Hiking Marin: 141 Great Hikes in Marin County [Paperback]

Don Martin (Author), Kay Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 2005

Marin County has the finest urban park system in the world, with three national parks, six state parks, and 20 open space areas. Hiking Marin describes in detail 141 hikes, rated for both beauty and difficulty, through these scenic areas, from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the awe-inspiring redwoods. Each hike notes mileage to each junction and attraction, and includes a 3-D shaded relief map showing roads, trails, features, and elevations. The book contains suggestions for seasonal hikes as well as appendices that describe plants, animals, and local resources.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Marin Trails Publishing; 3rd edition (October 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0961704497
• ISBN-13: 978-0961704490
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #889,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Third Time's a Charm, December 18, 2005

By 

Fritz R. Ward "dayhiker" (Crestline, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hiking Marin: 141 Great Hikes in Marin County (Paperback)

I love the San Francisco Bay Area and try to get to that region as often as possible. Hiking, biking, and simply "getting away from it all" opportunities abound within minutes of one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world. I can never decide if I like the Santa Cruz mountains in South Bay or Marin County more, but if you are looking for detailed trail descriptions of the latter, the third edition of "Hiking Marin" is a good place to start.

This book describes trails in some of the most popular sections of Marin County, including Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Point Reyes National Seashore, Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods. Hikes in many other less well known "Open Space" areas are also included. Although the title mentions 141 hikes, there are actually 168 trail walks described over seven sections of Marin County (chapters A-G in this guidebook) with two additional chapters (H and J) on new hiking opportunities since the first edition went to press in 1995. Nearly all 600 miles of trail in the county appear in one or more loop hikes of this book. Almost anyone can find a walk suited to their abilities within the confines of this guidebook. Detailed maps and route descriptions will help spare walkers the frustration of missing a key turnoff.

So why does a book like this only get 4 stars? More for what it is missing than what it includes. Trail descriptions are heavy on routes and intersections, but natural and cultural history are essentially absent. Three hikes described in this book begin in Muir Woods National Monument, for example, but none describe the colorful history or biological importance of this stand of old growth forest. I find that information like this enhances my enjoyment of hiking. There are also very few photos. Finally, I found some technical problems with the "downloadable maps" that are new to this edition. The authors refer readers to their website where they can download any map or trail description from the book (with a password found at the beginning of each chapter). When I went to their site, however, my browser claimed the pages related to the book "could not be found." Hopefully this little glitch will be cleared up later.

In the final analysis, if you are a Bay Area resident, this book will provide you with many hours of enjoyment. But if you are a tourist other guides to the region may be better. They may not have as comprehensive a selection, but pictures and a fuller discussion of local trails might make finding a good trail easier. Even so, this is a good guide to what's "out there" in Marin.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not always clear or accurate, March 16, 2008

By 

J. BATEMAN (San Francisco, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hiking Marin: 141 Great Hikes in Marin County (Paperback)

I started using this book to find a suitable hike for my scout troop. The first thing I noticed was that this book was not as easy to use as similar books. Firstly, the starting point is not clearly marked. There is a symbol of a hiker in the vicinity but it is large, relative to the map, so that it only marks the approximate starting point. The textual description of the trailhead isn't any better. The book usually says something like "park at the parking lot and hike up the XXX trail." Some of these parking areas are quite large, and have several trailheads, making it difficult to find the trailhead for your particular hike. Other books have better descriptions - something like "the trailhead is in the southwest corner of the parking area, across from the stables".

The maps are a bit challenging as well. Sometimes north is up, sometimes it's down, sometimes it points to 2 o'clock. This doesn't help the readability, in my opinion.

The descriptions in the itineraries are ambiguous in other ways. It wasn't obvious at first that the abbreviation "FR" meant "Fire Road". Sometimes they call a road "the paved trail". While this might be humorous to the authors, it was confusing to our group because we were looking for a "paved trail", literally, similar to the wheel chair accessible trails common in California. Again, we wasted more time due to the authors' imprecision.

The placement of numbers (shown in black circles) on the map and in the itinerary is curious. At first I thought the numbers identified the most significant points in the hike, but my experience proved otherwise. Intersections with major trails were NOT marked with the numbered circles, but less significant points were. Also, some intersections with major trails are not referenced in the book, and the trails are not named on the map either. This makes it difficult to improvise and deviate from their defined hike.

Driving directions to the trailhead could be better. The instructions don't indicate if you should drive for 100 feet or for 3 miles. I had to use other map sources to augment the directions in the book.
But my biggest frustration was that there are what I consider to be mistakes. I completed hike C19 "Lake Lagunitas to East Peak", and experienced differences with the books' characterization of the "Lower Berry Trail". According to the itinerary, you should descend down the Rocky Ridge FR to point 5 and "take the signed Lower Berry Trail left". When we reached this point, there was a trail marker for the "Upper Berry Trail". There was no reference to the "Lower" trail. Hmmmmm, should we take this trail or continue down the fire road in hopes of finding the LOWER Berry Trail? Any bad decision on my part as the leader is compounded by the fact that I have several scouts (and their parents!) relying on me to get them home safely and in time for dinner. Well, we continued down the road for at least another mile and encountered an intersection with the "Berry" trail. This intersection had no designation of "Lower" or "Upper". We took this trail back to Lake Lagunitas. At the end of this trail we encountered our first trail marker that referenced the "LOWER Berry Trail."

I still plan on using this book as a reference. But, unlike other books, this one requires me to also have a good topographic map and consult Google or Yahoo for driving instructions. I am not alone in my disappointment with this book - the other leader on my hike also felt the details for hike C19 had much to be desired.

5.0 out of 5 stars Best hiking book ever, July 21, 2011

By 

Emily Brockman "chanteuse" (Pt Richmond, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hiking Marin: 141 Great Hikes in Marin County (Paperback)

As a semi regular hiker and Bay Area resident I have purchased many hiking books over the years. This is my absolute favorite; I wish all hiking books followed this model.

First it divides Marin County into logical pieces, then lists hikes in logical order by trailhead. It tells you how beautiful and how hard each hike is, how many bicycles or horses you might run into, whether the hike is shady or sunny, and the recommends the best season for a visit.

But my favorite part is that each hike is displayed on two facing pages. There is a topographic map of just your hike on one side and enough description on the other to keep you on track. The authors note where the trail might be easily lost, where there is a point of interest, where there is a view. It has just the information you need plus a few interesting facts; it does not describe every turn and tree and rock, as some hiking guides do, which always make me wonder "how do I get my head out of this stupid book and figure out where I am gong". This choice of format also makes it very easy to make a copy of your hike for the day and carry just the single page rather than the whole book.

I have used this book endlessly and would be bereft without it.