Dipsea Trail
Mill Valley → Stinson Beach · near Mill Valley / Stinson Beach · SF Bay Area
Trail Running
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Distance
- 7.4 miles
- Elevation gain
- 2,300 ft
- Best season
- Year-round · spring greenest, fall clearest
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit for the trail. The Dipsea Race itself (2nd Sunday in June) is a lottery/invitational with a famous head-start handicap by age and gender. Point-to-point requires a car shuttle or return run (14+ mi).
What is here
- Features
- The legendary 688 steps out of Mill Valley · Cardiac Hill — coastal high point at 1,360 ft · Steep Ravine's redwood staircase · Finish at Stinson Beach sand
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Trail Running detail
- Surface
- technical
- Race
- The Dipsea (since 1905) — oldest trail race in America
- Surface note
- 688 stairs in the first mile, roots, ruts, and the plunge through Steep Ravine.
- Intl tip
- The point-to-point needs a shuttle: park a car at Stinson Beach or take the West Marin Stagecoach (route 61) back to Mill Valley. Equator Coffee in downtown Mill Valley is the traditional pre-run stop. For the full sufferfest, the Double Dipsea (out-and-back, 13.7 mi) and Quad Dipsea (four crossings, 28.4 mi, 9,200 ft — held Saturday after Thanksgiving) are the ultra versions.
- Nickname
- The oldest trail race in America
The guide
The Dipsea is the oldest trail race in America — run continuously since 1905 — and its 7.4-mile point-to-point course from Mill…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Dipsea Trail — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.8916, -122.5453