Best River Trails in Golden Gate National Recreation Area

2nd try. 1st 100 yards are the hardest, overgrown, trees down, lots of vines. On the upper part of the trail some good sole has installed hand ropes to assist in the last part of the trail to the falls. Be careful the ropes may not be secure. I recommend: Heavy clothes,No shorts or short sleeves, heavy gloves, glasses or safety glasses, heavy hat or bike helmet, a very good walking stick and maybe and extra rope. Bring a camera and maybe a GPS (real one).

Beautiful trail, but very steep at parts with big ascents & decents

Awesome trail. Better in the summer

Fun walk with my pooch. The second half, past the loop, is quite an uphill climb.

Beautiful trail with some serious incline. Great views.

Longer, a little over 10miles. Not much change in scenery but still pretty and more on the moderate side. Staying clockwise will give you a nice uphill work out for about a mile and a half, the rest is relatively mellow. Ran some of the way down too. Well maintained and popular for horses.

OK trail. No viewpoints at all, and very overgrown for at least %30 of the loop. Was out on a nice Sunday and saw 1 other person the whole time. The forest setting is beautiful. Saw 2 snakes. If you go clockwise, the last 4 miles are pretty boring. There’s only parking for ~3 cars at the trailhead. If you’re going to Pablo Point - as of 9/7/19, the trail is totally impassable.

8am counterclockwise 6.66 miles 2.25hrs loop. Challenge up and down hills. Beatiful coastal view . Seen a pack of dolphins . Wide clear trail . Early hike less people around . Pretty popular place . Really makes you break a sweat. Jogged last 3 miles . Hiking shoes definitely due to up hill rocky trail .

did clockwise. parts freshly mowed others overgrown with grasses

Amazing scenery, good distance and climbs for a morning hike. did this clockwise on a shady day. Could be super hot if sunny since there is no shade. Go early to avoid the crowds and get parking. Finish up with a beer and snacks at the Pelican inn!

Trail is currently closed due to PGE tower maintenance. Scheduled to reopen in mid July

Beautiful day for this hike. Weather cooperated quite nice. Flowers along the trail, along with the views of the ocean and city in the background made this an excellent experience.

Ran into some bobcats on the trail down to Muir beach so turned back. Views are great and climbs are fun.

Got to the Muir beach parking lot at 9 on a Sunday and didn’t have trouble finding a spot. Hike is really worth the tough hills. Excellent views breezy and sunny on a good day. I took the coastal trail path way first- either way you are going to have lots of hills

Wonderful hike! As someone who loves romping through the wilderness this was so fun. The trail is pretty hard to find, but look for the call box, and if you start walking through some fallen trees and find a steel cable, you’ve got it. I parked in the dirt pull off right before the call box. At the end of the redwoods, you night lose the trail, but if you head towards the more open yellow grass, you should be able to find it again. Went in August and the waterfall was still going nicely! The water was cold but nice to dip feet in. Didn’t get any poison oak/stinging nettle on me, but could definitely see it, so just be careful! There are ropes to help you where it gets steep, and I almost fell a few times. Just go slow and be careful! Definitely recommend.

Easy short mellow hike with some short steep spots. Good view at the top.

Good close to SF exercise hike with good Pacific views.

The reviews are pretty spot on. This is a very off beaten path trail that seems unkept. We did a lot of bobbing, weaving, and low crawling around overgrown plants and fallen trees. The trailhead is at the call box and plenty of parking on the road but a little scary walking with dogs on a road where cars are driving pretty fast and almost no shoulder. Once we got going it was serene to have the trail to just us. The creek was very popular with my dogs. I never made it to the waterfall at the end because the trail up to it was getting a little sketch and didn’t want my dogs falling off the cliff so we turned around and just played in the water. I rate this a 3 because it was rough and almost like just walking randomly in the woods and not a real trail. But if you’re into that kind of hiking this one is for you! It really helps to keep your recording GPS in this app open to ensure you’re tracking correct because it is very unkept and not a clear trail.

Nice

This trail has some REALLY steep hills! Not a lot of shade so bring a hat. Wide open paths, great views and a beach area to relax on afterwards. Busy trial and parking is busy so get there early!!

This was a great trail! A lot of ups and downs that will get your heart pumping. I would recommend going left first on the Fox trail side. There is a lot of fog in the morning, so if you want to see the actual ocean views, the fog will disappear by the time you get to the coastal side. There is a little side trail, that is kind of steep that will take you down to Pirates Cove, if you are interested. Alltrails says this is a dog friendly hike, but the signs on Fox trail side says it's not. We had dogs and decided to continue on and saw other dogs, so just be aware of this. Also, there are ticks. A tick was found on one of the dogs that was with us. There were other dogs on the trail that had a few as well.

Great hike with beautiful views! Hills are fairly steep.