Trails & Activities
Explore what kind of activities are available near the park.
Park Activities and Trails
Dias Ridge
Start at the charming 17th-century-style Pelican Inn at Muir Beach in Marin and head up the chapparal-covered Dias Ridge. The five-mile trail loops across former dairy ranches and rises 700 feet. At every turn there is another dazzling panorama of the Pacific and the Marin Headlands. Thanks to the work of Conservancy volunteers, the trail was recently fully restored.
Hours
Open 24/7
- Location
- Park
- Activity
- Service
- Hikers, bikers, and riders on horseback are all welcome on the Dias Ridge multi-use trail.
- Parking is available at either end of the Dias Ridge Trail: along Panoramic Highway at the top, and Shoreline Highway (Route 1) at the bottom.
- Hike up and back as much of the 3.1-mile Dias Ridge Trail from Muir Beach as you would like to enjoy the great vistas.
- For a longer hike, the Dias Ridge Trail can be combined with the Miwok and Coastal or Redwood Creek Trails that loop back to Muir Beach.
For many years, the only trail access at Dias Ridge in Marin County was a steep old ranching road that was built when the site was still an active farm. Years of heavy use by hikers, bikers, and equestrians had resulted in significant erosion and that was sending sediment into the Redwood Creek watershed below—damaging critical habitat for the endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout.
In 2009, the Parks Conservancy, National Park Service, and California State Parks embarked on a project to renovate this multi-use trail to improve the experience of its users and to protect native habitats. The new 1.5-mile trail opened in 2010 as a model of safety and environmentally-sensitive trail design and bridged a gap in the larger regional Bay Area Ridge Trail system. Learn more about this trail restoration effort here.
