Saturday, November 11, 2017

Dipsea to Ben Johnson (11/14/2017)


Having It Both Ways On the Hillside TrailThis week we head south in the County and back into the federal park lands.  Here's Wendy's description of the hike: "Instead of racing up the Dipsea, we’ll stop to admire ancient redwoods, beautiful views, and hopefully early mushrooms."  (Click here to read the recap of our 2/10/09 hike on these trails. You can view photos taken on previous hikes.)

Directions to trailhead: From Highway 101 take the Stinson Beach exit, turn left (west) onto Shoreline Highway (Highway 1). At the junction with Loring Avenue, turn left again to continue on Shoreline Highway instead of heading into Mill Valley.

Turn right onto Panoramic Highway and left onto Muir Woods Road. Meet at Muir Woods Parking Lot #2 (overflow parking).

Click here for a Google Maps map that shows the location of the parking lot. Click on teardrop icon to get driving directions and time from your location.

Time: 35 minutes from College of Marin. Restrooms at trailhead.

Carpoolers can meet at the Greenbrae Parking & Ride lot at 9:00 a.m. (Click here for a Google Maps map showing the parking lot on Drakes Landing Road; click on the teardrop icon to get driving time and directions from your location.)

Weather forecast: As of Wednesday, November 30th, the National Weather Service forecast for the hike was mostly sunny, with a high near 58. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: We'll hike up the Dipsea Trail, then descend back to the floor of Muir Woods on the Ben Johnson Trail. (Click here to view and download the park trail map).

If you have Tracy Salcedo-Chourre's book, Exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area, you'll see that she proposes hiking this route in the reverse direction (up the Ben Johnson, down the Dipsea) from our plan, but her book will at least give you an idea of what our hike will be like.

This Google Earth image shows our route and distance.

Here's the hike's elevation profile.

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