My family was otherwise occupied away from home for the entire day, leading me
to look for something to do myself. I hit upon paying a visit to the Marin
Headlands north of San Francisco, a huge area of rolling, grassy hills
administered by a number of agencies under the umbrella of the Golden Gate
National Recreation Area. Back around 1990 I used to run marathons in these
hills with Envirosports, run by Dave Horning. They were a huge breath of fresh
air, different from the usual events such as the LA and SF Marathons that
involve thousands of participants, hundreds of volunteers, and big productions.
Dave's races were pretty low-key by comparison, having maybe 20 runners for
each of the half and full marathon divisions. There were no medals, no trophies,
and were held in beautiful mountain areas away from cities that allowed one to
take in the natural wonders of the Bay Area. Aid stations were about 5mi apart
and consisted of some jugs of water sitting on the ground at a trail junction
to refill the bottle you carried and maybe a small box of granola bars and
bananas cut in half. You were allowed to deduct time
if you stopped to take in the scenes around you - "Wilderness Appreciation
Minutes", he called them. I haven't run one of these races in more than 25yrs,
but they were one of the inspirations in getting me to spend long hours in the
outdoors. Dave is now nearly 70yrs old and still running Envirosports events.
I picked Steve up at 7a and together we drove north on I-280 and SR1 through
SF to Marin. We stopped briefly at the
at the north side
of the bridge before driving west into the Marin Headlands.
Clydes Ridge
Separating Rodeo Lagood from Bonita Cove, Clydes Ridge forms the southern edge
of the Marin Headlands abutting the Pacific Ocean. Conzelman Rd runs along the
crest, an incredibly popular tourist draw with many stunning view spots that
are typically packed with cars and people. Mixed with the modern recreational
uses are the remains of WWII bunkers and Cold War Nike Missle control and launch
sites. The highpoint of Clydes Ridge is a short hike from Conzelman Rd. We used
a small dirt turnout northwest of the summit and a use trail
from there. An equally short, and perhaps more legal start can be found
southwest of the summit where a large lot is located and a better trail. The
summit features a old of unknown purpose with some
interesting .
The views to the and across the
are superb.
Peak 1,041ft / Wolf Ridge
These two summits are found on the north side of Rodeo Lagoon in
of the Marin Headlands. We drove down past the Visitor
Center to to start a 7mi hike that would take in both
summits in a large loop. The trails were quite busy with dozens of
going by on most of the trails we visited. The Miwok Trail took
us up from sea level to the unnamed 1,041-foot summit where
is located. The exact highpoint is a bit moot since
the top was leveled for the aircraft navigation site. We walked a short distance
past the summit to the east where we could get a nice view looking in that
direction to
before returning back down the Miwok Trail. At
at a saddle we turned off the Miwok to follow the Wolf Ridge Trail up to
of the same name. The highpoint of Wolf Ridge is also
called Hill 88, a former radar control station for the nearby Nike missle base
at Fort Cronkhite. All that is left (besides some ) are the
of the various building, some support structures and
landing pads. All of this has become the canvas of some (and
others much less talented) artists. We followed the ridge
west past a few , a collection of
and the Townsley Battery found at the southwest edge of the ridgeline. Oddly,
there is from the USS Missouri (the battleship
on which the Japanese signed surrender papers) on display here. To what
purpose? The gun was never used here and is not representative of the ones that
were. Seems maybe someone picked it up a garage sale and thought it would be
cool to display somewhere. We dropped back down one of several trail options
to and back to after a little over
2.5hrs.
Coyote Ridge / Homestead Hill
We drove back out to US101, through Mill Valley and then west on Hwy 1. Near
the summit, at the junction with Panoramic Hwy, Hwy 1 was closed due to a slide
from the recent deluge. This would inconvenience us only slightly. We parked off
the road at the junction and headed off down the of
Hwy 1 for Coyote Ridge. The highpoint of Coyote Ridge is the third highest in
the Marin Headlands (that area south of Hwy 1) and its northernmost summit. A
fireroad follows along the east side of the ridge from the highway in a
southerly direction before meeting with the Coyote Ridge Trail that goes up to
. Looking , we could see the previous two
summits we had visited
with the Tennessee Valley in the foreground. Steve had last been to Marin
Headlands when his daughter was in 6th grade 10yrs earlier for a field trip.
He was reliving some of the memories when we came upon a banana slug on our
return. "Hey, I remember one of the challenges they gave the kids was to kiss
a banana slug." For nostalgia, he the camera before spitting
out the slime he'd picked up in the effort. They still don't taste very good.
Back at the car we realized the next summit was less than a half mile to the
north so we left the car where it was and followed the Panoramic Hwy a quarter
mile north before to find the highpoint of Homestead Hill.
Here we found of radio-controlled glider enthusiasts
taking advantage of the stiff wind blowing up and across the small hilltop from
the east. We watched a few of dancing their planes across
the sky, back and forth in sweeping arcs. Others were
fixing, adjusting or testing their planes in what looks like a rather fun hobby.
Twin Knolls
Back in the car, we drove north and west on Panoramic Hwy, onto Pan Toll Rd and
W. Ridgecrest Blvd, on the boundary of Mt. Tamalpais State Park and the Mt.
Tamalpais Watershed managed by the Marin Water District. Along this road are a
number of exceedingly minor, named summits that I had planned to finish up the
day with. Twin Knolls was the northermost of these, nearly a drive-up. We parked
less than 200ft from the summit which required a gain of maybe 20ft. Points
just to were clearly higher and it seemed odd that this one
would get an official BGN name. The point overlooks Bolinas to
, though partially blocked by a lower knoll across the road.
Before returning, we paid a visit to this other perch to get
of Bolinas and Stinson Beach below.
Ballou Point
About 3/4mi southeast of Twin Knolls, Ballou Point has a similar view of
from an overlook just above the roadway. The actual
highpoint of the indistinct summit area appears to be in a clump of trees that
we visited in a small loop before to our starting point. I
worried that Steve was beginning to see the true nature of my depravity.
Bolinas Ridge / Trojan Point / Bare Knoll
These three points south of Ballou Point are all located within Mt. Tamalpais
State Park. Bolinas Ridge is
and easiest from where we parked along
W Ridgecrest Blvd. The other two are more easily reached from the Trojan Point
parking lot along Pan Toll Rd, but we simply included them in a 2mi loop around
the grassy hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The area was quite
popular on a Saturday afternoon with and individuals
plying the many both official and unofficial
that and . It was 4p
by the time we , ending our run
of ten Marin summits over the course of the day. For my part, I had so much fun
that I'd be back in a few days for more of the same. It remains to be seen when
Steve will want to join me again for such shenanigans...