Indian Valley

Near: Novato
Trip Type: Trail Run
Distance: 4.5 miles
Elevation: 100 - 600 ft
Surface: Dirt and Rocky Dirt
Vegetation: Forest

Indian Valley is a small park in the Marin County Open Space system.  It's less extensive and interesting than some of the nearby parks, and the lower parts have a very suburban feel, but it's a nice spot for a modest hike or trail run if you've done most of the higher profile trails nearby.  I was out for a trail run there today in the rain without at map and got terribly confused and ran all about the place in very inefficient loop.

Links:

Indian Valley Official Site

Trailhead:

The College of Marin Indian Valley Campus.  Take Ignacio Blvd. east from 101 to the end of the road pretty much.

Route:

To get the most out of the little park, skirt the perimeter, including a patch of the college campus in the northeast corner.  To go counter-clockwise, start at the gate to the campus and take the trail climbing to the north.  There are too many small trails to really explain in this section, just take the widest looping course you can to get to the north boundary trail and follow it west.  This will keep you in fairly open country until you reach the preserve boundary at the Ad and Gloria Schwindt trail. Here you'll enter more shady terrain for the course of the loop.  I've mapped a couple options on the northwest side of the loop and fair warning I didn't actually take either as I tired myself out poking about the highest elevations in the preserve on the use trail at the south end of the loop.

I have to say I'm a bit annoyed with the park management of this area.  As you come to the southern tip of the perimeter loop I've mapped you come to a three-way intersection with three maintained, signed trails and a mystery use trail climbing to the south.  Who can resist an obvious mystery trail climbing higher up the hill?  Well when you follow it up it forks in a gulley below the ridge.  Climbing either way will take you to the same place: a clearing on the ridge with a nice view of the valley to the east.  Really, this the nicest spot in the park and trails there are easy to follow.  It should be mapped and signed.  There are some signs here warning you not to proceed up the ridge because it's private land, and that's fair.  But from the map on Marin County Open Space website, it looks like the small local peak on the ridge with this nice view is in the park.  At any rate, you can continue on the eastward spur of the use trail down the ridge and reach a fire road that is on official maps and take that down to the college campus.  The use trail is a bit more encroached upon by underbrush, and steep so if that's not your bag, you can just follow the main loop I've mapped down the waterfall trail and back to the west end of the college campus.


Maps:
Caltop Map: http://caltopo.com/m/SJKF






For comedic purposes only: My very confused run.
http://caltopo.com/m/G1DM