Moon Over Marin

moonbridge

Location: Marin County, California (Mt. Tamalpais, Stinson Beach, Muir Beach)

Type: Seaside/Mountain

Distance: Trail to Muir Beach about 3.5 miles

Duration: An hour, maybe a bit more

Difficulty: Ranked as 2

Highlights: Great food, great bed, full moon

Bike Trip: This trip can be done as a 12-mile bike trip

Duration: 2 days, 1 night, with time-outs

Difficulty: Downhill=1, Uphill=3

One of my favorite-ever overnight hike/bike excursions took place in and around Mt. Tamalpais in southern Marin County, California.

At the time I was living in Berkeley, so my biking buddy and I traveled across the Bay together, parking at Mt. Tam’s Pan Toll Ranger Station. From there we took off on our bikes, wheeling down the mountain to Highway 1 and heading north along the coast. We stopped at some point, spending time on the beach—yes, one of those Northern California beaches, with high cliffs and pounding waves and lots of driftwood—before turning around.

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Back at Pan Toll we grabbed backpacks and sleeping bags from the car and rode our bikes about two miles to the old West Point Inn at the top of the mountain—there’s no drive-in access; you’ve got to get there via foot or pedal power. It was late afternoon in spring, and plenty of light remained.

The Inn was built in 1904 as a resting point at the westernmost terminal of the 8-mile Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway; passengers could take a stagecoach from there to get over the mountain to Stinson Beach.

The Inn still has no electricity, so if you book a room you need to bring flashlights, as well as your own bedding—food, too, although that afternoon we planned to hike down the mountain for dinner in Stinson Beach.

After we signed in and dumped our packs, we took off once again, on foot this time. The Dipsea Trail from Pan Toll is gorgeous, with lively creeks, endless ocean vistas, creaking redwoods, glimpses of wildlife…and then you end up in tiny, wonderful Stinson Beach. I forget where we ate, probably the Sand Dollar, which is always good. A fresh seafood dinner, a glass of wine…and then it was time to hit the steep trail up.

But we were tired, and so stuck out our thumbs and were soon enough dropped off beside Pan Toll. From there it was a two-mile walk to the Inn and we were done for the day.

Well, almost. The best part was yet to come.

It was dark by now. We opened the wine and took it out to the wrap-around porch. Perched all the way up Mt. Tam, around 2600 feet, all was silence. The world stretched below: the lights of San Francisco and the East Bay; the shadowed outlines of the Marin Headlands; the Golden Gate Bridge; a vast expanse of darkness that had to be the ocean. Above us the moon was huge, bursting with fullness.

As we sat there, barely speaking, the first fingers of fog slipped under the Bridge and then spread east, south, and north with amazing speed. Within an hour Mill Valley had disappeared. The fog ascended the mountain, heading toward us. Would we, too, be consumed? But no. It stopped about two-thirds of the way to the top, leaving us nothing to see but a surreal world of soft white below with a bright yellow moon above.

Who could forget a day like that?

Eat/Sleep/Do

EAT: The Sand Dollar restaurant is unfailingly yummy and friendly. www.stinsonbeachrestaurant.com/

SLEEP: The vintage West Point Inn has cozy beds in woody rooms for about $50 each (bring your own flashlight and sleeping bag) and knockout views from the wraparound porch: http://www.westpointinn.com

Bay Area Hiker site about Mt. Tam: http://www.bahiker.com/northbayhikes/pantoll.html

California State Parks Page about Mt. Tam: http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=471

Mt. Tam State Park: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=471

Suzanne ("Suzie") Rodriguez is a travel, culinary and wine writer based in Sonoma, California. She's contributed to Gourmet Magazine, Relish, Woman's World, and other national magazines. Her love of variety has led her to write on subjects as diverse as Gladys Knight and Americans in Paris in the 1920s. She will be a frequent contributor to WeekendWalk.com. Visit Suzie at www.culinarygadabout.com

Category: Inn to Inn Routes and Reports

Written by Suzanne ("Suzie") Rodriguez

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