Tennessee Valley to the Beach
Marin Headlands (GGNRA) · near Mill Valley · SF Bay Area
Trail Running
At a glance
- Difficulty
- easy
- Distance
- 3.8 miles
- Elevation gain
- 350 ft
- Best season
- Year-round
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit. GGNRA — free. Lot fills by mid-morning on weekends; overflow parking down the road.
What is here
- Features
- Gentle valley to a hidden pocket beach · Great beginner / recovery-day run · Wildflowers in spring · Connects to the whole Headlands network
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Trail Running detail
- Surface
- fire-road
- Intl tip
- The trailhead is off Hwy 1 just north of the Golden Gate. Extend by climbing the Fox Trail or Coastal Trail for ocean-bluff views. The Pelican Inn at nearby Muir Beach is a cozy English-style pub for after.
The guide
Tennessee Valley is the easy on-ramp to Marin Headlands trail running — a nearly flat, well-graded valley run out to a hidden p…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Tennessee Valley to the Beach — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.859, -122.536