Trails in Marin Today
Marin is blessed with roughly 640 miles of fire roads and singletrack trails that are owned, managed or maintained by 14 different land managers. As the map shows, one can hike over 40 miles from the Golden Gate bridge to Point Reyes and spend nearly all of that walk on singletrack trails or dirt fire roads.
Of those 640 miles of fire roads and trails, roughly 350 miles, over half, are singletrack trails and traverse some of the more diverse and beautiful micro climates in the Bay Area. Although the fire roads can help everyone access the various preserves in Marin, it is the singletrack trails that most of us enjoy.
The Singletrack Divide
Back in the early 1980s, when mountain biking was born in Marin, there were no bike restrictions and bikes could ride any trail. In 1984 the Sierra Club, Marin Conservation League and the Marin Horse Counsel successfully lobbied the land managers and as a result bikes were banned from all single track trails. Although we have made great progress in the past 40 years, and bikes are now permitted on most of the fire roads and 94 miles of singletrack trails, bikes are still banned from 73% of the single track trails whereas horses are allowed on 62% of the single track trails. So there are 124 miles of trails that a 2,000 pound horse can enjoy but a 30 pound bike is prohibited. The maps below illustrate the access divide.
|
Miles of Singletrack |
Percentage that is Legal |
|
| Hikers | 346 | 100% |
| Horses | 214 | 62% |
| Bikers | 94 | 27% |
Slow Progress Over the Past 15 Years
Although it has taken 40 years, progress is slowly happening and more and more singletrack trails are becoming bike legal in Marin. Since 2010, seventeen miles of singletrack trails have been either built or made bike legal, thus bringing the total to 104 miles of bike legal singletrack.
Many of the recently opened trails on this list are managed by Marin County Parks who has been actively creating more bike legal multi-use trails (Eagle Rock Trail for example) as well as making 'change of use' designations (Bob Middagh for example).
Trails in Legal Limbo
We are also happy to report that we have a number of trails waiting to become bike legal. The Marin Municipal Water District almost initiated a pilot program that would have opened 11 trails for a total of 6 miles. Unfortunately the California Native Plant Society, the Marin Audubon Society and the Marin Conservation League filed a lawsuit against Marin Water alleging that Marin Water failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in its adoption of this program and sought a temporary restraining order to stop Marin Water’s implementation of the Trail Sharing Pilot and E-Bike Class I Trial. We are waiting for the results of the legal process and hope it ends just as the lawsuit against the Bob Middagh Trail did.
Trails Under Construction
There are also a number of trails that are currently under construction that will soon be bike legal.
Easy Grade - This 3,435 foot trail is in Mount Tamalpais State Park and received approval for a change of use, but has been stalled due to Covid and budgetary issues.
Liberty Gulch - This 2 mile trail will connect Fairfax Bolinas Road with the central section of the Marin Municipal Water District. It is scheduled to open in the fall of 2024.
Trails Built By Mountain Bikers for Mountain Bikers
Although a majority of the trails in Marin were built by the county, state or National Park Service, 13 miles of trails have been built by the mountain bike community. 13 miles may not sound like much but it does represent nearly 4% of all singletrack trails in Marin and 13% of all bike legal singletrack.
Access4Bikes feels that there are many opportunities for more community based trails with some of the land managers in Marin.