A Dog's Life

Tromp any trail in Marin and you're bound to run into a dog. Ears flopping, tail wagging, exploring and snuffling, Marin's dogs love the outdoors even more than I do. They can certainly smell more of it than I can. For several years I had a dog, an extremely spirited, smart, and strong shepherd husky mix named Dingo. Like so many other canines in this county, he was a rescue from the Marin Humane Society. Dingo did many a mile with me on fire roads and trails, until a leg injury and a divorce meant I could no longer give him the miles of exercise he needed, and he found a new home. I missed my furry companion (though I'm sure legions of traumatized squirrels breathed a collective sigh of relief that Dingo wouldn't be terrorizing them again; he had a way of yanking the leash out of my hands--I said he was strong--and he could do a pretty good job of climbing trees).

But now I have a new buddy, Dre, 40 pounds of tongue-lolling happiness. That's him in the picture. Technically, he's my friend Catherine's dog, but I kinda think of him as mine too, since I see him several times a week. He trots along beside us as we ride or run all over the county. Lucky dog. Like us, he is allowed on acres of Marin County Open Space lands, so long as he is either on a leash or under voice control (click here for rules). While he would love to run in China Camp, that's a doggy no-no, since that and Mt. Tam State Park forbid pooches from its trails (click here for general details on dogs in CA State Parks). But there's plenty of acreage to go around: he can take to the fire roads and trails all over Mt. Tamalpais, so long as he stays within the Marin Municipal Water District acreage and is on leash (here are the rules and a map). He can run on some of the beaches (Rodeo and Muir beaches, and Stinson's North Beach is always dog heaven) and some trails within the Marin Headlands (click here for the rules). Happy trails, Dre.

Rock On

Rocks. We like throwing them (especially if we are boys). We like building with them (especially if we own a serious piece of property in Tahoe). And we like balancing them. It's just cool, rock upon rock, defying gravity. I know it's fun. I did it today, out at Muir Beach, on a surprisingly balmy Sunday afternoon with other Marinites who craved the sun as much as my daughter and I did after so many soggy days and moss between our toes.

Out there on the beach, other rock-pilers had made their mark. So we picked our plot of beach and our stash of stones, some pancakes, some risky blobs that threatened to fall and crush our toes. As our tower grew, my daughter added little side towers, like turrets on a rock castle. It didn't take long to make a respectable tower, a not-bad addition to an entertaining Marin phenomenon: rock piles on beaches like this wintry one today, rock piles up creek beds winding down Mt. Tam or in the wet folds of Big Rock Ridge, and trimming the edges of Phoenix and other mountain lakes.

Who started this Bay Area phenomenon? The guy with the magic touch in Marin and SF-and the guy who has inspired a legion of copy-rock-cats, is San Franciscan Bill Dan. He puts big ones atop small ones and somehow finds the sweet spot of balance, gently feeling the center point before letting go.Thanks Dan; you made our day at Muir Beach fun--and balanced.