Stinson Beach Loop

After a little research, we decided to head to Stinson beach to do the Matt Davis, Steep Ravine, Dispea trail trifecta loop. Stinson Beach is accessible via highway 1 heading west about 9 miles from Mill Valley. We got an early start and left the house at about 8:30, which put us at Stinson right around 9:15. We found great parking right next to some basketball courts near the center of town and headed directly over to the Matt Davis trail entrance located off of Belvedere St.

I had read that the loop was going to be right around 8 miles, but I had no idea the vertical was so insane. The Matt Davis heads straight up into Mt Tamalpais state park and is pretty much a 1700 vertical in about 2 miles. With the Oof on my back, that was no small task and I felt whipped about 30 minutes into the hike. But, the scenic views and the encouragement from the rider on my back kept us going.

By far, the most incredible part of the hike for me was transition through micro-climates as we hiked up the face of the mountain. At sea level, it was clear, but cold. About 400 feet up, we transitioned into a moist, damp, almost rainforest like feel tropical climate with the ground saturated as if it had just rained. At about 800 feet up, we were deep into the fog - reminding me of the cloud forest in Costa Rica where it’s cold and foggy. At about 1200 feet, the forest and views were incredible. The fog was still thick, but we were close enough to the top of the mountain that the sun shone through. This created a glowing effect as if the forest were wrapped in tissue paper with a gigantic flashlight shining through it on the outside. Finally, at around 1800 ft, the trees, we were through the fog, and we stepped out onto wide areas of open, yellow grasslands.

At this point, which was about 3 miles into the hike, we reached the parking area/ranger station where Steep Ravine and Matt Davis trail come together just off of the panoramic highway (the “1”). We were a bit relieved to reach it because for a little over half a mile, we were debating about whether we should turn around so our little one could get a nap. We took a short water break and headed right back out onto Steep Ravine trail which is mostly downhill back to Stinson Beach.

Steep Ravine is, well, a steep ravine with high walls on either side of the trail. The trail pretty much parallels the ravine down to the ocean with the occasional criss-cross of the trail over the trickling stream. The features on the trail were great - lots of fallen trees on the trail for hiking over or under, a 10 foot tall ladder to descend, and several bridges (some more suspect than others). But, since we were heading downhill though, the hike was just that much easier.

About 2 miles down Steep Ravine, we hung a right on the Dipsea trail. The trail was relatively flat and led us quickly and safely back to Stinson Beach. At this point, Lilly was more than ready to get out of her backpack, so we were kind of rushing down the mountain towards the beach. The greatest part of Dipsea was the great view of the ocean and of Stinson on the descent. Most of the redwoods were gone, so the final mile and half or so is pretty much grasslands/desert brush with unobstructed views of the ocean.