San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Dipsea runners, hikers will finally get a bridge
“I cannot understand that this most famous trail can go 40 years without a bridge. “For seven months a year, you cannot use it.”
The Dipsea Race, a famous mountain footrace from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach, comes down a steep series of steps and into Redwood Creek in lower Muir Woods.
The only way across that creek is a 2-footwide, 30-foot-long wooden plank, necessitating a single-file tightrope walk for some 1,500 racers.
It’s been that way since the last bridge washed out in 1982. But a permanent bridge with handrails will finally be constructed at a total cost of $2 million, including habitat restoration. The Dipsea Bridge — as it will be named to differentiate it from the treacherous Dipsea Plank— is part of a $20 million renovation of Muir Woods National Monument, a 15-year project that includes removing riprap from the creek to restore the original floodplain and bring back the natural habitat for juvenile salmon.
The project involves reconstruction of five footbridges, the longest being the Dipsea Bridge. Once built, it will open up the watershed to hikers in addition to racers in the annual June event. As it is, the trail is barricaded up to six months of the year when the water
Barry Spitz, Dipsea Race historian
is rushing in the creek and the salmon are spawning.
“The Dipsea is one of the most popular trails in Marin because of its scenic value in connecting the urban Mill Valley area to the ocean,” said Mia Monroe, a 40-year park ranger in Muir Woods. “To have the trail open year-round would give day hikers and visitors the tonic of nature and the chance to see salmon and nesting birds in the freshness of water and dappled sunlight.”
The Dipsea is touted as the oldest cross-country race in the United States, having been run for 111 years, since its debut in 1905. It is 7½ miles of steep, slick terrain up and over Mount Tamalpais, from Mill Valley to the coast. But in the wet season the plank is removed to protect fish habitat and to prevent people from falling in.
On race day, the plank is in place and officials are stationed at both ends of the bridge with a firstaid crew standing by should anyone fail to negotiate the narrow
bridge. Few try to pass on the plank, but they are known to plot another workaround.
“There is always a renegade runner who will go through the creek, and we have to disqualify him and that takes away from the spirit of the race,” said Merv Regan, chair of the Dipsea Board.
“With a permanent bridge there won’t be any confusion about where to run.” The new bridge will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, necessitating a 4-foot width, room enough for passing.
The broader project, called Redwood Renewal at Muir Woods, has been going since 2018, when the reservation system was implemented, and is not expected to be completed until 2030. The pandemic slowed everything and made it more expensive, officials said.
“We are just now trying to find new funding sources and put it all back together,” said Monroe.
Already paid for is the study to determine the
A wood plank has been the crossing for Redwood Creek in Muir Woods since 1982. The new bridge will take another five years to build, however.
bridge’s length and location, as well as the bridge’s design, which will make it wide enough for a pack of runners to pass at once, with see-through sides and handrails. It is also longer than the creek is wide, to allow for a floodplain and the creek to meander.
The construction drawings are under way now, and once they arrive in late fall, construction bids will be solicited. Monroe expects the new bridge to be up and usable in five years, weather permitting. “Everything is on redwood time,” she says. “It is not at an impatient human pace.”
Which is the whole problem, according to Barry Spitz of San Anselmo, the official historian
of the Dipsea Race. “I can’t believe we are talking five more years, which can stretch into God knows when,” said Spitz, who noted that it only took 24 hours to put a pontoon bridge over the Rhine River in Germany under enemy fire during World War II.
“I cannot understand that this most famous trail can go 40 years without a bridge,” said Spitz, adding that far more hikers than racers use the Dipsea. “For seven months a year, you cannot use it.” Monroe said humans can move the pace along by donating to the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. At the request of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the Dipsea Race
Foundation is leading a fundraising campaign with a goal to raise $1.9 million to pay for the Dipsea Bridge. The foundation, which is a 501(c)(3), has a track record, having raised $750,000 to pay for renovating the Dipsea Stairs, 400 steps from Old Mill Park to Panoramic Highway, four years ago.
The goal is to hit the target before next year’s race, June 12, 2023.
“The Dipsea is not just a race; it’s a family,” said Regan. “Having the replacement bridge will return part of the Dipsea history.”