Hiking the Northern California Coast- Muir Beach to Tennessee Valley
When it comes to hiking along the coast in Northern California, there are endless options for beautiful trails. After a little research, we chose to start at Muir Beach early in the morning and head south towards Tennessee Valley through the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
We left Palo Alto early, close to sunrise and hit the trail in a thick layer of fog. The marine layer kept us cool for the uphill sections, but I longed for the cover to clear and reveal the landscape to us. Shortly after arriving at the top of a steep inland hill, the fog lifted slowly as we approached the valley.
A local run club was sponsoring a trail race and the runners dodge and weaved around us on the trail. When we crossed a junction near a lower parking area, the traffic increased with families heading down to the beach at Tennessee Valley.
After eating lunch, we began our return trip on the coastal trail, watching anxiously as the marine layer burned off with the day’s heat. Wild sweet pea vines tangled along the edges of the trail, begging for attention and admiration. About a mile from the parking lot, we were rewarded with beautiful, sweeping views of the rocky shoreline and the strikingly colored Pacific Ocean below.
