Colier Trail a scenic but steep route on Mt. Tam
There are still trails I haven’t been on in Marin, so I chose this 4.9-mile difficult loop starting at Lake Lagunitas in Fairfax to check out Colier Trail.
John Munro Colier (Collier) was vice president of the Cross Country Club and a charter member of the Tamalpais Conservation Club, which was instrumental in creating a game refuge on Mount Tamalpais in 1917. He built the Colier and Alice Eastwood trails. In Louise Teather’s book “Place Names of Marin,” Colier is described as a “lovable and wealthy eccentric who sometimes pretended to be a tramp and went about asking for handouts.”
In Louise Teather’s book “Place Names of Marin,” Colier is described as a “lovable and wealthy eccentric who sometimes pretended to be a tramp and went about asking for handouts.”
From the dam at Lake Lagunitas, I did a quick scan for ducks and spotted some American wigeons and a few piedbilled grebes. Heading counter-clockwise around the lake, in about 150 yards, I took the signed Rock Spring-Lagunitas Fire Road. Live oak, Douglas fir and madrones gave way to chaparral as I ascended. After a little more than a mile, I was treated to a view of Lake Bon Tempe, Pilot Knob and White’s Hill, named for Lorenzo White, who came to California during the Gold Rush but made his fortune first with cattle and then by forming the L.E. White Lumber Co.
After passing through a serpentine area, where I admired the serpentine ferns, it was back into the forest. There was a lovely patch of chain ferns on the left. The fire road gets less steep after passing the Rocky Ridge Fire Road at the 1.2-mile mark. It passes through another area of chaparral where I saw yerba santa, pitcher sage,
chinkapin and indigo bush, a species of ceanothus. Lower North Side trail is on the left, but the sign can only be read from the uphill side. This trail extension was completed in 1997.
Lower North Side Trail has some large, older redwoods and Douglas firs, and is more a forest experience than a trail for views. I startled several Sonoma chipmunks that gave alarm calls. Their call has been dubbed “the hardest bird call to learn in Marin” because on first hearing it people tend to look around for a bird. Despite their name, Sonoma chipmunks are native to Marin. They are only found north of the Golden Gate, and range as far as Siskiyou County, though most are in Marin and Sonoma. They eat manzanita berries, acorns, insects, fungi and bird eggs, and play an important role in dispersing seeds and mushroom spores.
The trail crosses the west fork of Lagunitas Creek, and continues to Colier Spring, a traditional spot to rest and picnic under the tall redwoods.
Turn left on Colier Trail, which follows the Middle Fork of Lagunitas Creek. Colier Trail is a beautiful trail under redwoods and bigleaf maples, but it is steep and eroded in spots, making it quite difficult. Hikers with knee issues might consider doing this hike in reverse, and going up Colier and down Rock Spring-Lagunitas.
Of course, one advantage of a more difficult trail is that I met only one other person even on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The trail gets less steep as it approaches Lake Lagunitas. Turn left for the shortest way back to the dam to complete the loop.
No dogs are allowed on trails in Mount Tamalpais State Park. Remember state park rules require you to carry a mask and wear it whenever 6 feet of distance is not possible, which for this hike would include Colier and Lower Northside trails.
To get to Lake Lagunitas, exit Highway 101 at Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and follow it to Fairfax. Turn left on Pacheco Avenue and immediately turn right on Broadway. Turn left on Bolinas Avenue. Go approximately 1½ miles to 700 Bolinas Road, where you will see a wooden sign on your left saying “Lake Lagunitas.” Turn left at the sign onto Sky Oaks Road and drive to the end of the paved road.