White Hill

Near: Fairfax
Trip Type: Trail Run
Distance: 5-10 miles
Elevation: 500 - 1400 feet
Vegetation: Mix of Forest, Grassland, and Pasture
Surface: Mix of soft dirt, hard packed dirt and loose, rocky road bed.
Last Visit: 11/12/16

White Hill is a modest highpoint in Marin County near Fairfax.  While the peak it's self is somewhat unremarkable, it does offer fine views of Mt. Tam and San Francisco to the south and across the San Francisco Bay to the east.  The route up to the peak runs through a surprisingly varied landscape including a couple small stands of dense redwoods mixed in with typical Bay Area oak, chaparral, and grassland.

Trailhead:

We started from the eastern-most of three parking areas on Sir Francis Drake Blvd west of Fairfax. There are a couple options to start up the fire road from Sir Francis Drake, one small trail from this parking area and one just west of here across the road from other parking areas.  There is also a trailhead on Buckeye Circle a few hundred feet up the hill through a residential area, but I think the parking may be limited there.

Rules and Permits:

This route is in the White Hill Open Space.  As with most Marin County Open Space, dogs are OK off-leash under voice control on fire roads, but must be on leash on smaller trails.  There are no fees or permits to hike or bike but no camping is allowed.

Route:

We headed up the small single-track leading steeply up through the Redwood grove next this parking area, which quickly joins the White Hill Fire Road ascending to the west.  A little over half a mile in, the fire road hits a gate where it goes through private property, but a trail (the Porcupine Trail) along the open space boundary bridges the gap until it re-enters the public land.    From here the trail climbs mostly southward in fits and starts up to a ridge line, of which White Hill is the eastern terminus.  Just before the summit, the White Hill Fire trial veers off to the west along the main ridgeline, but the Blue Ridge Fire Trail breaks left (eastward) for the summit.

After tagging the summit you may want to extend the route to the west on White Hill Fire road.   The road rolls along the ridge for another mile or so, climbing a few hundred feet before it ends at the San Geronimo Ridge Fire Road in the Gary Giacomini Open Space.  Supposedly if you continue far enough on this road you'll get a great view of Kent Lake to the southwest.  We didn't make it far enough in this direction to get the that view, though.  We were tired.  So you'll have to make it at least to Green Hill for that payoff, making for a round trip of a little over 10 miles.

Caltopo Map: http://caltopo.com/m/V275