With the dry weather continuing in the Bay Area, I headed to the coast for a day. I’d been thinking of doing the Dipsea again, but in both directions.

It’s known as the Double Dipsea. 7.5 miles each way, for a glorious 15 mile hike. My feet and legs already hated me before I even started up the stairs.

I debated starting at Stinson Beach and going upwards to the high point of the Dipsea trail, Cardiac Hill (1,360 feet), and then over to Mill valley.

That would be a bit easier, since the return leg would be more downhill than uphill. Although not entirely downhill, since there are several “Dips” in the Dipsea trail. Go figure.

I decided to start from the traditional starting point of the Dipsea, Old Mill Park in Mill Valley. It starts with many, many stairs up to the Panorama Highway. It then descends down towards Muir Woods.

This is where I hit a snag: The Dipsea Bridge was out, so there was a detour that would add at least a half mile to the hike. Nothing to do but power on towards Stinson Beach.

After Muir Woods, the trail climbed steadily towards Cardiac Hill. Fortunately, my heart kept ticking as I enjoyed the view from there and a short break. After that, it was mostly a gentle hike down to Stinson Beach. Even though the trail ends at Highway 1, I continued all the way to the beach and had a short lunch break as I enjoyed the waves.

I resisted the urge to just take a bus back to Mill Valley, which is what I had done when I had previously done the Dipsea trail one way from Mill Valley. Fortunately I avoided bailing out on the return hike since the beginning of the trial is a pretty gentle climb until I got to Steep Ravine, which led to a steep climb out of the ravine.

Reaching Cardiac Hill, I only took a short break and headed down towards Muir Woods again. And then up again. Lots of dips in this trial.

I was surprised to find a lone California Poppy along the trial. Surprising, since it was pretty early to see California Poppies blooming. The year’s unfortunately dry and warm weather was starting spring early.

Reaching the last crest before the end of the trail, it was all downhill from there.

Down is usually the easiest direction to hike, but all those stairs at the end of this long hike definitely took it’s toll on my poor knees.

I reached the Old Mill Park and celebrated my 16 mile round trip. It was very satisfying to manage hiking the Double Dipsea.

I also realized that I’m taking shorter and less breaks on my hikes. Slowly I’m getting healthier and building my stamina up. I’ll need it and more to complete the JMT this year.