Little known waterfalls around Mt. Tamalpais
The area from Mill Valley and Muir Beach north to Fairfax and west to Kent Lake. The Tom Harrison map for Mt. Tam covers most of it, with small parts shown on his Pine Mountain map.
Cascade Canyon Open Space Preserve
Cascade Creek
- waterfall at (37.98433, -122.62189):
Name: Cascade Falls
Beauty: 7
Duration: 75 days after a significant rainfall
Height 17 feet (broadly defined)
Height 14 feet
Biggest vertical drop 4 feet
Terrain: well-maintained trail
route: Follow the creek up from the end of Cascade Drive. Parking is limited near the end of the road, but plentiful at the start of Cascade Drive.
Last visited 2011-03-07
id: tam.12
Unnamed creek running south from the middle of the Wagon Wheel Trail
- another quarter mile east at (37.98502, -122.61833):
I'm guessing it's 12 to 15 feet tall, but I didn't get a good view from the west side of the stream, and it's in a steep enough gully to deter me from getting a better view.
Beauty: 6
Duration: 10 days after a significant rainfall
Height 15 feet (broadly defined)
Height 12 feet
Number of drops 1
Terrain: woods, little or no trail
route: It's probably best reached from the east end of the Wagon Wheel Trail, although I haven't tried that.
id: tam.10
White Hill Open Space Preserve
Cascade Creek
- waterfall at (37.98464, -122.62349):
Beauty: 5.5
Duration: 75 days after a significant rainfall
Height 7 feet
Biggest vertical drop 5 feet
Number of drops 2
Terrain: woods, little or no trail
Last visited 2011-03-07
id: tam.13
Unnamed creek running south from the western part of the Wagon Wheel Trail
- waterfall at (37.98885, -122.62348):
Beauty: 6
Duration: 5 days after a significant rainfall
Height 25 feet (broadly defined)
Height 12 feet
Biggest vertical drop 7 feet
Terrain: woods, little or no trail
route: I got there by bushwacking east from the previous falls. It should also be reachable with moderate difficulty from the east, upstream, or downstream. If you're not using a gps, I'd guess the easiest way to not get lost looking for it is to head downstream from the Wagon Wheel Trail 1/8 mile after it makes a sudden switchback.
id: tam.9
Marin Municipal Water District
Unnamed creek flowing south from the north end of Pine Mountain Road to Big Carson Creek
- waterfall at (37.99282, -122.66715):
Name: Big Carson Creek Falls
upper drop (not visible at the main drop):
Video:
Best seen from the west side.
Beauty: 8
Duration: 30 days after a significant rainfall
Height 38 feet (broadly defined)
Height 25 feet
Biggest vertical drop 25 feet
Number of drops 1
Terrain: vague hints of a trail
route: From Big Carson Ridge, follow Pine Mountain Road southeast. About 1/3 mile before it crosses Big Carson Creek, follow the west side of a small stream down until it gets steep approaching Big Carson Creek, then traverse west about 0.1 mile, descending to Big Carson Creek as you approach the larger side creek. (There's probably a better route that I didn't find.) You could also follow Pine Mountain Road along the south side of Big Carson Creek and head north - that means a less hiking off-trail, but with a much steeper section just as you reach the south side of the creek.
Last visited 2011-04-14
id: tam.20
Cascade Creek
- waterfall at (37.98898, -122.63216):
Name: The Inkwell
from a hill to the northeast:
Beauty: 8
Duration: 60 days after a significant rainfall
Height 18 feet
Biggest vertical drop 4 feet
Number of drops 2
Terrain: unofficial trail, some difficulties
route: There are two trails down to it from the White Hill Fire Rd (you may need to look carefully to see where they start). There is also a trail to it that starts near the bottom of the Cascade Canyon Rd (also known as the Repack Rd) just above where it meets San Anselmo Creek - stay right on any intersection. Many people get to this waterfall by continuing up from the top of Cascade Falls, but that's harder.
Last visited 2011-03-07
id: tam.14
Unnamed creek running southeast from the intersection of the White Hill Fire Rd and the Summit Fire Rd
- waterfall at (37.99236, -122.63498):
Beauty: 4.5
Duration: 12 days after a significant rainfall
Height 7 feet
Biggest vertical drop 4 feet
Number of drops 1
Terrain: woods, little or no trail
route: Descend from the White Hill Fire Rd between where it meets the Blue Ridge Fire Rd and the Summit Fire Rd.
Last visited 2011-03-07
id: tam.16
Unnamed creek running south from the intersection of the White Hill Fire Rd and the Blue Ridge Fire Rd
- waterfall at (37.99156, -122.63432):
Beauty: 6
Duration: 14 days after a significant rainfall
Height 18 feet
Biggest vertical drop 1 feet
Number of drops 2
Terrain: woods, little or no trail
route: Descend from the White Hill Fire Rd between where it meets the Blue Ridge Fire Rd and the Summit Fire Rd.
Last visited 2011-03-07
id: tam.15
- waterfall at (37.99240, -122.63429):
Beauty: 5
Duration: 12 days after a significant rainfall
Height 25 feet (broadly defined)
Height 7 feet
Biggest vertical drop 3 feet
Terrain: woods, little or no trail
route: Descend from the White Hill Fire Rd where it meets the Blue Ridge Fire Rd.
Last visited 2011-03-07
id: tam.17
Unnamed creek flowing southwest from 1/4 mile north of the Inkwell
- waterfall at (37.99116, -122.63271):
This might be somewhat impressive with a really heavy flow, but it will usually disappoint.
Beauty: 4
Beauty: 5 (including beauty of the hike to the falls)
Duration: 2 days after a significant rainfall
Height 30 feet (broadly defined)
Height 10 feet
Biggest vertical drop 4 feet
Terrain: moderate brush, little or no trail
route: Traverse southeast from the White Hill Fire Rd where it meets the Blue Ridge Fire Rd.
Last visited 2011-03-07
id: tam.18
Unnamed creek running south from White Hill
- waterfall on stream at (37.98886, -122.62863):
the upper part:
view from an unofficial trail 1/4 mile south:
The main drop is about 12 feet
Beauty: 8
Duration: 25 days after a significant rainfall
Height 38 feet (broadly defined)
Height 18 feet
Biggest vertical drop 2 feet
Number of drops 3
Terrain: vague hints of a trail
route: Descend from White Hill by following the ridge south from the summit and going down the west side after the fire road veers east (steep, grassy, no trail). There's a good trailhead for this on Sir Francis Drake Blvd near the top of the big hill west of Fairfax. A shorter (but not easier) route is to follow a crude trail upstream from Cascade Falls for at least 1/3 mile, and look for a trail going up the largest side stream. Note that this involves a somewhat tricky creek crossing at the top of Cascade Falls, and the parking near the end of Cascade Drive is very limited.
Last visited 2011-03-07
id: tam.7
- waterfall at (37.98808, -122.62918):
Beauty: 8
Duration: 25 days after a significant rainfall
Height 17 feet (broadly defined)
Height 8 feet
Biggest vertical drop 6 feet
Terrain: vague hints of a trail
route: just downstream from the prior one
id: tam.8
Unnamed creek south southeast of Deer Park (near Fairfax)
Deer Park Creek Starting northeast of Six Points
- north of Daffodil Hill (on the west side of Bald Hill) at (37.96827, -122.58485):
Beauty: 6
Duration: 4 days after a significant rainfall
Height 8 feet
Biggest vertical drop 4 feet
Number of drops 1
Terrain: woods, little or no trail
route: The "trail" I take to get to it starts straight up a meadow on the Yolanda trail about a quarter mile north of six points, and gradually turns to traverse south at an elevation of about 200 feet higher than the Yolanda trail.
id: tam.3
Phoenix Creek(?) Starting east of Six Points
- south of Daffodil Hill at (37.96535, -122.58436):
Beauty: 6.5
Beauty: 7 (including beauty of the hike to the falls)
Duration: 5 days after a significant rainfall
Height 10 feet
Biggest vertical drop 5 feet
Terrain: woods, little or no trail
id: tam.4
Cascade Park
Mt Tamalpais State Park
West Fork Lagunitas Creek
- waterfall at (37.93732, -122.59946):
Video:
Beauty: 7.5
Duration: 365 days after a significant rainfall
Height 35 feet give or take 3 feet
Biggest vertical drop 6 feet
Number of drops 1
Terrain: unofficial trail, some difficulties
route: I got there by following the Four Canyons "trail", which is not at all obvious. You will probably need to use the gpx file below to find it. There's a recently fallen Madrone blocking the place where it starts west from the Colier Spring Trail. It might be easier to find by following the creek up from Lake Lagunitas.
route: download gpx
Last visited 2011-12-03
id: tam.23
Unnamed creek on the south side of Kent Canyon
- waterfall at (37.88472, -122.57908):
Name: Kent Falls
Also known as Kent Canyon Falls. Uninteresting, but it's marked on one of the maps at a trailhead by Muir Beach, so someone must think it's important.
Beauty: 4
Duration: 35 days after a significant rainfall
Height 6 feet
Biggest vertical drop 6 feet
Number of drops 1
Terrain: vague hints of a trail
For more info, see Secret Waterfalls of Marin volume 2
Last visited 2011-05-01
id: tam.21
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Morses Gulch Creek
- waterfall at (37.92283, -122.66334):
Name: Morses Gulch Falls
Videos:
Beauty: 8.5
Duration: 365 days after a significant rainfall
Height 30 feet (broadly defined)
Height 29 feet
Biggest vertical drop 14 feet
Number of drops 1
Terrain: unofficial trail, some difficulties
route: Follow route 1 about 2.3 miles northwest of the stop sign in the town of Stinson Beach. Park in a small dirt turnout on the right (which looks almost like the start of a dirt road). This is about a half mile past a more conspicuous pullout at the 14.41 mile marker. You can also watch for a driveway with a sign mentioning pottery that is on the right about halfway between the two pullouts. There's a trail that starts on the north side of the creek and follows the creek a half mile to the falls.
Last visited 2011-04-10
id: tam.19
back to main waterfalls page
