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| Hiking | 9.23 Miles |
2,183 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.23 Miles | 4 Hrs 19 Mns | | 2.14 mph |
| 2,183 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I took Friday off of work so I could hike somewhere out by the coast. This loop is the best hike out of Stinson Beach in my opinion because of the botanical diversity, views, terrain, strenuousness and location.
The large parking lot at Stinson Beach was virtually deserted when I arrived which wasn't surprising because it was gloomy, cold and windy. Perfect hiking weather! I took the Dipsea Trail up through the coastal scrub with golden blooming sticky monkey-flower. I noticed my GPS appp showed something called the Stinson Tree so I took a side trip down an old road to what turned out to be a huge eucalyptus tree with a picturesque swing. A great view, and a steep plunge down to Hwy. 1 250 feet below was only a few steps away. It was then I discovered three World War 2-era bunkers facing out to sea. Actually, the bunkers had been discovered before as evidenced by being covered in graffiti and full of trash.
Dipsea then runs in conjunction with the Steep Ravine Trail through a nice redwood forest as the route continued its ascent of the westernmost flank of Mount Tam. The Dipsea branched away from Steep Ravine and climbed up the longest stretch of its dreaded stairs. The redwood forest opened up and the trees got progressively smaller the higher the trail climbed until finally the views returned. At least views of foggy Douglas-fir and ground clouds blowing through. I have to admit that it was pretty neat. The trail flattened out as it approached Cardiac Hill. The highlight of this stretch was the leopard lilies.
I continued down to the Stapleveldt Trail through a nice redwood and Douglas-fir forest, and then reached Pantoll right at the 5 mile mark after the last big climb.
I then took the Matt Davis Trail west as it roughly contours along the 1500' mark just below the southern end of Bolinas Ridge. The views really open up here as the trail smoothly transitions between mountain grassland, young redwoods and tanoak groves. Finally, Matt Davis went steeply down through a mixed woodland until it dumped me out at the end of a cul-de-sac only 2 blocks from Hwy. 1 in downtown  Stinson Beach. That was a good day. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Leopard lily (lilium pardalinum), Pacific false bindweed (calystegia purpurata). |
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