Today I want to share my guide to hiking the Oakwood Valley Trail in Marin County with you. This moderately challenging hike is a fun one to do if you want to get outdoors in the San Francisco Bay Area. The trail is dog-friendly and not as steep as some of the others in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, so it’s a great option if you want a relaxed walk in the woods.
Oakwood Valley
Located just north of the Marin Headlands, Oakwood Valley is home to the biggest stand of oak and bay forest in the Golden Gate National Parks. Over 500 plant species grow here, and it features a grassland and mixed woodland habitat. Coyotes, endangered mission blue butterflies, and other local fauna reside here, too.
There are hiking trails throughout the area, and they’re great places to get into nature and see this unique Northern California ecosystem firsthand. This place has some of my favorite hikes in Marin County.
How to Get Here
It’s easy to get to the trail from San Francisco or the North Bay. From Highway 1, you can turn onto Tennessee Valley Road and drive into the Tamalpais-Homestead Valley. After about a mile you’ll see a sign for the Tennessee Valley. You can park along the road on either side here.
From San Francisco it’s just under a 30-minute drive to get to the trailhead, making it an easy getaway from the city.
Distance and Difficulty
The Oakwood Valley Trail is 2.58 miles round-trip. It’s relatively flat at the beginning and end, and it has a hilly section in the middle with lots of stairs.
The hike starts at an elevation of 33 feet and reaches an elevation of 621 feet at its highest point. Most of the elevation gain takes place on the out-and-back section in the middle, so you can skip that part and just do the loop if you want a flatter, easier hike.
The trail is well-groomed and well-marked, so it’s straightforward to follow. It’s wide in most places, so there’s room for groups if you want to do the hike with a larger party.
Oakwood Valley Trail
This hike is part loop trail and part out-and-back. It starts on the single-track Oakwood Meadow Trail before it meets the Oakwood Valley Trail (sometimes called the Fire Road Trail). From there it goes all the way up to where it meets the Alta Trail.
When you reach the Alta Trail, you can turn around and retrace your steps back to where the Oakwood Valley Trail meets the Oakwood Meadow Trail and hike back to the parking area via the fire road.
The Oakwood Valley Trail meets Tennessee Valley Road right near where the Oakwood Meadow Trail does, so you’ll only have to walk a short distance to get back to your car once you reach the road at the end.
The Hike
I hiked the Oakwood Valley Trail with my boyfriend and his dog on a Sunday morning. We arrived around 11:30am and found a place to park right by the trailhead on Tennessee Valley Road.
From there we set off on the Oakwood Meadow Trail next to the big Tennessee Valley sign. It took us through an open field that quickly gave way to a wooded area.
We walked for a while under an oak canopy, taking in ferns and other foliage around us as we went.
After 0.6 miles we reached the intersection with the Oakwood Valley Trail. From there we turned right and headed up the hill to the Alta Trail.
It was a 0.6-mile hike up hills and stairs to get to the top. The higher we climbed, the less we were surrounded by trees. The area opened up into a wide expanse with low brush and a few telephone poles.
Once at the intersection with the Alta Trail, we should have been rewarded with views as far as Point Reyes. Sadly it was foggy, so we had to save the panoramas for another trip. It’s always good to have a reason to come back, right?
Turning around, we retraced our steps for 0.6 miles to get back to where the Oakwood Valley Trail met the Oakwood Meadow Trail. We then continued straight on the fire road to complete the loop.
This part of the trail looked completely different from the first one. Here the path was bordered by eucalyptus trees that had grown into thick groves. We could see a stream down the bank to our left, too.
After 0.7 miles we reached Tennessee Valley Road. Turning left, we walked the short distance back to our car. It was parked right in front of the sign for the Rhubarb Trail, and we were tempted to continue our hike with a trek down to the Tennessee Valley Trailhead. There were more trails there, and they sounded tempting.
Lunch in Sausalito
But our stomachs had other ideas. The hike had taken us around 1.5 hours, and we were ready for lunch. We hopped in the car and drove for 10 minutes to get to Sausalito. Well, Salsalito. We were hungry for Mexican food, and the Salsalito Taco Shop was just the ticket.
We sat outside with a view of the bay and enjoyed everything from fish tacos to tostadas as we watched the world go by. It was a great way to end our hike, and a fun opportunity to turn it into a day trip from San Francisco.
Trail Map
You can see a map of the Oakwood Valley Trail on the National Park Service website. I hope it helps you plan your route.
There’s more information on the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy website as well (although their map has the hike as an out-and-back instead of a loop with an out-and-back extension).
If you want to see a Google map, click here (this map has both the Oakwood Meadow Trail and the Oakwood Valley Trail labeled as the Oakwood Valley Trail).
Oakwood Valley Trail
I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide to hiking the Oakwood Valley Trail. It’s a fun one to do, and you can make it as challenging or as easy as you want to. It’s particularly nice for those with dogs (or those who love seeing them while they’re hiking…it’s one of the best dog-friendly hikes in the Bay Area). It’s great if you want to pair it with a trip to somewhere else in the North Bay afterwards, too.
If you want to see more, you can check out my video about this hike on YouTube. I’ve also published a blog post with all the hiking trails in the Bay Area I’ve written about if you’re looking for additional inspiration. Happy hiking!
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