No more asphalt

Now I'm on a fire road. I know I am supposed to look for another gate around here somewhere.

Last gate

A careful inspection of the area convinces me that this is the way to the top. I am a little apprehensive, because there is a building up there, and it looks as though this area might be private property. I don't want to make anyone mad. However, I remind myself that I am on a task, and furthermore it is my birthday and I really want to get to the top of this hill, and I think the owners won't mind if I talk to them nicely. But as it turns out, I never see or hear any people up here.

Close

This is the last little hill. Note the clover.

Burry clover

I have never seen this kind of clover before. It carpets the area around the oak.

defunct bench

Someone had a good idea putting a bench up here. This particular bench, a veneered indoor job, was not up to the task.

On on the very summit is . . .

a shed! That's right, the citadel perched on the pinnacle of this hill is a woodshed.

View to southeast

I sit on the dry grass for a while. It's pleasantly warm, the sun is shining on me, and I am at the top of the hill I live on, looking out toward San Francisco Bay. In the distance (you probably can't make it out here) are the mini-skyscrapers of Oakland.

So lovely

I feel: warm sun, satisfaction. I hear: a rooster crowing over and over. I see: an ant very near, the East Bay Hills very far.

Gatemaker

On my way back down, I meet the man who told me how to get up here. He has been working for various property owners up here for seven years, and he built this fence about the time he started working here. He explains that it is to keep deer out, not people, and that people come here often.