The view from the the trailhead leading to Pine Mountain and Carson Falls exhibits Marin at it’s finest. Mesmerized you are at every angle with Kent lake below, Mt. Diablo and the whole stretch of the North and East Bay corridor, and the quintessential sloping ridges of the Mount Tam watershed that give way to deep cavernous valleys.

It’s a local escape indeed. Most times the rocky trailhead is nearly empty. Surprising since not only is this a breathtaking viewpoint but this trail is the actual spot on point birthplace of mountain biking.  The first downhill races known as “Repack” were here back in the 1970’s.

The silence embraces me. When the tight walled in feeling sends uncomfortable shivers down my spine, this spot is the polar opposite. To be greeted by an expansive above the world view without doing much work to get it is truly sublime. At dusk the outlines of the pines along the West facing ridge are incredible.

My body and mind slows and the otherworldly landscape on this ridge is the perfect antidote to the pace below. The excessive amount of milky turquoise serpentine rock- thrust up from the bottom of the ocean long ago when the Earth did amazing things like that- and the native low-lying plant species that grow in this unfriendly rocky soil make this terrain appear desert like.  Along with the multicolor rocks – crouch down and take a good look- make this trail unique (plus there’s no poison oak and few mosquitos because of the lack of green- a plus especially during this 2016 spring).

I feel at home up here and love the way the winding path takes me slowly along until the steeper part at the end (before reaching the carson trail turn off).  Sometimes I drop down and meditate on one of the rocks just off the trail and sense back to the time of when Indigenous people inhabited these lands. To slow down in nature in this way is the biggest gift in the world. Watching the light turn to dusk to night when the California stars take over the sky reminds me of why I live here, right here in Fairfax with close access to this very spot.

To get there: From Hwy. 101 take the Sir Francis Drake Blvd. exit west and go 6 miles to Fairfax. From downtown Fairfax take the Bolinas Fairfax Road west as it winds up through the hills, passes a golf course on the left and continues up to a small road side dirt parking lot on the left at 3.8 miles. From there hike gated Pine Mountain Truck Road on the other side of the Bolinas Fairfax Road as it gradually ascends northwest 1.5 miles and go left on the fireroad to Pine Mountain.