JMT17: Mount Tamalpie

As of today, I have officially run every single pizza on the Tamalpie menu. That might not make any sense to you, but I’ll explain later.

For the second to last run of my JMT project, I collaborated with my high school running coach Jon Bretan to create a truly awesome “Mt. Tam Circumnavigation” route. This means that today’s goal was to circle the mountain’s three peaks while getting a taste of every side of Tam. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

The run started off like many others with a quick trek up the Tamalpa Trail’s first leg, this time with the occasional detour onto the Easter Lily Trail. I only traveled Hoo-Koo-e-Koo for a short distance today before turning upwards onto what is one of the steepest trails on this side of the mountain: Wheeler Trail.

Wheeler, along with Tamalpa and Widowmaker, helps to form what I call Mt. Tam’s “Big Three” as one of the steepest climbs Tamalpais has to offer. This one, however, is relatively short at just a little more than half a mile, and mainly serves to connect with Eldridge Grade. Today, towards the top of the trail, when the terrain was just starting to even out, I looked down and was shocked to see how far below the Extra Point, Indian Fire Road, and the rest of Hoo-Koo-e-Koo seemed to be. Wheeler really wastes no time at all in getting you up the mountain.

From the top of Wheeler, I continued up Eldridge for just one switchback before heading straight onto the well-marked Northside Trail, which has a reputation as the flattest trail this far up the mountain. After the trail opens up briefly at a spot called Inspiration Point, it continues on through the woods on a really fun single track. I chuckled to myself at Inspiration Point, not feeling too inspired yet with a solid nine miles left to go.

My first steps on Northside today were enough to know that this run was going to be an adventure. Having never been past Inspiration Point before, I was in uncharted territory for myself. What’s more, I had yet to see another person on the trails, and I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be seeing many more way back here. Luckily, I came prepared with a map, water, and a plan - thanks, JMT5 - and wasn’t hesitant at all to start exploring the side of the mountain that I know so little about.

I traveled Northside until I reached Collier Spring, which is still incredibly calm and peaceful with limited water flowing through it at this time of year. From there, I branched off onto Lower Northside Trail. Northside Trail continues on for a little while longer, eventually ending at a place called Rifle Camp, which I would circle back around and reach much later in my run.

Lower Northside took me over to the aptly named Cross Country Boys Trail, where I got slightly turned around at a crossroads before beginning the awesome descent. I had never heard of this trail until recently, when Jon Bretan recommended that I try it. I now know why he suggested that I film my way down: it is the complete package, with everything from rocky, technical single track to sharp, rooty turns to terrifying spiderwebs to brief openings that offer unreal lookouts at Northern Marin. In a word, this trail is awesome.

CC Boys emerges onto High Marsh Trail, where I turned left, not realizing for a few more miles that I had forgotten to stop off to my right to check out High Marsh, which is supposedly a pretty cool spot. Anyways, High Marsh Trail connected me to Music Stand Trail, which was yet another Jon Bretan suggestion. Music Stand carried me back up the mountain a little bit, following a dried-up creek on a short yet tough ascent to Laurel Dell Fire Road.

As I turned left onto Laurel Dell Fire Road, a crazy thought occurred to me. Having never run over here before, I couldn’t help but think about the delicious Laurel Dell pizza from Tamalpie Pizzeria in downtown Mill Valley, where all the pies are indeed named after the mountain’s trails. After running through the menu quickly in my head, I came to the aforementioned conclusion that I have now run every single pizza on the Tamalpie menu over the course of my JMT project. That definitely put a smile on my face, and suddenly made me very hungry for dinner. This, my friends, was my own personal Inspiration Point.

I continued on through Laurel Dell Meadow - which is stunning - where I saw people for the first time today as two bikers rolled past me in the opposite direction. When I talk about “pockets of beauty” on the mountain, this place is exactly what I mean. I stopped for a moment to appreciate it, and seized the opportunity to text my mom that I would almost certainly be late for dinner.

Eventually, I carried on past the meadow and into Rifle Camp, where I turned upwards at the end of Northside Trail and onto Arturo Trail. Another trail that I ran for the first time today, I decided on the way up this bad boy that Arturo is definitely Nora Trail’s distant cousin, just quite a bit steeper. This trail hurt today, but knowing in the back of my mind that this was my final climb for the day kept me going.

Arturo emerged onto East Ridgecrest Boulevard just below West Peak, and suddenly everything was worth it. I ran past a biker - third person of the day - and up the final pavement push to the apex of my run, where I stopped to snap a picture.

The biker I had just passed stop beside me, and I shared with him that he was one of the only people I’d seen all evening. He smiled, told me the same, and made a remark to me about what a joy it is to call this place home. With that, he returned down the way he came and I started down towards where I began.

As I ran along the high ridge, down Miller Trail to Railroad Grade, past my man Jonathan Rutchik on his bike, and down Tamalpa again, I had mysterious biker man’s words in my head the entire time. I am lucky enough to call this place home, and as my three weeks on the mountain draw to a close, I am more appreciative of that than ever. After all, Mount Tamalpais is the kind of place where we don’t just eat pizzas: we run them, too. See you tomorrow!

👊✌️

Jonathan