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For information on upcoming trail days, please visit our News and Events Page. Condition Reports This page is a compilation of reports on conditions and maintenance needs of Mount Tamalpais trails. The TCC's Trails Committee maintains this page as a service to hikers, and for use in planning future trail maintenance projects. We rely upon you, the users of the mountain's trails, to provide information on trail conditions. There are well over 100 miles of hiking trails on the mountain. We cannot be everywhere at once. Please take the time to send us any information you do not see already posted on this page. We would appreciate reports of any maintenance needs you see, and also reports of any trails you find to be in good condition. Our goal is to provide comprehensive information on all trails. Scroll down this page to see the list of reports. The area covered is generally the same as included in Barry Spitz' book, Tamalpais Trails. This area is bounded by Highway 1 through Green Gulch to the southeast, and by Bolinas-Fairfax Rd. and Audubon Canyon Ranch to the northwest. This page also covers a small part of the Pine Mountain area. To submit a report, please click here and fill out the form.
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6/12/06, Ron Moore & CVR: From Bolinas-Fairfax Road to the ridge-top fire road, the trail is steep, somewhat overgrown in sections, and eroded in places. The route is occasionally ambiguous. The bottom few yards of the trail need rerouting, as the construction of Bolinas-Fairfax Road decades ago left a steep drop-off. However, the layout of the remainder of the route is sound, so the trail could be successfully rehabilitated with a modest effort. From the fire road to Little Carson Trail, the route is uncertain in places. However, it primarily just needs a thorough brushing job, and better definition of the route where it becomes faint. An azalea bush that needs cutting back makes for especially rough going part way along. A stream crossing at the same location needs improvement. There is a sharp drop from the fire road to the start of this second section. |
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10/7/02, CVR: Over the past two months, the TCC trail crew has performed considerable work on this trail. The trail tread is mostly in good condition, although there are some short ditched sections. At the southwest end, where the trail descends steeply to Laurel Dell Fire Road, the crew has replaced old, ineffective water bars with new ones, and has built a few steps, notably right at the point of descent to the road. The crew has done considerable brushing, but many sections need additional trimming. |
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O'Rourke's Bench Trail (MTSP) |
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10/19/00, CVR: The steps and the one water bar at the beginning of the trail need repair. The initial uphill section past this point is becoming eroded. |
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6/25/02, Mitch Field, Paul Minault, & CVR: The TCC did maintenance on the section of trail from Mountain Home to Ridge Ave., in autumn 2000. This put the trail mostly into good condition. However, a number of the water bars have since silted up completely. Also an invasive exotic plant, with tall blue flower spikes, has been growing back very rapidly near the Mountain Home trailhead, threatening to block the trail again. The southern extension of this trail, for about one-half mile approaching Dias Ridge Fire Rd., is overgrown and deeply gullied. |
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5/28/03, CVR: The TCC trail crew has done a bit of work on this trail on several occasions over the past two years. The culverts under the "plank walk" section have been dug out. Just at the top of this section, the barrier closing off the old return trail, branching to the right, needs to be improved and better signed. Along the next 150 feet or so of trail, the TCC has done some drainage work and tread improvement, but more is needed, much of the footing now being on rough bedrock due to erosion. Approaching the summit of East Peak, a few sections of the old steps have never been repaired; major work is needed here. At the end of the public trail (at which point visitors are asked to turn around and proceed no farther), the TCC put up a barrier and a less ambiguous sign in May 2003. Still, this location needs to be better marked, and the experience for park visitors would be enhanced by improvements and maybe some interpretive signs. A moderate amount of trimming is needed everywhere above the "plank walk" section, although the heaviest growth has been cut back along the entire route. |
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Red Rock Beach Trail (MTSP) |
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8/13/04, CVR: While considerable brushing has been done on the upper section within the past two years, the chaparral grows back very rapidly here. The trail really needs regular weed-whacking, to beat down growth of annuals and new stems of coyote brush, poison oak, and blackberry. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to get this regular attention. State park staff did new drainage work on the upper section two or three years ago, using heavy equipment. While this work was well designed, many of the drainage dips urgently need strengthening with timber water bars, and the drainage channels should be cleaned out and in some cases enlarged. In September 2002, a volunteer event organized by the Access Fund, a climbers' group, did considerable work on the bottom end of the trail. Along the switchbacks, the volunteers did major brushing, installed a number of water bars and a few steps, cleaned existing steps, and improved the tread. Regular attention to this area would be desirable, but the work is holding up well. The volunteers removed the unsuccessful "sand ladder" installed some years ago on the beach approach. They filled the ditch below with many large rocks, and built a wall to shore up the trail at the top of this ditch. In September 2003 and again in June 2004, large groups of volunteers made up of beachgoers and TCC trail crew members made major improvements to the volunteer-built reroute of the bottom end of the trail, descending to the beach, that appeared a few years ago. This very last part of the trail had been largely destroyed by wave action in the winter of 2002 to 2003. Beginning at the bottom, a flight of steps was completely reconstructed. Rock and railroad ties were used to build a large batter wall intended to protect the lower end of the trail from erosion. A second flight of steps, a few feet higher on the trail, was added. Substantial excavation to widen one remaining narrow part of the tread would be desirable. Due to the force of winter storms affecting this part of the trail, which is vulnerable to water erosion from both above and below, it is likely that major repairs will be needed every couple of years. |
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Redwood Creek Trail (MTSP) |
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10/7/02, CVR: At the Muir Woods end of the trail, the tread need repairs. The first bridge needs major repairs. The horse bypass needs further brushing and repairs. Past Miwok Trail, a section of the trail through a meadow is swampy in wet weather, but it may be best just to live with this rather than to attempt major work. In the vicinity of the second bridge, near Santos Meadow, the trail needs light trimming. The TCC trail crew began the rebuilding of this bridge on Oct. 17, 2001, and completed it only in September 2002. I have not recently inspected the trail beyond Santos Meadow. |
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