Hillslide — Ben Johnson — TCC — Alpine — Dipsea
7.9 miles     1800 ft
4 Jul 2012
Summary

Beautiful, mostly shaded route from Muir Woods to Pantoll Ranger Station and back. Tall redwoods, creek crossings.

Location: Muir Woods National MonumentMount Tamalpais State Park

Elevation Profile
Trip Planning

Trail Maps

» Official Trail Map: Decent map showing various trails. However, mileage and elevation profile of various trail sections is missing. RedwoodHikes Map is far superior.

» RedwoodHikes Trail Map: Annotated trail map of Muir Woods National Monument and most of Mt Tamalpais State Park. An excellent quality trail map ($6.95 in Jan 2012) that is recommended for avid hikers. Mt Tamalpais has plenty of trails and trail intersections. This map shows them very clearly. Much better than official state parks map or GGNRA map.

Route

To Pantoll Ranger Station: Main Trail (0.3 miles) → left on Hillside Trail (0.7 miles) → left on Ben Johnson Trail (1.0 miles) → continue onto Stapleveldt Trail (0.6 miles) → right on TCC Trail (1.3 miles) → left on Bootjack Trail (0.1 miles) → left on Alpine Trail (0.6 miles) to Pantoll Ranger Station.

To Muir Woods Visitor Center: Follow an unnamed trail (0.3 miles) to reach a junction for TCC and Stapleveldt trails. Turn right onto TCC Trail (0.4 miles) → left onto Dipsea Trail (2.1 miles) to reach the overflow parking lot for Muir Woods. Follow an unnamed trail (0.2 miles) that connects this parking lot to the Muir Woods Visitor Center.

Trailhead

Location: Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Woods Road, Mill Valley, CA 94941 . No street address. Parking area is visible in Google Maps if you zoom in sufficiently.

Directions: From San Francisco, drive along US-101 North, cross Golden Gate Bridge. Then exit 445B to merge onto CA-1 toward Mill Valley / Stinson Beach. Watch for signs for CA-1, continue along CA-1 for 2.6 miles. Then follow signs for Muir Woods, which is reached after driving for an additional 2.3 miles.

Google Maps:

Parking Fees: None (last visited: July 2012)

Capacity: Dozens of cars may be parked here. However, Muir Woods is super popular. On weekends, parking is really tight after 9am. See shuttle services.

Latitude: 37.892036     Longitude: -122.570402

© Copyright 2008—2023, Gurmeet Manku.