I went on two nice hikes recently: King Mountain and Mount Tam.

King Mountain

King Mountain is an open space preserve in Marin county, just west of Larkspur. My family was in town and we took the free ferry from SF to Larkspur. Then we caught a quick Uber to the trailhead. We could have walked but we wanted to maximize time on the trail.

The trail has a short, steep start but then took a nice, shaded loop around King Mountain. Half way around we detoured to down to Dawn Falls. Unfortunately the drought left the riverbed dry and there wasn’t any waterfall. It was still a nice walk though the forest and we popped out back in Larkspur suburbs.

Here’s a shot from the walk:

The trails connect to the Mt. Tam / Muir woods system. Someday I’d like to start in Larkspur and climb to the top of Tam. You can see a full hiking guide here: http://www.bahiker.com/northbayhikes/kingmtn.html

Mount Tam

Last week I hiked up Mt. Tam with a few friends. Despite doing many hikes around that part of Marin, I had never reached the summit. We drove to Pantoll Campground and hiked up Old Stage Road to Old Railroad Grade. Both were easy trails, gentle uphill with some nice views. At the end of Old Railroad Grade we had a short, steep hike to the peak, which featured a stunning 360 of the Bay Area.

Here are photos from the hike: