The mountains are calling!

What better way to enjoy the beautiful Dipsea trail in most of its entirety from Muir Woods to Stinson Beach. Dipsea trail starts in Mill Valley and ends in Stinson Beach. If you decide to do this trail starting from Muir Woods, you can either do a round trip or take the bus from Stinson Beach to Muir Woods. If you want to experience the Dipsea stairs you may as well start from Mill Valley which adds about 2 miles or 4 miles (roundtrip).

We started our hike at 8 am from Muir Woods on a gorgeous fall morning in September. The weather was perfect and a beautiful day was ahead of us. The entry to the trailhead is by the overflow parking lot of Muir Woods, and is the only trail that doesn’t start inside of Muir Woods National Monument. The initial stretch of the Dipsea trail is challenging as most of the elevation gain on Dipsea is through Muir Woods. Dipsea trail crosses Redwood creek in less than half a mile and ascends about 300 to 400 ft. You are walking through some big Red wood trees before you reach the junction with Deer Park Fire Road.

From Deer Park Fire Road, you can either continue on the Dipsea trail or take the Deer Park Fire Road which is more exposed to Sun. We stuck to Dipsea trail as the hike continued to gain elevation through tangled roots. We continued to gradually gain elevation before reaching the Ben Johnson Trail junction. You can access a variety of other trails that fall under Muir Woods National Monument from this junction. We proceeded on Dipsea trail as we gained more elevation and reached the TCC trail junction. A few more steps from the TCC junction is where the elevation gain stops, and the trail levels in open space, providing views of the greater landscape.

Dipsea intersects with Coastal fire road and bends west from here on a more flatter section by providing improving views. A mile or so from TCC trail has some beautiful views as you keep continuing on the trail in open sun. After the initial elevation gain, you continue on more gentler section of the trail for the next mile and half before ending up at the Steep Ravine Trail junction. At this point, a part of the group was feeling tired and decided not to hike back from Stinson beach which was the original plan. Having done the section from Steep Ravine Trail to Stinson beach as part of my Mount Tam hike, I decided to head back to Muir Woods and drive to Stinson Beach.

The hike back was boring for the first 2 miles as I was no longer enjoying the wonderful views, but just blazing past the open space in hot sun. I traversed this section pretty quickly, and started my descent closer to TCC trail. I reached my car in about 75 minutes from when I started to head back. I relaxed for a bit and drove to Stinson beach to pick up the rest of the group and head home. This was a short hike, but it was much more enjoyable especially because of the variety of views it had to offer.

Difficulty – Difficult Insanity Level – 1 Distance ~ 11 miles Elevation ~ 1600 ft Time ~ 5-6 hours

Directions: Dipsea Trailhead (Muir Woods) – Deer Park Fire Road – Dipsea Trail – Ben Johnson Trail Junction – Dipsea Trail – TCC Trail Junction – Dipsea Trail – Coastal Fire Road – Dipsea Trail – Steep Ravine Trail Junction – Dipsea Trail – Dipsea Trailhead (Muir Woods)