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Hiking Cataract Falls
Feb. 10th, 2025 11:10 amHawk and I have made our own Super Bowl Sunday tradition. Since we don't care for sportsball we take advantage of the day everyone is inside guzzling chips and guacamole while glued to their TVs to go hiking instead. For this year's not-watch party we drove up to the North Bay, to the Marin Municipal Water District on the flanks of Mt. Tamalpais.
What's there? Among other things, a bunch of waterfall trails. And the weather we've had the past week— rainy most of the week but clear and sunny Saturday and Sunday— made it a perfect time to hike waterfalls. In particular we headed to the Cataract Falls Trail, with an option of doing Carson Falls nearby as a two-fer later in the day.
It's a surprisingly long drive out to the Cataract Trail. ...Not because of how far it is; it was only 70 miles or so from home, most of those miles on freeways. But the last 10 or so miles winding into the mountains from the town of Fairfax, California are on narrow, twisty Fairfax-Bolinas Road. Making it even slower than normal was the fact that there are still a few construction spots where Caltrans is still repairing washout damage from a few years ago.
Speaking of a few years ago, it's been two years since our previous visit to Cataract Falls. So while we've been here a few times before, it was clearly time to visit again.
The trail begins at the back corner of MMWD's Lake Alpine on the flanks of Mt. Tamalpais. As you can see in the pic looking across the lake it's a clear and sunny day. But quickly the trail turns into the deep Cataract Canyon, and suddenly everything is cool and damp and dark.
The trail passes by several waterfalls as it climbs the canyon. For many of them, like those in the latter two photos here, there are small use-trails to get closer to the water. One of these photos I made while actually standing in the water. Yay, sturdy hiking boots instead of shitty trail shoes.
There are more individual waterfalls on this trail than I can even count, let alone share photos for. I've included these two for now. I'll post a Part Two soon with photos of the biggest cascade.
Stay tuned for more!
What's there? Among other things, a bunch of waterfall trails. And the weather we've had the past week— rainy most of the week but clear and sunny Saturday and Sunday— made it a perfect time to hike waterfalls. In particular we headed to the Cataract Falls Trail, with an option of doing Carson Falls nearby as a two-fer later in the day.
It's a surprisingly long drive out to the Cataract Trail. ...Not because of how far it is; it was only 70 miles or so from home, most of those miles on freeways. But the last 10 or so miles winding into the mountains from the town of Fairfax, California are on narrow, twisty Fairfax-Bolinas Road. Making it even slower than normal was the fact that there are still a few construction spots where Caltrans is still repairing washout damage from a few years ago.
Speaking of a few years ago, it's been two years since our previous visit to Cataract Falls. So while we've been here a few times before, it was clearly time to visit again.
The trail begins at the back corner of MMWD's Lake Alpine on the flanks of Mt. Tamalpais. As you can see in the pic looking across the lake it's a clear and sunny day. But quickly the trail turns into the deep Cataract Canyon, and suddenly everything is cool and damp and dark.
The trail passes by several waterfalls as it climbs the canyon. For many of them, like those in the latter two photos here, there are small use-trails to get closer to the water. One of these photos I made while actually standing in the water. Yay, sturdy hiking boots instead of shitty trail shoes.
There are more individual waterfalls on this trail than I can even count, let alone share photos for. I've included these two for now. I'll post a Part Two soon with photos of the biggest cascade.
Stay tuned for more!
