What's happening: Marin County Parks has moved from concept to detailed design on rebuilding the Mill Valley-Sausalito multiuse path through Bothin Marsh, after nearly a decade of study, project manager Tara McIntire told the county's Parks and Open Space Commission on July 16.
The plan, called "Ring the Marsh," moves the path off the old railroad embankment that currently splits the marsh in two and reroutes it around the marsh's edge instead. The rebuilt trail would be 18 feet wide and would separate pedestrians and cyclists for the first time, per the same memo. It would rise to 13.5 feet in elevation, using the federal survey datum applied in the design, about six feet higher than the trail sits today.
Under the proposed plan, the bridge on the right would be dismantled and all bike- and pedestrian traffic turned left on the existing path towards Tam Junction to take a new bridge further down Coyote Creek. (MVB, Aug 22)
Why it matters: The busiest of three trail counters Marin County Parks maintains along the corridor logged more than 807,000 combined pedestrian and cyclist crossings over the past year, according to the Briefing's analysis of county counter data. That counter sits on the Coyote Creek bridge near the Holiday Inn Express, the busiest point on the entire corridor, which the project would remove entirely, the Briefing found in a comparison of the design plans to the existing corridor.
Traffic there averaged more than 2,200 people a day over the past year, per that analysis, with Friday consistently the busiest day of the week, ahead of both Saturday and Sunday. Pedestrian traffic there peaked between 8 and 9am, according to that same analysis, a pattern that lines up with the corridor's designation as a Safe Routes to School route, per the county's staff memo. All of that traffic moves through a trail that floods more than 30 days a year during king tides and storm events, the memo states.
Nick Brubaker, the county's chief resilience officer with the Office of Emergency Management, told the Board of Supervisors on August 18 that the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center now puts the odds of a strong El Niño this winter above 90%, with king tides already scheduled on both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
A graphic showing the proposed route over a new bridge farther down Coyote Creek and along the Tam Junction shoreline. (Courtesy of Marin County Parks and Open Space Commission)
The context: The project would build a new bridge farther along the realigned route, in place of the Coyote Creek bridge, carrying the path toward Tam Junction as part of a broader shift from the marsh's interior to its perimeter. The Briefing measured the new routing against the old and found the detour adds about a third of a mile to the trip for anyone who currently walks or bikes from the Holiday Inn Express to the Almonte Boulevard and Miller Avenue intersection near Tam High’s football field.
The new route adds access points along the way, including one next to the CNL Native Plant Nursery, across from Bob's Donuts in Tam Junction, plus a new trailhead planned for Rosemont Avenue, according to the design plans.
A rendering shows the proposed Tam Junction trailhead next to the nursery, including a new Rosemont trail access at label (2), and the new pathway hugging the shoreline. (Courtesy of Marin County Parks and Open Space Commission)
The rebuilt path would add net new length to the regional Bay Trail network, replacing about 1,800 feet of existing trail with roughly 3,800 feet of new path, the staff memo states. The trail would run about 8 feet below and 40 feet from the road along Almonte Boulevard, working around an existing sewer easement, according to the project's design presentation.
The design's 13.5-foot elevation target stacks a 100-year storm event on top of 3.5 feet of sea level rise, a margin the Briefing found exceeds the 3 feet of rise the same presentation cites as the state and regional guidance figure for 2080.
Marin County Parks, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and the One Tam partnership have led the project since 2016, according to the design presentation, and have funded it so far through Measure A, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority's Measure AA, and Marin Community Foundation grants, the staff memo states.
That funding covers design and environmental review, not construction, according to the memo. Chris Chamberlain, the county's parks director, told commissioners the construction cost will run into the tens of millions of dollars. The county has not identified a funding source for construction, according to the project's staff memo and presentation.
The debate: Warren Wells, policy and planning director for the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, told commissioners at the July 16 meeting that some of the group's members were skeptical of a realigned route that lengthens the trip between Mill Valley and Sausalito, though he said the group still supports the project overall.
Commissioner Michael Dyett cautioned staff at the same meeting not to lock in the Tam Junction alignment before a separate county effort, the Tam Junction Placemaking study, settles its own land use plans for the area.
What's next: Marin County's project webpage says environmental review under state and federal law will begin in the coming months, with public review targeted for 2027. The county's next round of public engagement on the design is planned for early 2027, per the design presentation.
Readers who want a closer look at the marsh before then can join Marin County Parks' next Bothin Marsh restoration volunteer day, Sunday, August 30, from 9am to noon, according to the One Tam events calendar.
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MILL VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETYThis week in Mill Valley history: The crookedest railroad in the world
On August 22, 1896, a train left Mill Valley and climbed to the summit of Mount Tamalpais for the first time, carrying the residents of a town that was six years old and not yet incorporated. The mountain had always been there. Now there was a way up.
The Tavern of Tamalpais under construction at the summit, circa 1898, with workers arriving by railroad engine. The tavern opened the same year as the railroad, in 1896, and was rebuilt after a kitchen fire destroyed it in 1923. (Courtesy of the Lucretia Little History Room, Mill Valley Public Library)
Construction had begun six months earlier, on February 11, when the first spade of earth was turned in Blithedale Canyon. By late February, nearly 200 workers were cutting the grade. Residents brought lawsuits to stop them. One man staged what Eleanor "Dolly" Jenkins — whose father Sidney Cushing built the railroad — called a one-man strike. The train was going to run practically underneath his porch. In the end, Jenkins recalled, "They put him on a flatcar and gave him the honor of being the first person to ride on the Mount Tamalpais scenic railway."
The line ran 8.25 miles with 281 curves, 22 trestles and a longest straight stretch of 413 feet — in the middle of a formation called the Double Bow Knot, which Jenkins remembered as a surveying accident: crews working up from the bottom and down from the top found themselves out of alignment and had to improvise. "It's on a little plateau with a wonderful view," she said, "so it was really a happy mistake."
The last spike was driven August 18, 1896. To celebrate, the railroad threw a party under the redwood trees in Blithedale Canyon. Four days later the first passenger train made its run. Regular operations began August 27.
In May 1910 the railroad ran special trains to the summit so Bay Area residents could watch Halley's Comet above the fog, carrying more than 500 people in a single evening. The railroad's character was never just transportation. It was an experience.
Gravity car No. 21 with passengers on the Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway, 1916. The gravity cars - simple four-wheel coasters with no engine - carried passengers down the mountain from the summit, guided by a brakeman. They were unique to the Tamalpais railroad. (Courtesy of the Lucretia Little History Room, Mill Valley Public Library)
From the tennis court of the Garden of Allah, high above Blithedale Canyon, Jean Barnard watched the trains wind up the mountain in the 1920s. Her uncle Ralston White had inherited railroad stock from his father and asked her brother each evening how many passengers he had counted. "My uncle would ask my brother every night, 'How many passengers did you see on the train?' And my brother, who had eagle eyes in those days, would tell him."
By 1925 the answer was discouraging enough that William Kent, a leading stockholder, was pushing to convert the roadbed into an automobile road. At a public meeting in July 1926, Blithedale Canyon residents pushed back. One said he didn't want "a stream of automobiles screeching past my door." It didn't matter.
The July 1929 fire damaged the right-of-way. The railroad closed permanently in 1930. The tracks were pulled up and sold.
The Old Railroad Grade trail is what remains.
Sources: Mill Valley Historical Society, Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railroad; Mt. Tamalpais Interpretive Association, Crookedest Railroad; Mill Valley Record, May 27, 1910, Oct 24, 1925, Jul 10, 1926; Eleanor "Dolly" Jenkins oral history, December 1977; Jean Barnard oral history, January 1979, courtesy of Mill Valley Public Library, Lucretia Little History Room.
This story was sponsored by the Mill Valley Historical Society. Visit their new website at mvhistory.org.
Sponsors pay for placement, not coverage. Our reporting is always produced independently, without sponsor review or editorial input.
What we covered this week
🚸 Marin County's survey on the future of Tam Junction closes at noon Monday, Aug 24. We reported on what the county's own timeline slip means for when a study actually begins.
🚧 City Council voted unanimously to approve a pilot program splitting sidewalk and tree repair costs with property owners. We reported on the liability numbers behind the decision and the concern one councilmember raised about who actually uses programs like this.
🏠 Mill Valley's home prices keep widening their gap over the rest of Marin. We reported on July's numbers and the neighborhood driving Mill Valley's sales volume.
🏫 The School District approved design development for the Edna Maguire modernization, the last of its Measure G campuses to reach construction. We reported on what the new play yard and garden will include and when work begins.
If you want to read about any of these stories as they develop, the daily Briefing lands in your inbox Mon/Wed/Fri at 6am. A paid subscription makes this reader-funded, local news operation possible. It’s $12 per month, which you can cancel anytime, and the annual subscription comes out to less than $2.50 a week. Upgrading is only two clicks if you use Apple Pay.
📅 Next week in Mill Valley
Monday, August 24
🧠 Original Pattern Trivia Night, The Junction Beer Garden, 7pm. Monthly Monday trivia night hosted alongside Original Pattern Brewing at 226 Shoreline Hwy. Free entry and prizes; open to all ages.
Tuesday, August 25
📸 Photographer Ilka Hartmann in Conversation with Jessica Zack, Mill Valley Public Library, 6–8pm. Acclaimed Bolinas documentary photographer Ilka Hartmann discusses her historic Bay Area counterculture and social movement archives in the Creekside Room at 375 Throckmorton Ave. Free entry; registration required.
⚡ Dead at the Junction Hosted by Alex Jordan, The Junction Beer Garden, 6pm. Host Alex Jordan welcomes Scott Cooper, Tim Baker, Mookie Siegel, and Alex Koford for an evening of Grateful Dead-inspired jams outdoors at 226 Shoreline Hwy. Free show; all ages welcome.
🎸 Willy Braun, Sweetwater, 8pm. The frontman and songwriter of Reckless Kelly brings his solo acoustic set and roots catalog to 19 Corte Madera Ave. All ages; doors open at 7pm.
🎭 Tuesday Night Comedy, Throckmorton Theatre, 8–10pm. Headliner Kris Tinkle takes the stage alongside Cody Woods, TammyTea Love, William Schott, and host Jeanette Marin at 142 Throckmorton Ave. Doors open at 7:30pm.
Wednesday, August 26
👶 Toddler Storytime, Mill Valley Public Library, 10:15–10:45am. Join Librarian Miranda for stories, songs, and fingerplays in the Outdoor Amphitheater at 375 Throckmorton Ave. Free entry; no registration required.
Thursday, August 27
🧠 Trivia Night, The Depot Cafe and Bookstore, 5:30pm. Gather your team for live quiz rounds and prizes on the downtown plaza at 87 Throckmorton Ave. Free entry; all ages welcome.
🎭 The White Chip, Marin Theatre, 7:30pm. Artistic Director Lance Gardner directs Sean Daniels’ disarmingly funny and candid “recovery comedy” following one man's high-stakes journey through addiction and sobriety at 397 Miller Ave. Recommended for ages 13+; pay-what-you-can admission available for anyone in recovery.
Friday, August 28
🎸 John Pearce & Musical Feast, The Depot Cafe and Bookstore, 5:30pm. Catch a live outdoor set of alt-country, folk, and classic rock on the plaza at 87 Throckmorton Ave. Free entry; open to all ages.
🎪 Clown Daddy: The Last Show, Throckmorton Theatre, 7:30–9pm. Ellie J. blends clowning, puppetry, physical comedy, and theater for a unique live performance at 142 Throckmorton Ave.
🎭 The White Chip, Marin Theatre, 7:30pm. (Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 4pm) Sean Daniels’ acclaimed recovery comedy continues its opening weekend run at 397 Miller Ave. Recommended for ages 13+.
🎸 Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel with Miko Marks, Sweetwater Music Hall, 8pm. Southern rock guitarist Duane Betts kicks off a two-night stand with special guest Miko Marks at 19 Corte Madera Ave. All ages; doors open at 7pm.
Saturday, August 29
🎸 Homestead Valley Music Festival, Homestead Valley Community Center, 11:30am–6pm. Celebrate community and local tunes with an outdoor lineup of four live bands and performers at 315 Montford Ave. Featuring local craft beer, wine, food, baked goods, snow cones, and dedicated kids' activities. Free admission; open to all ages.
🎭 William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, Old Mill Park Amphitheatre, 2–4:30pm. (Sun, 2-4:30pm) Curtain Theatre presents live, open-air Shakespeare amidst the redwoods behind the library at 64 Cascade Dr. Free admission; bring a low chair or blanket.
🎷 Jai Josefs Quartet, The Depot Cafe and Bookstore, 5:30–8pm. Enjoy an evening of live jazz standards and grooves on the downtown plaza at 87 Throckmorton Ave. Free entry; all ages welcome.
🎷 The Gathering, Throckmorton Theatre, 8–10pm. Vocalist Deborah Winters, pianist Ken Cook, bassist Sascha Jacobsen, and percussionist Ian Dogole join forces for an evening of jazz and world rhythms at 142 Throckmorton Ave.
🎸 Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel with Miko Marks, Sweetwater, 8pm. Night two of soulful Southern rock and Americana at 19 Corte Madera Ave. All ages; doors open at 7pm.
Sunday, August 30
☀️ Alexis Harte with The Lemon Hammer: THIRSTY Album Release Celebration, Sweetwater, 1pm. Special matinee album release performance with Kat Brack at 19 Corte Madera Ave. All ages; doors open at 12pm.
🎸 Jacob Young & Rich Paterson, The Depot Cafe and Bookstore, 4–6pm. Live Sunday afternoon acoustic and roots set on the plaza at 87 Throckmorton Ave. Free entry; open to all ages.
🔍 Businesses and venues mentioned in this section are covered on editorial merit only. No business has paid for coverage. Promotional content is always labeled.
📣 The next Mill Valley Briefing community conversation and podcast recording, ‘Where Mill Valley stands on wildfire, and what comes next’, is coming to Sweetwater Music Hall on Wednesday, September 16. Free entry with RSVP, limited capacity.
