My friend and I did the first trip in the Northern California book and backpacked from Rodeo Beach to Muir Beach to Stinson Beach. Unseasonable rain cancelled our last two days, Stinson Beach to Bolinas to Olema.
We stayed at Green Gulch Farm and Zen Center in Muir Beach the first night. We arrived in the rain and were happily surprised to find they have a wonderful sauna and a changing room with heated floors. Separate saunas for men and women.
One tip: the public stairs leading out of town that are described in Muir Beach/start of Day 2 are difficult to find and there isn't enough detail in the book to help locate them. That roadway has many stairways leading up the hill and we ended up taking someone's private stairway to the top. It would have been helpful to have a house number next to where these public stairs are located.
Also on that day, the Coast View Trail, not Coastal Trail as stated in t he book, is the fire road off Highway One. The arrows on the trail sign point straight rather than at an angle to the right indicating to take the fireroad. We headed down Highway One/Shoreline Hwy, then backtracked to the fire road.
We stayed in Redwood Haus in Stinson Beach the second night. That place is funky and run by a kind of nutty couple. When we arrived and rang the bell, a disembodied male voice shouted "go away"! And that wasn't followed by a "just kidding". Very odd place. Our room was like a storage room and the whole place is like living in a yard sale. Luckily the beds and bathroom were clean and that's all that mattered to us. I wouldn't stay there again but it was the only place in Stinson Beach that didn't have a two night minimum on the weekend.
The hike is beautiful and we'll go back in the spring or summer next year to finish it. I'm enjoying the book.
Thank you for the great research.
Replies
Cynthia,
Thanks for sharing your walkabout experience on the hike from the Marin Headlands to Stinson Beach. Sorry that you hit the first rainy weekend of the season. Inns and trails are always changing, so thanks for your updates.
Tom