Emily wanted to recon and refresh her memory about the North Bay trails for an upcoming ride and came up with this route. I didn't know at first if there was a reason she wanted to climb so many steep trails so held back on suggesting changes. Turns out she had a plan. She was the Captain! One small problem - she doesn't have a bike computer so needs to pull out her phone to navigate. Initially I was unable to load the route onto my Garmin after multiple tries. On a previous ride, I was also unable to load it. Then I had a light bulb moment and thought maybe it was because I was maxed out on the number of routes I could have. After deleting some routes, it transferred over immediately. I was now able to navigate us. The first piece of dirt was steep and rooted. So we got to practice our rooting. Get it? :) Along with being steep there was tons of poison oak lining the trail. It definitely seemed like a fun downhill MTB trail and it was super pretty. It seemed like we were off to a classic Emily and Andy adventure. Fortunately once we got to the top we were back on flat gravel road and it was a very pleasant and chill ride. On the way to Fairfax, we stopped in at M.H. Bread and Butter. I mistakenly thought we had further to go before our lunch stop in Fairfax when we made the call to stop. I wasn't really even hungry as I had breakfast at Equator in MV waiting for Emily. A Boichik bagel w/cream cheese, a fresh fruit galette, and a large hot chocolate. :) We rolled to Fairfax and didn't know that Way Station was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays so we just rolled to M&G Burgers. I was still full but knew I should eat. Normally I don't feel full after lunch and it doesn't bother me when I'm riding but I was feeling it a little bit climbing up from Deer Park. My legs were also not feeling great. It wasn't until we got to Hoo Koo E Koo that my legs finally woke up. Also my first time on the trail which was really nice. Overall the trails were much rougher and rockier than the last time I rode them a couple years ago. From Fairfax back to Mill Valley it seemed especially rocky and loose. We stopped at Equator one more time for a drink. If I wasn't so full, we would've gone to Sol Food. :)