The Depot (Mill Valley)

The Depot Bookstore and Cafe (really, the name should be the other way round) sits at the center of downtown Mill Valley, where it started life as the train depot at the heart of Mill Valley’s development. Now it and Lytton Plaza that it anchors are the gathering point for all sorts engaging in all kinds of activities - young kids in strollers and on bikes; teenagers on skateboards and inline skates; cyclists taking a break from a hard (or not-so-hard) ride; students studying for exams; tourists and Marinites alike simply enjoying the incredible ambiance and good food.

You have to ask, is it the great cafe or the large, inviting plaza that makes this place such a successful gathering spot? The answer: it’s the combination of the two. Take one away and the other doesn’t work half as well. The plaza gives the cyclists a place to park their bikes while they grab refreshment; the kids a place to move around and burn off energy; the dogs (and there are always many) a place to stay tied up but remain within a few steps of their owners at the cafe; and the young parents a place to cluster their strollers while they sip their coffee and chat with friends. The cafe in turn offers a wide variety of high quality food, at reasonable prices, with counter rather than sit-down service so that customers can pop in, order, wait just a couple of minutes for their food and then get right back out to their activities or buddies.

The Depot patio stays pretty full at mealtimes on weekdays and throughout the day on weekends, weather cooperating. The bookstore part of the cafe is pretty small, but has a nice variety of magazines and newspapers for a morning or lunch-time read.

Where: 87 Throckmorton Ave (x Miller Ave), Mill Valley 94941 (map)

Hours: Daily 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Phone: 415.383.2665

The Depot website

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By Anne Kennedy

One of the reasons I love Marin so much is that it’s so easy to access nature and feel miles from the “built” environment just minutes from any neighborhood or commercial district. Cascade Falls in Mill Valley is a perfect example. It’s just past the end of Throckmorton, off of Cascade Drive. There’s a small dirt parking lot  next to where Cascade Creek passes under the road. A soft path of fallen packed redwood needles leads along the creek to a footbridge over it. Right now, with all the rain we’ve had, the creek is gushing with lots of mini-falls. Just a bit past the footbridge you can see Cascade Falls. There are a couple of benches where you can sit and enjoy the serenity, with only the sound of the water as your companion. You can also take the trail up above the falls and loop back down.

Bundle up, because the light doesn’t penetrate down much into this redwood forested canyon. I didn’t see any signs saying no dogs, so it looks like it’s dog friendly.

Where: Cascade Park, Cascade Drive, Mill Valley (map)

Regardless of the weather, Rodeo Beach is always a favorite outing for our family. The beach is dog-friendly, with many dogs and owners enjoying the sand and surf. Signs indicate that dogs must always be in their owner’s control, but don’t actually specify that they must be on leash (although the National Park Service’s web site says that). From teeter-tottering by Rodeo Lagoon, picnicking on the beach, surfing in the waves, exploring the old concrete gun batteries on the cliffs or walking the winding paths with breath-taking views, there’s an activity for all ages and abilities. It’s the kind of place where I find myself taking a million pictures and feeling every one of them captures an incredibly wonderful image of nature.

The beach is handicapped accessible and there are lots of paths for visitors on wheels (bikes, wheelchairs, strollers, etc.). It’s free, no parking fees, and not usually very crowded. There are bathrooms across from the lagoon in one of the old Fort Cronkite buildings.

Where: Rodeo Beach, (at the end of Mitchell Road off of Bunker Road across from Fort Cronkite in the Marin Headlands) (Map)

Open year round

Rodeo Beach Website

The universal response I get when I suggest Rulli’s as the meeting spot for a coffee is:

1. Face lights up (or voice if it’s on the phone); and then

2. “Great”!

The person who introduced me to Rulli’s was my-then new-friend Rob Spinosa, who lived in Italy for a year. He swears it makes him feel like he’s back over there, stepping into a local cafe. I love it because it’s a perfect spot for a light meal from morning through late afternoon tea. They’ve got buttery, flaky pastries for the morning, panini’s and salads at lunch, and delicate little cookies throughout the day. It’s three storefronts wide with seating in every bay, with the cafe on one side, cookies and candies in the middle and wines and coffee beans on the other side. They also sell beautiful imported Italian candies which they’ll gift wrap and ship right there for you, which they did for me recently to the delight of some out-of-town friends.

On a sunny day, I love the outdoor seating along the sidewalk – great for people watching in downtown Larkspur. Pooches are welcome here and are frequent guests.

Emporio Rulli website Emporio Rulli FB page (map)

464 Magnolia Avenue
Larkspur, California 94939
(415) 924-7478

Hours:
Monday to Friday 7:00am – 5:30pm
Saturday & Sunday 7:30am – 5:30pm

What a fabulous day for a hike, and an easy one to access and hike is Camino Alto Fire Trail, off of Camino Alto that runs between Mill Valley and Corte Madera. Most of the trail is either flat or gentle, but there is a stretch that goes up paralleling the end of Sarah Drive in Mill Valley that’s a prolonged uphill trek. Once you get to the top, you’ll be at Summit Drive in Corte Madera, and you can then take the S-trail and loop back.

There are a couple of pull outs along Camino Alto where you can park; there are never many cars there. Just watch for bike riders going in each direction ; there are always lots of those!

Entrance to Alto Bowl on East side of Camino Alto:

Mill Valley is filled with beautiful parks and playgrounds. One with a number of different parts for a variety of age groups and activities is Hauke Park on Hamilton Drive at the north end of the Pickleweed Inlet, part of Richardson Bay.

It’s got a great play structure for kids 5-12, a sand lot filled with play toys for toddlers, a baseball field, a soccer field and a wide-open lawn area for kicking a soccer ball, throwing frisbies or just fooling around.

The play structure is in a sand lot with swings, including a toddler (bucket) swing, a see-saw, a tire swing, a playhouse and benches around the perimeter for parents and caregivers to chat while keeping an eye on their kids. It’s also got picnic tables for lunch or snacks, and a drinking fountain, both of which are often needed for an outing of any length.

The park is fenced, so you don’t have to worry about balls or kids escaping into the street. There’s a small unpaved parking lot at the north end, and a slightly larger lot across Hamilton next to the public restrooms and the police/fire stations

Dogs permitted – leash required!

Where: 1 Hamilton Drive, Mill Valley, CA 94941 (map)

The California Coastal Trail is a network of trails along the California coastline that, when complete, will stretch for 1,200 miles over 15 counties from one end of the state to the other. There is a section of the Coastal Trail immediately south of Muir Beach with little peninsulas of land jutting out into the Pacific with especially dramatic views. It is accessible from the southern end of Muir Beach via a steep approximately 20-30 minute climb (depending on your pace and how frequently you stop to take photos).

My friend, Beth Taska, told me that this hike is one of the favorites of all of the out-of-state visitors she has. So, I figured I had to check it out, and was really glad I did. Here’s my video from the overlook and, by the way, note how silent it is – amazing! Video from Muir Beach overlook on the Coastal Trail

Parking is free and easy in the Muir Beach parking lot. Cross the new (and gorgeous) bridge and then follow the signs to the coastal trail rather than to the beach.

Where: Coastal Trail from Muir Beach to the south, Muir Beach, CA 94965 (map)

There’s a fantastic hike/bike route in the Marin Headlands up from Fort Cronkite/Rodeo Beach to the top of “Hill 88″ – a radar installation for control of the Nike Missile installation down below at Fort Cronkite from the Cold War national defense system that’s been abandoned for years. The hike is at times pretty easy and at others more strenuous, with several stretches of steep stairs or loose, rocky gravel and dirt.

There are two ways up to the top of Hill 88, one which includes two other peaks and a hike along the ridge line connecting the three peaks. The other (more heavily traveled) sticks more to the old road (where it isn’t collapsed due to some pretty impressive landslides) and is a 1.7 mile hike up from the trailhead. I’d guess that adding the other two peaks and ridge trail adds about another quarter mile, plus some additional vertical climbing.

The views are spectacular pretty much all along the route, and include seeing Tennessee Valley, Mill Valley & Tiburon to the north, the Pacific to the west, San Francisco from the Presidio west, and peaks of the Bay and East Bay hills to the east. Also along the climb up you pass the Battery Townsley, with a huge concrete wall covered with a grid of exposed re-bar, which some kids were using to great effect as a climbing wall .

I’ve got some videos too, with the surf, the foghorns and birds in the background. I highly recommend the hike (or bike ride)!

Where:

Fort Cronkite, Marin Headlands, Sausalito, CA 94965 (map) (National Park Service Map)

Parking: Free at Fort Cronkite/Rodeo Beach

There’s a beautiful hike/bike route that’s fun to do and easy to mix both hiking and biking in the outing, which is what we did. Drop your bike off (and lock it to a tree) at the end of Manuel T. Freitas Parkway. Then drive over (Freitas to Las Gallinas to Lucas Valley Road) to the parking lot on Lucas Valley Road at the  Nimes Fire Road directly across from Mt. Muir Ct.

You then take the trail to the left of the equestrian facilities and head up the hill to the ridge trail. As you walk along the ridge trail, with fairly moderate rises and falls, you have beautiful views of the Sleepy Hollow and Terra Linda valleys on either side. At the end of the trail, there’s a fairly steep decline down to the end of Manuel T. Freitas Parkway, where you’ve parked your bike.

Now you have two choices: you can take the same trail back to your car, or you can ride the same surface road path back to where you parked your car. Enjoy!

Where: (map)

Dogs OK on leash

Deer Park Trailhead is a very accessible start to a wide variety of hiking and off-road biking trails and fire roads in the Fairfax-San Anselmo region of the Marin Municipal Water District Mt. Tamalpais Watershed lands. Just drive to the very end of Porteous Avenue in Fairfax, and park in the free lot. There you’ll also find a number of picnic tables and the start of the trailhead, which is not marked but is easy to see on the left side near the preschool.

This is a really popular trail, and a lot of bike riders use it, so watch for some pretty fast trail traffic (those two blurs in the photo are bikers!). It’s a fun outing for kids, too, because it’s not that steep and there are some shorter loops you can do. Not all of the trails that branch out from Deer Park Trail are open to bicycles – watch for the signs.

Dogs are welcome on the trails so be sure to bring doggie bags – I didn’t see any dispensers at the trailhead.

Where: Deer Park, End of Porteous Avenue, Fairfax, CA 94930 (map)

Hours: Open Sunrise to Sunset, year ’round