The Cross Marin Trail: Rollerskating Through the Redwoods From Richard Katz's
Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
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Chapter sptaylor
The Cross Marin Trail: Rollerskating Through the Redwoods
This is a truly great rollerskating trail. The Cross-Marin Trail is partly in Samuel P. Taylor State Park and partly in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Here's a trail that is flat, level, smooth, and well-maintained. Sir Francis Drake Boulevard runs parallel a few hundred feet away, so there is some traffic noise. There is plenty of free parking at the western end of the trail. Mostly, it's incredibly scenic. Where else in the world can you rollerskate over two miles through the redwoods?
How to Get There by Car from Highway 101:
The trail can be found approximately eighteen miles from Highway 101.
Make your way to the Sir Francis Drake Boulevard West exit in Larkspur. Head west on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard through Greenbrae, Kentfield, Ross, San Anselmo, Fairfax, Woodacre, and San Geronimo.
Punch your trip odometer to zero at the intersection with Nicasio Valley Road.
Continue west on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard through Forest Knolls and Lagunitas. The last stop for food and water is the Lagunitas Market at the corner of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Cintura Avenue, which has an abundant variety of groceries and deli foods, serves espresso, and is open daily from 8 to 7.
About 2.9 miles past Nicasio Valley Road is a green metal bridge. At 4.1 miles, there is a concrete bridge. At 4.7 miles, on the left, is the campground and park headquarters for Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Continue on through the town of Jewell. At 7.8 miles, you will see a sign for Tocaloma (and a road running off to the right called Platform Bridge Road.) Immediately you will come to a concrete bridge and a brown sign that says "Bike Path". Get ready to turn right into the driveway just past this bridge, where the sign says "End 40 Mi Zone". Take a quick left onto an abandoned concrete street, and park. Walk back down the driveway (toward the old concrete cantilever bridge.) The entrance to the trail is through the underpass on your right. The level part of the trail starts on the other side of the underpass, so beginners need to walk down the first part of the trail and under the highway before putting on skates.
The entrance to the trail is marked by a sign, "Cross Marin Trail &endash;&endash; To Jewell Trail 1.4 Mi &endash;&endash; To S P Taylor SP 3.5 Mi"
What It's Like:
The path follows Paper Mill Creek (also known as Lagunitas Creek.) Samuel P. Taylor built a paper mill and a black powder mill along this creek in the late 1800's; he also built a lake and a resort. The powder mill blew sky high in 1874. The resort, though, was quite a place, before Taylor went bust around the turn of the century. The path is built on the recycled roadbed of the former North Pacific Coast Railroad, which ran from Larkspur to Cazadero. Families used to take the railroad out to Camp Taylor to camp and picnic. Recreational camping was quite a novelty back then.
The path runs 1.5 miles to the intersection with Jewell Trail, and then another 1.9 miles to the campgrounds of Samuel P. Taylor State Park. When you get to a closed wooden gate made of logs, there is a pair of restrooms on your left. Don't go exploring that yellow and green metal bridge off to your left; the boardwalk surface is treacherous. We suggest you turn around when you hit the campground, where the trail becomes a road (for another 0.5 miles on a rough surface before you get back to the highway.) If you continue on the road through the campgrounds, you may have a problem with the campers and their automobiles, especially in the summer. This campground is generally full during good weather, and the cars roar in and out of camp like they were on location for the Road Warrior movie.
Sometimes it takes a while for the park service to sweep the needles off the path after a rain. The asphalt is slightly rutted in numerous places, as though several bicyclists had plowed through it on a real hot day.
The Cross Marin Trail is on one of the accustomed bicycle routes from Point Reyes to San Francisco. Some of the bicyclists are moving fast, so keep to the right.
Places to Eat:
There's no place along the trail to buy a snack, much less a meal. You could stop in San Anselmo on your way in and get a burger at Blimps, and go across the street for a good cup of coffee at Java del Porto, just off the main drag after the movie theater and the Redwood Oil gas station. After skating, if you push on past the park, there's food in Point Reyes Station. And remember, there is good food in Lagunitas at the Lagunitas Market & Grocery.
Public Transportation:
It's not easy, but you can get to Samuel P. Taylor Park on the Larkspur Ferry and the Golden Gate Transit bus line.
During the week, the 24 bus line picks up near the Larkspur Ferry dock. If you are a reasonably expert skater, you can strap your skates on and make the connection from the ferry dock to the Lucky Drive Bus Pad in about five minutes. Take a close look at the picture of the Larkspur Trail System and you'll see how it's done.
On weekends, you have to get from the ferry to the 65 bus line; it is somewhat byzantine and time consuming. A reasonably expert skater might consider skating from the ferry dock all the way over to downtown Larkspur, then out Magnolia Avenue to Bon Air Road, then out to Ross on the Corte Madera Creek Trail. The trail ends at Lagunitas Road in Ross, so you will have to skate on the streets and sidewalks of Ross and San Anselmo for a mile before catching the 65 bus as it plows through San Anselmo at Red Hill Avenue.
Ratings:
Path Surface = ** (some ***)
Public Transit Access = **** (but the service is infrequent
Surroundings = ****
Level of Difficulty = EASY
Overall Rating = ****
Length = about two mile, one way
Other trails to check out in the neighborhood:
Larkspur Landing
Corte Madera Creek Trail
Note from the Author: Haven't put in links to the other chapters yet.
From Richard Katz's Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
Back to Richard Katz's Homepage
If you want to go back to the Table of Contents of Skating Unrinked, Back to TOC