Muir Woods Dipsea Trail

My parents tell me that they’ve taken me to Muir Woods before, but I have zero recollection of it, so I can only assume that I was but a wee behbeh at the time. Clearly, this needed to change. Here’s my recap of our hike through Muir Woods Dipsea Trail (kindasorta)!

I spent the first 18 years of my life in the SF bay area, but isn’t it funny/strange how you can live near a place for so long and never actually visit the “tourist attractions” much? (Twas probably because I had no license and had my life swallowed by the over-achieving nature of my high school, but still!)

Well, clearly, this needed to change!

Aka how I got swallowed by a tree.

During my trolling of OKC, I made friends with Ricardo (he’s the one who sent me this super awesome bike trainer that is currently chillin’ at Please Save A Cat!). We’ve been trading hilarious imgur photos and the like via text for a million moons and he mentioned wanting to go hiking there, so I figured I’d tag along as well!

Distance: ~6 miles(?)
Elevation: ~59 floors (according to my phone!)
Trailhead Address: 1 Muir Woods Rd, Mill Valley, CA 94941
Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult(?)–depends on your fitness level; it got pretty darn steep, but was definitely doable!
Parking: Park in the overflow lot if you want a slightly easier time getting out of there! There’s a bathroom there too, in case you need to take care of business before (or after) your hike! Try to get there before 9 a.m. unless you like vulturing for parking spots!

We used the Hillside Trail as a warmup of sorts, and continued with the Ben Johnson Trail to the Dipsea Trail, and then a detour through the Deer Park Fire Road!

The Main Trail is a nice little paved 1.5-2 mile stretch, and I suspect it’s probably what my parents meant when they said I’d been here before, since they’re not really the super-hiking-adventures type! The Hillside Trail was somewhat similar!

This tree in the middle of the trail just wanted to live life the way it wanted to. You do you, tree!

To preface, I was already somewhat sore because I’d spent the day before training BJJ with Rhalan Gracie. I’m very-very accustomed to rolling with dudes who are at least 50 pounds heavier than me, but that day’s class actually had girls who were my size! (Oh em gee wut.) At the end of class, Rhalan had us do some live drills on passing guard while everyone else watched, and not gonna lie, my first thought? “Noooooo, he’s gonna wonder why the hecks he ever told me about his classes here.”

(In case you can’t tell, I don’t have too much confidence in my BJJ skills, mostly because I never have a chance to practice, and practice is kinda essential to getting to be good at anything.)

My best skill is hanging on like a barnacle and/or surviving, but I can’t ever remember any offensive tactics. I was in for a pleasant surprise though–not only did I not die or get submitted, I managed to get a rear naked on one and lasted until he called a tie on the other! :D! I consider this progress.

I’m writing about this mainly to explain why the steepness was extra-hard, but goodness, it was worth it!

I felt really short.

The elevation for this one was about 10 floors more than the Cathedral Rock Trail in Sedona, but with no random rock climbing–just rather steep stair-roots.

If I were asked what type of tree I’d be at an interview, I’d be a redwood. (I like to think that I’m durable/persistent.)

Did you know that they’re kinda fireproof? They don’t have pitch (super flammable substance) inside their trunks and don’t make resins–their sap is mostly made of water! The tannins in their bark also act as a defense against both wildfire, decomposition, and insect infestation!

(Can you tell that I was once a science camp counselor? :P )

It was reallyyy muddy on the loop back, so we definitely stepped into many a deceiving mud puddle. (Wet shoes/socks are definitely not the greatest feeling in the world.) California desperately needs the rain though, so it’s a-okay! Having to leap from bank to bank across mini-streams added to the adventure aspect!

The Dipsea Trail is also home to the Dipsea Race, which is a 7.4 mile course from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. There’s a crap ton of stairs/steepness involved, but it’s a really popular race since it’s such a gorgeous course, so people all over the world apply to be able to race there, but they only take 1,500 runners a year! 

…And of course, what would my hikes be without the classic post-hike victory meal? This time, it was a jumbo burrito! This sucker likely weighed well over a pound.

I probably shouldn’t have eaten the whole thing right before another workout…

The Dipsea Trail technically stretches all the way to Stinson Beach, and although I’d normally never say no to a beach, we were a little time-crunched because I needed to get my butt back to Twirly Girls by 1 p.m. for open pole since the AIDS LifeCycle fundraiser is this coming weekend, but I’d love to come back to explore more of the trails here someday!

• Have you ever been to Muir Woods? Which trail did you take?
• Do you ever visit the “touristy” areas near where you live? I barely count this as touristy, but I guess it technically is!