Troop 80 Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features River/Creek

This is a well constructed trail with a wide benched bed, making the mostly-level travel easy. The downside is that it parallels the Panoramic Highway so closely that the traffic noise becomes very noticeable. But, as part of a longer loop in combination with more tranquil inner forest trails, this failing can be overlooked.

The Troop 80 Trail begins near the tiny Van Wyck Meadow and heads generally off to the east. Contour along the hillside twisting and turning through stands of young redwoods and other moss-encrusted trees. There are stream crossings over bridges and occasional brief views of the surrounding hillsides. At a T-intersection with the Sierra Trail, proceed straight and to the north (if you start going downhill steeply, you've made the wrong choice). After crossing Laguna Creek, the trail ends at a junction with the paved Alice Eastwood Road next to Fern Creek.

Historical note: Troop 80 Trail was built in 1931 by an enterprising San Francisco Boy Scout Troop and later improved up by the T.C.C. (Tamalpais Conservation Club). The Tamalpais Conservation Club (www.tccmarin.org/) is a local group that has been maintaining and preserving the area's trails continuously for the last 100+ years.

Redwoods, tanoak, Douglas fir, huckleberries and manzanita.