Marin Headlands
Directions: From 101 in Marin County take the Stinson Beach/Highway 1 exit and turn left at the stop sign. Go about a mile to Almonte and turn left to stay on the Shoreline Highway. At the Highway 1/Panormic Highway, you could go either way but it is easiest to just stay on Highway 1 to Stinson Beach. Watch for the fire station and park in the posted area along Belvedere Ave.
Parking Fee: free, note $3.00 entrance fee at Muir Woods though
Facilities: none but I was able to use the restroom in the community center. Muir Woods has complete facilities though.
Starting up the Dipsea Trail
Steps on the Dipsea Trail
More steps
Fog shrouded forests
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“V” leads the way
The one time I was in front!
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In Muir Woods
Heading up the Bootjack Trail
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Enjoying the view out to sea
Hiking the Coastal Trail
The old car wreck
National Geographic TOPO! software website:
Ave GPS and TOPO! Stats
Distance hiked: 20+mi.
Total ascent: 3686 ft
Trailhead Elevation: 61 ft
Max Elevation: 2044 ft
Moving time: 6 hrs 05 min
Moving Average: 2.9 mph
Overall average: 1.9 mph
Time stopped: 1 hr 55 min
Personal stats
Dates Hiked:
20-Sep-2008
Start time: 10:45 AM
Weather: 70’s to low 80’s
Water consumed: 2.0 liters
plus 600 ml Gatorade
Finish time: 7:45 PM
Total time: 8 hrs 0 min
Beauty: Coastal views, Muir Woods redwood groves, fog shrouded forests, gorgeous!
Wildlife seen: birds
Difficulty: The worst part of this hike was all the steps going uphill. I think it would have been easier without the steps! The distance was probably over 20 miles. TOPO! says 21.8 miles.
It is October 25 as I sit here writing this, thinking back over a month now since this hike with the Stanford Outing Club led by “V”. And since this hike I have gone on vacation, the market has gone through up and down gyrations worthy of Henry Coe, and Stanford University has pulled the plug on the Outing Club (I gather Stanford was worried about liability). And worse, I have not hiked since.
I guess that is what can happen when I don’t write things up right away.
Well, as for the hike, “V” billed this as a moderate 16+ miler that would earn you a steak dinner and it did at that. Much of the hike was indeed, only moderate, but it included trails with lots of steps up and steps just wear me out. But this was also a very beautiful hike and the effort was worth it.
We met up for the hike at the Belvedere Road Fire Station at Stinson Beach. And we began the hike at the start of the Dipsea Trail hiking up a beautiful section with lots of steps through fog-shrouded forests. At the top of the Dipsea Trail we turned right onto a section of the Coastal View Trail and hiked that with fog obscuring our view the whole way. Oh well.
We then took the Heather Cutoff down to the Redwood Creek Trail and hiked over to Muir Woods where we had a quick lunch. “V” wanted us to eat fast to stay on schedule as slow hikers like me were holding the group up. :-)
From there were took the Hillside Trail through Muir Woods where my GPS always looses signal, and then up the Bootjack Trail and more steps.
And as we hiked we hit so many different trails that I lost track of where we were most of the time other than we took the Old Mine Trail and stopped on a peak somewhere to enjoy the view before looping back down on the Cataract Tail, the Willow Camp Fire Trail, and then around on another section of the Coastal Trail set on step hillsides with expansive coastal views.
And then as we hiked along the Coastal Trail we came across the decades old wreck of an old car sitting upside down right next to the trail. I don’t know the history of that wreck but if anyone was in that car when it landed there, they couldn’t have survived it.
Otherwise, we continued on along the Coastal Trail until we came to the Matt Davis Trail, which we took down to Stinson Beach and back to our cars. The hike down the Matt Davis Trail is a long 1.6 miles though and by the time we all made it back, the sun had set and it was dark.
All in all it was a great hike and a good workout. And since my GPS lost signal in Muir Woods I can’t be sure of the actual length of the hike but “V” felt it was actually over 20 miles. Given how long we hiked, I wouldn’t be surprised! Now lets see the pictures.
