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Adventure
Sports Magazine
May
2004
The
Ultimate Urban Escape
By
Lisa Jhung
Adventures
abound a stone's throw from San Francisco.
Get lost on Mount "Tam". Whether you do this
on foot or bike, exploring Mt. Tamalpais' 50 miles of trails
offers some of the best riding or running of your life. Summiting
the 2,600 foot mountain will reward you with views of the San
Francisco Bay and beyond, not to mention some thrilling descents.
Marin County prides itself on its natural beauty, outdoor adventure
possibilities (despite its closeness to metropolitan San Francisco)
and the people who can afford to live there. The county boasts
current and past residents like Jerry Garcia, George Lucas and
Sean Penn. Marin's main mountain, Mt. Tamalpais, serves as the
hub of outdoor adventure.
Birthplace of Mountain Biking
There's no denying that Marin County had a huge (perhaps
the biggest) influence on the growth of the sport. In the early
1970's, local road riders (including Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze
and more) trained for cyclocross races on the trails of Mt.
Tam, and began experimenting with "balloon" tires
on one-speed bikes. The evolution of the sport continued from
there, and by the late '70's, riding on dirt with newly engineered
bikes had spread throughout the country, and the sport of mountain
biking was here to stay.
Accommodation
As soon as you cross over the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco
fog breaks over the Marin Headlands and the sun is often shining
in Marin County. Made up of 600 square miles (water and land)
and including low-key but yuppified towns like Mill Valley,
Sausalito and Tiburon, Marin County also includes hippified
towns like Fairfax, Stinson Beach and Bolinas.
The best part about the charming Mountain Home Inn—besides
the views, the spacious, comfortable rooms with fireplaces and/or
private decks, and the gourmet food—is its location.
Trails heading out in various directions are literally right
out the door: to the top of Mt. Tamalpais, down to Muir Woods,
across the mountain to Stinson Beach, down through a pine forest
to Mill Valley. (Mountain Home Inn, 810 Panoramic Hwy., Mill
Valley; 415-381-9000).
National
Geographic Traveler
July/August
2000 Room
Check
By
Lisa Hamilton
Mention
the Mountain Home Inn, and most people even in its locality of Mill Valley won't
recognize the name. Roosting in the redwood wilderness of Mt. Tamalpais State
Park, 25 minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge, this modern chalet has developed
a faithful following among cognoscenti of the outdoors. First
Impression: An inside that's all about being outside.
Wherever windows can fit, they do, looking out onto a vast view of redwoods and
over San Francisco Bay. Hikers break for hisbiscus tea on the eagle-nest deck,
watching the breeze cradle hawks. As long-time hiker R.F. "Dad" O'Rourke
said, "With these hills and the friends I love--I ask no other heaven." Telling
Details: Skylights, Redwood-trunk columns in the lobby. Doors left open year-round
to catch the breezes. Wood accented guest rooms (many with balconies) pairing
hickory-branch bedposts and regally striped wallpaper-perfect for sharing a bottle
of reserve Sonoma Chardonnay and a fireplace campfire against a million far-off
city lights. Management spokesperson Nancy DuBois insists, "Once you're here,
it's whatever you need." Guest
Book: The buzz is there's no buzz. "Everyone stays here," Dubois
says. "Celebrities, CEOs—but their privacy is more important than our
self-promotion.
San
Francisco Magazine
October
2000 40
Dream Weekends
When
summer evenings stretch long, take advantage of them by slipping out of the office
and across the Golden Gate Bridge to this inn on the slope of Mt. Tam. Perched
at the head of countless trails that twist up and down the redwoods and out to
the ocean, the modern inn sits ready to give you fast relief from cars and buses
and buildings. After plopping your bags down in one of the ten rooms, lose yourself
on the trail, watching the approaching fog tease the treetops or reveling in the
evening sunshine that clings to the mountain.
Back at the inn, clean
up in a Jacuzzi bathtub and then kick back on the top balcony with a beer and
a good read. After a homey dinner, settle deep down into the soft, comfortable
bed and sleep the kind of sleep that comes only from the silence of the country--forgetting,
for the moment, that it will take only a half-hour to get back in the rat race.
Sky
West Magazine
Winter
2000 San Francisco Escapes
To really get away from it all and discover
secluded hideaways, cross the blazing copper towers of the Golden Gate Bridge
and disappear into Marin County. High up the flank of Mount Tamalpais, perched
on a ridge 1,000 feet above the town of Mill Valley, the Mountain Home Inn offers
sweeping views of San Francisco Bay, Mt. Diablo, the East Bay Hills, and the small
wooded towns of Marin.
Rooms at the Mountain Home Inn are woodland elegant,
the complimentary breakfast is sublime, and some of Marin's best hiking and mountain
biking trails are literally just outside your doorstep. Over 390 miles of trail
wind around oak scrub or climb past tiny waterfalls and streams on Mt. Tam (as
it is affectionately known by locals). The Inn also provides easy access to the
secluded grandeur of California's coast redwoods just minutes down the road at
Muir Woods National Monument, a 550-acre preserve where majestic trees rise to
heights of over 250 feet and date back over 1,000 years.
New
York Times
October
10, 1999
Where Trees
are Trees
By Harriot Manley
Growing up in Marin County in
California, one of my favorite places was Muir Woods National Monument, the sky-scraping
grove of 1,000 year old coast redwoods just north of San Francisco. Dwarfed by
huge ferns and the trees I would feel like a Lilliputian in a giant's landscape,
exploring immense hollow logs and running across the forest floor.
I
have often suspected there was another side of Muir Woods, just beyond the parking
lot crush. Because we frequently have visitors at our home in nearby San Rafael
and they often want to visit the park, I recently decided to ferret out the secret
sides of Muir Woods. Late afternoon
is my favorite time in these woods, when shafts of honey-gold light shoot down
from above like celestial spotlights. It's a notable time not only for its beauty
but also for its wildlife. Several types of bats roost in the deeply grooved trunks
of the redwoods, whirring out at twilight to hunt. Native black-tailed deer, some
remarkably tame, appear out of protected hollows to forage. Owls, including the
endangered northern spotted owl, hoot and whistle as evening falls. I
could have walked on this mountain all day, but that would have meant stranding
my kids at summer camp, so I retraced my steps and headed home. Later
that week, I returned with my husband, in two cars. We left one at the parking
lot of the Mountain Home Inn, our destination for an early dinner, and took the
other down to Muir Woods. In late afternoon,
we took a somewhat strenuous hour-long hike through a redwood and Douglas fir
forest up to the slope-hugging, three-tiered Mountain Home Inn (several routes
are possible from the base of Muir Woods). Nearly 100 years ago, the original
inn opened on this site in the guise of a Swiss chalet. Over the years, despite
various owners and a reputation of being rundown, it always had one constant:
an incomparable view of the entire San Francisco Bay Area. Fortunately,
the inn was refurbished in 1985, and now has the appointments and food to match
the setting. Rough-barked log columns support the soaring ceiling just inside
the entrance, while local artwork adorns the walls. Despite the handsome interior,
no one looks askance if you arrive for dinner in hiking boots. We
descended the stairs to the main dining room, brightened with firelight. In between
courses, we asked to check out the inn's comfortably elegant rooms, all with eye-popping
views of the bay or the redwoods. After dinner we drove back down to Muir Woods
to retrieve the other car and headed home.
Sacramento Magazine
January 2005 30
Great Escapes / 10 Romantic Retreats
By Krista Minard Working
up a sweat might not seem like your traditional start to a romantic getaway, but
hiking the trails of Mt. Tamalpais exposes you to so much beautiful scenery that
you can't help feeling good about each other.
Load a backpack with energy
bars and water, and head out on foot from the Mountain Home, located off Panoramic
Drive on the rolling slopes of the mountain. Hike the Old Railroad Grade Trail,
which follows the course of the an old railroad bed as it winds its way toward
Mt. Tam's peak. With 281 turns, the rail line was named "The Crookedest Railroad
in the World" in the early 20th century when folks rode the rail to the top
of Mt. Tam to take in the panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay Area. After
your hike, check into the elegantly rustic inn. Stew your tired muscles in your
in-room whirlpool bath before wandering to the candlelit dining room to enjoy
a prix-fixe wine-paired dinner created with Marin County's seasonal ingredients.
Food
& Wine
A
New Sport Each Day and A Great Restaurant Each Night
By Laura Fraser
In the evening
we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to Mount Tamalpais, the 2,571-foot literal
high point of Marin County, to check into the Mountain Home Inn. When we arrived,
the sun was streaming down a big deck that overlooks valleys rambling down to
the bay. Rob, a marathon jogger, took a couple of us hardy souls for a jog on
one of the trails that start right at the inn. Afterward, I had a glass of Chardonnay
on the private balcony off my room above terraced wildflower gardens filled with
California poppies and lupine. We dined
at the inn's restaurant beside wide windows, where we could watch the shadows
lengthen across the surrounding green hills. We felt as if we were in the wilderness,
but the menu, which included entrees like lamb shanks braised with tomatoes, sherry
and herbs and served with garlic mashed potatoes was surprisingly urbane. I had
a delicious grilled rainbow trout with a light dill cream sauce, tender young
vegetables and Swiss chard. From the table we watched the lights of San Francisco
shimmer through the fog. The next morning
we took a brisk walk through the mist down the flanks of Mt. Tamalpais. We hiked
on trails under tall redwoods with ferns at our feet and streams rushing below.
When we were halfway down, the sun began to break through the fog and filter through
the needles of the redwoods, scattering sun splinters on the trail. We descended
into Muir Woods, a popular tourist destination, which at this hour was as quiet
and glorious as a cathedral.
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